SMALL HOLDINGS 117 



maturity, nodules will be found upon their 

 roots, and the quantity of nitrogen which 

 they contain will be largely in excess of that 

 which was present in the seed. Thus, with- 

 out a supply of nitrogen in the soil, this element 

 has been appropriated of necessity from the 

 atmosphere through the medium of the 

 bacteria in the nodules. Thus farmers are 

 shown why the nitrogen in the clover roots, 

 which remain after the removal of a heavy 

 crop of clover hay or forage, may be larger 

 in quantity than that present in the soil 

 before the clover seed was sown; and, there- 

 fore, why a wheat crop succeeds when it is 

 sown after a clover ley. The examination 

 of a clover, trefoil, or pea plant will reveal 

 the presence of the nodules in which the 

 bacteria are so actively engaged in providing 

 nitrogen for their assimilation of plant life. 

 Reference has been made to this subject 

 in order that the principle of manuring may 

 be better understood. A case in point 

 may be taken, and it is one in which the 

 writer was personally concerned. A large 

 field of extremely poor soil was sown with 

 barley and manured with basic slag, ex- 

 cepting upon a small portion, which was 

 dunged. When the barley had reach'^d a 



