THE FIRST BOOK OF FARMING 



The Canadian Field Pea is sometimes grown in 

 the north as a green manure crop. 



White Sweet Clover, white melitot or Bokhara 

 clover, grows as a weed from New England to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf States it is regarded 

 as a valuable forage and green manure plant. One 

 or two pecks of seed per acre are sown in January 

 or February. 



Alfalfa, or lucern, though grown more for a 

 forage crop than for green manuring, should be 

 mentioned here, for wherever grown and for what- 

 ever purpose, its effects on the soil are beneficial 

 (Fig. 82). This plant requires a well prepared soil 

 that is free from weeds. Twenty to twenty-five 

 pounds of seed are planted per acre. In the north 

 the seeding is generally done in the spring after 

 danger of frost is past, as frost kills the young 

 plants. In the South fall seeding is the custom in 

 order to give the young plants a long start ahead 

 of the spring weeds. One seeding if well cared for 

 lasts for many years. Alfalfa is pastured or cut for 

 hay, four to eight tons being the yield. Many fields 

 run out in five or six years and the sod is plowed 

 under. This plant sends its roots thirteen, sixteen, 

 and even thirty feet into the soil after water and 

 food, and when these roots decay they furnish the 

 lower soil with organic matter and their passages 

 serve as drains and ventilators in the soil. Alfalfa 

 is grown extensively in the semi-arid regions of the 

 country. 



