MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 337 



value of leguminous crops for improving poor 

 soils. These bacteria do not multiply on sour or 

 wet soils, which is one reason why light soils are 

 usually more benefited by green-manuring than 

 heavy soils. 



PLOWING UNDER A GREEN MANURE 



It is a common mistake to allow a cover crop to 



frow late into the spring, and until it gets woody, 

 efore plowing it under. Too much rank herb- 

 age may dry out the soil that season. The 

 earlier it is plowed under the more moist the_soii- 

 is, as a rule, and the quicker the plants decay. li 

 possible, it is best to plow under a green manure- at 

 least two weeks before planting the succeeding 

 crop, so that it may partially decay. If the crop is 

 not hardy, as oats or buckwheat, it is usually best 

 to allow the herbage to lie on the surface during 

 the winter, and plow it under in spring rather than 

 to plow in the fall. Little if any of the manurial 

 value of the crop is lost by leaving it on the ground 

 during the winter, and it protects the surface from 

 washing. Such crops as the cowpea and soy bean 

 are exceptions to this because their leaves fall off 

 and are blown away. When plowing under a large 

 amount of herbage, a drag chain is serviceable. In 

 general, it is much better to plow under small crops 

 of herbage two or three times than to plow under 

 a large quantity at one time. * 



Like every other farm practice, green-manuring 

 has limitations. Some crops do poorly if planted 

 on land where a green crop has just been plowed 

 under. Alfalfa, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and 

 buckwheat are among these. This is parti v be- 

 cause the decay of a large amount of herbage in the 



