APRIL 15, 1914 



297 



15ies of D. M. Bryant, Ethelfelts, Va., working on rye chop as a substitute for pollen. 



fault of SO many husbandmen, before the 

 blossoms open. 



It becomes important, therefore, for every 

 one interested in the tilling of the soil to 

 see that a definite effort is made to plant 

 legume crops at every opportunity. They 

 can be used as filler crops at the time of 

 year when nothing else is grown, as, for 

 example, by sowing crimson clover just 

 before the last time the cultivator is run 

 through the cornfield, and growing a sod 

 until the next spring. Last year the writer 

 sowed three quarts of crimson-clover seed 

 and half a pint of cowhorn-turnip seed to 

 the acre in a cornfield; and after the corn 

 was harvested he removed tons of the best 

 turnips for cow food and table use, and at 

 the present time has a good clover sod on 

 what would be otherwise only barren and 

 stubble. The time has come when it must 

 be regarded as slothful for a man to leave 

 his soil without a clover crop as we former- 

 ly regarded it for a careless person to leave 

 his implements exposed in the field during 

 the winter. From this crimson-clover sod, 

 next May will spring a wealth of scarlet 

 bloom, looking like a field covered with 

 ripening strawberries, and humming with 

 the busy bees as in the swarming season. 



It must be remembered that the legumes 

 are averse to thriving in acid soils. The 



soil wherein they are to grow should be 

 sweetened by the use of at least one ton of 

 lime or one or two tons of finely ground 

 limestone per acre, before seeding. In the 

 case of the corn, this can be done by 

 spreading the lime broadcast just before 

 planting in the spring. 



Soil inoculation is one other important 

 point in order to be sure of an abundant 

 growth of the soil bacteria and nitrifying 

 nodules, and, consequently, the legume 

 growth. This can be effected best by sowing 

 broadcast two or three hundred pounds per 

 acre of soil taken from a field which has 

 previously grown the legume crop that is 

 to be planted. 



Another means of inoculation is to sow 

 the crop and let it reach fair maturity, or 

 even go to sod again on the same soil. Then 

 turn it down and seed again. After two or 

 three repeated efforts on soil where lime has 

 been used to prevent acidity, there will be 

 an inoculation which will result in a good 

 growth in the future. A third proposed 

 means of inoculation is through commercial 

 cultures prepared by different commercial 

 concerns, and sent by mail. This is the 

 most expensive and least satisfactory means 

 of inoculation. As a rule, we do not recom- 

 mend it. The best means of inoculation is by 

 sowing soil from the field that has grown 



