34 MARKET GARDENING. 



direct yalue of the constituent parts of the hay, straw, 

 or green matter upon the surface. 



That the soil becomes of higher fertility when cov- 

 ered by matter, inert or otherwise, so that the air is not 

 excluded, cannot be denied. A case is known to the 

 writer where a remarkable fertility was shown by a soil 

 which had been covered two years by a board floor on 

 the surface of an open field, the explanation being that 

 the soil daily absorbs ammonia jrom the air, from rain, 

 dew, and decay of organic matter, while, on the other 

 hand, if not covered, these absorptions are as rapidly lost 

 by volatilization. 



Of course, the most natural and cheapest covering 

 for the soil is a green crop, and if the green manuring 

 is to be done between spring and autumn, experience 

 points to corn as the best crop, two half-grown crops 

 being better than one allowed to reach such a develop- 

 ment as to be difficult to plow under, the first crop being 

 planted at the usual season, and the second sixty to 

 seventy days subsequently, the latter crop being plowed 

 under after frost checks its growth. 



On Bloomsdale Farm, this system has been pursued 

 with profit, but, better still, rye sown in the October 

 following the corn. Ilye has proved to be the best green 

 manure sown in October or November, and, when prop- 

 erly put in, will produce a sponge-like mat of from four 

 to five tons of root fibers and fifteen to sixteen tons of 

 green herbage to turn under in April or May, and early 

 enough, except in the far South, for crops of potatoes, 

 onions, melons and corn. Rye, grown during autumn 

 and winter, only occupies the ground during a season when 

 no other crop except wheat would be standing out, and it 

 covers' the soil during a critical period. The cost of a 

 green crop of rye should not be over four dollars to the 

 acre, say one dollar for seed, one and a half dollars for 

 the preparation of the land, one and a half dollars for 

 turning under. 



