102 



MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



But when we consider the large areas of uncultivated land in Mary- 

 land, where no crop is or will be growii under present conditions, the 

 value of the wild legume in building up such land by adding humus and 

 nitrogen becomes much more worthy of consideration, especially if we 

 remember the fact that the most of our waste woodland and fields are 

 covered with a natural growth of leguminous plants, doing their work 

 without a particle of labor on the part of the owner. On many thous- 

 and acres of waste land over one-half of the weed growth is composed 

 of nitrogen gathering leguminous plants. If by any means these 



Fig. 3 — Cow-pea — After Abel, Farmers' Bulletin 121, United States Department of 



Agriculture. 



plants can be encouraged to grow on uncultivated land their value will 

 be increased. The rank growing forms and those most rich in nitrogen 

 or which seed themselves most rapidly could be introduced on places 

 where they do not now occur, and might soon take the place of useless 

 weeds. A great many of these species grow with the greatest ease on 



