AGRICULTURAL SITUATION IN THE EAST 37 



After the plowing is thoroughly done the next 

 important thing that the Eastern farmer must look 

 out for, as noted before, is supplying the humus. 

 Make all the stable manure you can, and to do this 

 you must keep all the stock that you possibly can. 

 Preserve your stable manure so it will be well 

 rotted before it is applied. Do not let it stand out 

 in the open where rains will leach out the soluble 

 elements. An intelligent rotation of crops must be 

 practiced even where manure is abundant and 

 where leguminous crops are grown freely. If the 

 land is seeded to timothy or clover and allowed to 

 remain for two or three years, the upper layers will 

 become well filled with plant roots so that when 

 the sod is finally broken the soil will be in fine 

 condition. If alfalfa is grown, and it can be in 

 many parts of the Eastern section, nothing is better 

 for renovating a soil. Its roots are long and pene- 

 trate to a great depth. It furnishes a forage that 

 is a first-class dairy feed and also is excellent for 

 raising hogs and feeding to poultry. 



GREEN AND BARNYARD MANURES 



The practice of plowing under green manures is 

 not very general and probably never will be along 

 the Atlantic coast, but it can be used to advantage 

 in some cases. The chief objection, however, in 

 this country is that the green crop when plowed 

 under is apt to ferment and produce an acid in the 

 soil. It is generally desirable to-plow the green crop 

 under and then seed the land to some winter crop. 

 In New Jersey and Georgia crimson clover is used 

 to good advantage. This particular clover stores 

 up large amounts of nitrogen. It should be sown 

 in July in the North and in September in the South. 



