528 



THE GRASSES OF TENNESSEE. 



The proportion of fat in the various vegetable products is 

 given in the following table taken from Prof. S. W. John- 

 son's "How Crops Grow": 



Fat. 



Meadow grass 0.8 percent 



Red Clover (green) 0.7 



Meadow hay 3.0 



Clover hay . 3.2 



Wheat straw 1.5 



Oat straw 2. 



Wheat Bran 1.5 



Potato, Irish 0.3 



It appears from this table that clover hay has not quite 

 one-half the fat of Indian corn, but having more albumi- 

 noids it has nearly 3 per cent, more nitrogenous food. Both 

 should be fed together, the clover to give muscle and the 

 corn to give fat. It also appears that the clover hay is 

 richer in fat than meadow hay. 



EFFECTS OF CLOVER UPON SOILS MANURE FOR. 



Numerous facts have taught the farmers of every country 

 where agriculture has flourished, that in many cases the 

 value of the after crop depends upon the preceding crop. 

 In other words, a proper rotation is a necessary antecedent 

 to successful farming. The cultivation of some crop with 

 extensive root ramifications, will prepare the soil for the 

 subsequent growth of a cereal. But the farmer should not 

 deceive himself. Every crop takes away a part of the 

 available plant-food, and the field has not increased in fer- 

 tility, but the plant-food has been made more rigidly effect- 

 ive for the production of a crop. "The physical and chem- 

 ical condition of the fields has been improved, but the 

 chemical store has been reduced." "All plants" says Lie- 

 big, "without exception, exhaust the soil, each of them in its 

 own way, of the conditions for their reproduction" 



A field, then, which produces more kindly after rotation, 

 is not necessarily more fertile, but is in better physical con- 

 dition. It has already been mentioned, that the mechanical 



