108 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



CBOFS WHICH ENBICH THE SOU. 



One of the great needs of American agriculture 

 id the introduction and extensive cultivation of 

 6ucli plants as enrich rather than impoverish the 

 soil. So far as ascertained, the leguminous plants 

 — such as peas, heans, and clover — belong to this 

 class. So also do turnips and probably other cru- 

 ciferous plants, -when not raised for seed. On the 

 other hand, the ceralia — including wheat, barley, 

 oats, rye, maize, sugar cane, and the grasses proper, 

 such as timothy, red-top, rye-grass, ect., — impov- 

 erish the soil. They all have starchy seeds and 

 glassy stems. They take from the soil, from rains, 

 dews, and the atmosphere, more ammonia than 

 they contain when grown. On the the other hand, 

 the leguminous plants, turnips, etc., retain the 

 ammonia ; and when the plants are plowed in, or 

 consumed on the land by animals, they increase 

 the supply of ammonia in the soil. 



All crops grown for feeding animals on a wheat 

 farm, or for plowing under as a manure, should 

 belong to the latter class, as much as possible. 

 The time is come, in this section and in the older 

 States, when the great aim of the farmer must be 

 to enrich the soil. In determining which crop to 

 raise for the purpose of feeding on the farm, we 

 must not merely ask the simple question what crop 

 will afford the most nutritious matter, but which 

 win be ultimately the most profitable, taking into 

 consideration its effect on the soil, the amount of 

 nutritious food, and the value of the manure made 

 by its consumption on the farm. 



Where the object is to enrich the farm, it is a 

 great waste of vegetable force to grow barley, oats, 

 rye, corn, and the grasses, for the purpose of feed- 

 ing animals on the farm. We should rather grow 

 plants of a lower organization — plants which re- 

 quire less of that kind of food best suited to the 

 growth of plants used as food for man. All will 

 admit that to grow wheat to be fed to animals, for 

 tbe purpose of enriching the soil as the primary 

 object, would be a wasteful practice; and we be- 

 lieve the growth of the plants named, for this ob- 

 ject, is wasteful also, though perhaps in a less 

 degree. 



If we can direct the attention of farmers to this 

 subject, we believe many useful plants will soon be 

 introduced which are now little known or culti- 

 vated in this country. For this purpose we have 

 procured engravings of some of the most useful 

 plants which experience indicates as belonging to 

 tliat class of crops which enrich the soil. 



White LuprN-E. — This plant has been used in 

 Southern Europe for plowing in as a manure, since 



TfHITE LUPINX. 



the days of Columella. We have frequently 

 alluded to it as preeminently worthy of tjial on 

 the poor sandy soils 

 of the Atlantic slope, 

 especially where the 

 climate is mild. It 

 derives its name from 

 lupus, a wolf, in allu- 

 sion to its voracious 

 qualities. It strikes its 

 tap-roots deep in the 

 soil, and it will flour- 

 ish where many other 

 plants would starve. 

 It is of very rapid 

 growth, pi'oduces a 

 large amount of vege- 

 table matter, and draws from the subsoil a large 

 quantity of alkalies. It is rarely or never injured 

 by drouth or insects, and is admirably adapted for 

 enriching unfruitful sandy soils; while its strong 

 stems and roots open and ameliorate, as well as 

 enrich, heavy tenaceous clays. M. Vilmoein, of 

 Paris, says it is sown in that vicinity about the 

 middle of April, after all danger from frost is past. 

 He says " the green maniire yielded by this x>lant is 

 excellent. The seeds, soaked in water, form a good 

 cattle food, and the young plant is readily eaten by 

 sheep." Whitelupins are now quoted in the large 

 seedsmen's lists of England and France, and we 

 hope they will be introduced into this country. 



SptiRET (Spergula arvensis). — No plant has been 

 more lauded for enriching sandy soils than spurry. 

 Von Vogt states that by its use the " worst shift- 

 ing sands may be made to yield remunerative crops 

 of rye — that the green manuring every other year 

 not only nourishes sufficiently the alternate crops 

 of rye, but gradually 

 enriches the soil — 

 and that it increases 

 the effect of any 

 other manure that 

 may subsequently be 

 put on." He adds, 

 also, that " spurry 

 produces often as 

 much improvement 

 if eaten off by cattle 

 as if plowed in ; and 

 tliat, when fed upon 



this i)lant, either green or in the state of hay, 

 cows not only give more milk, but of a richer 

 quality." The best seed comes from Riga. It can 

 be sown any time during the spring or summer. 



