9 



on mother's milk. Not until the second leaflet appears is the 

 stock of food contained in the seed exhausted; then, however, 

 a change of food takes place, the tiny wheat-plant, by means of 

 its roots, looks up and takes up now the inorganic food of the 

 soil, namely: phosphoric acid, nitrogen, potash, magnesia, lime, 

 etc., and in proportion as this nutriment is abundant, and the- 

 season propitious, it grows and develops into a tall, rich stalk, 

 with full heavy ears. There are, consequently, but two stages 

 noticeable in its growth; the one, that of germination carried on 

 by means of organic food; the other, the growth into maturity 

 under exclusive inorganic nutriment. 



Not so with leguminous plants. At first they do exactly what 

 the cereals and all other non-leguminous plants do. The pea 

 germinates and lives on mother's milk, that is to say, the organic 

 food of the seed, and then, like the grain of wheat, changes its 

 diet to inorganic food. But the second period of nutrition is- fol- 

 lowed by a third, requiring twice to four times as much nitrogen 

 as the cereals do, for instance; the pea develops the capacity to 

 draw its requisite amount of nitrogen from the air, and becomes, 

 after the second stage of growth, altogether independent of the 

 nitrogen supply of the soil. 



NITROGEN CONSUMERS AND NITROGEN 

 GATHERERS. 



The practical bearing of this division of plants into nitrogen- 

 ionsntncrs and nitrogen-gatherers, is of the utmost importance to 

 the farmer, as will be seen later on. For the present it suffices 

 to remark that to fertilize nitrogen-gatherers with anything but 

 phosphates and potash, is sheer waste, is money thrown away. 

 Rarely do cases occur where leguminous plants do not find suf- 

 ficient nitrogen in the soil to bridge over from the first to the 

 third stage of nutrition successfully. The few instances where 

 they do require it are announced to the eye by the pale, yellowish 

 color of the young plants, and in such cases a small application 

 of nitrate of soda is not too late to still their hunger, so that it 

 may be asserted as a rule that leguminous plants require no fer- 

 tilization with nitrogen. 



