242 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



leave in the soil, produces substances which tend to dis- 

 solve mineral elements that are otherAvise insoluble. 



184. How Legumes balance the Food Ration. — Corn 

 and other grains, used for fattening the animals which yield 

 our meat supply, are generally rich in carbohydrates, which 

 are heat-producing materials, but lacking in proteins, or 

 tissue building foods. (Sections 67 and 94.) The seeds, 

 stems and leaves of the legumes are rich in proteins and 

 therefore are used to balance the rations of our live stock. 



In the same way, beans and peas are important articles 

 of food for man since, they contain an unusually high 

 proportion of proteins. 



185. How Legumes assist in the Control of Insects and 

 Fungous Pests. — Leguminous crops are not subject to 

 the attack of the same classes of insects and fungous 

 diseases as are cereals. 



Those enemies, which have been present in a field of 

 com or wheat, must largely disappear when the land is 

 occupied by clover. 



186. Where the Different Legumes grow. — There is 

 no place in the United States where one or more varieties 

 of legumes will not thrive if the soil and moisture condi- 

 tions are right. 



Let us in fancy go to the Gulf of Mexico, and, joining 

 hands in a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, 

 travel northward to the Canadian line, finding out what 

 we can that is interesting and instructive about legumes. 



Along the Gulf, and extending northward almost to 

 the Ohio River, we shall find the little Japan clover on 

 both poor and rich soils, but more abundantly on the poor 

 soils where the perennial grasses will not thrive. On the 

 river bottom land, subject even to an occasional overflow, 



