252 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



both Corn and Clover were forced to remember the ancient saying: 

 " And this, too, shall pass away." King Corn began to complain again 

 that his bed was getting bard and that the food furnished him was not 

 sufficient. Queen Clover replied that she, too, was suffering from 

 hunger, and tbat her home in the soil which had always been sweet and 

 clean was becoming sour. 



Naturally, Queen Clover was much more sensitive to this condition 

 than King Corn, but she had done the best she could with what she 

 had found in the soil and she had also secured for herself one choice 

 kind of food from the air, and even prepared it for the King so far as 

 she could. 



But, in spite of all they could do, Queeen Clover's health began to 

 fail; and some years she was entirely helpless, and consequently King 

 Corn suffered greatly. They consulted many doctors. Some said the 

 soil needed more drainage; others said the seed-bed should be better 

 prepared; and still others advised the use of better seed and of more 

 thorough cultivation. 



All of these remedies proved helpful, but they afforded only tem- 

 porary relief. At last Queen Clover said to the king that when she 

 was a child a doctor, whose name was Science, had once visited her 

 family, and that whatever he did was exactly right because his knowl- 

 edge was true and absolute. He had shown them that all of the mem- 

 bers of the Clover family were able to secure nitrogen from the air, and 

 that this was one of the essential foods for plants. 



The king and queen were greatly rejoiced to learn that the old 

 doctor was still living, and they at once secured his services. • 



After a thorough investigation of the conditions, Doctor Science 

 reported that he understood the case and that the remedy was simple 

 and still within easy reach, but that they should proceed at once to apply 

 the treatment before it became too late. 



" The fundamental trouble," said he to King Corn, " is with the soil 

 in which you live. In order to establish a permanent and healthful 

 home for yourself and Queen Clover, about one half ton per acre of pure 

 steamed bone meal, or of fine-ground natural rock phosphate, and two 

 tons per acre of ground limestone should be applied once every four or 

 five years. Then don't occupy the land too much of the time yourself, 

 but bring in other crops and have a rotation — such as corn, oats and 

 clover, or corn, wheat and clover for a three-year rotation ; or wheat, 

 corn, oats and clover (in grain farming), or corn, corn, oats and clover 

 (in live-stock farming), for a four-year rotation. In the four-year 

 rotation for grain farming a catch crop of clover may also be seeded on 

 the wheat ground and plowed under the next spring for corn, and the 

 regular clover crop in the fourth year may be mowed once or twice and 

 left lying on the land, the seed crop afterward being harvested with a 

 buncher attached to the mower. 



