1922.] 



( Ikkkn M am kino 



L09 



The most outstanding example of a system id the second 

 category is that used on the poor light glacial sands of Suffolk. 

 This land is so poor that it scarcely repays cultivation on 

 ordinary straightforward lines, yet by adopting a rotation such 

 as rye, lupins, potatoes, silage crops, it is possible to make 

 farming on this land pay well. The lupins are sown in tin 

 late spring or early summer and may be ploughed in either 

 when in flower, or seed may be gathered, and the plant then 

 turned in. The lupins do so well, even on the poorest of this 

 land, that when turned in they give as much organic matter 

 and nitrogen as a dressing of about 8-10 tons of farmyard 

 manure. The use of lupins as green manure on poor sands is 

 extending to other counties, notably Notts. , where some striking 

 results have been obtained in trials (sec Part II in next month's 

 Journal). 



Of systems in the third category, an example is afforded 

 by the practice common in the market gardening districts 

 around Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, where red or white clover 

 is commonly sown with the corn in spring and turned under in 

 the autumn or the new year, before potatoes. In a moist 

 season the green matter ploughed in is often found to be as 

 effective as a dressing of 25 tons of stable manure. Similarly 

 some of the growers in the Lothian s sow rye grass and red 

 clover in the spring corn and turn it under in the following 

 spring. The same practice has been tried in the Aberdeen 

 district, but it is not general there, for owing to the late harvest, 

 green stuff in the bottom of the sheaves adds to the difficulty 

 of drying, and after harvest it is too late for the rye grass and 

 clover to make much growth. Of course the ploughing up of a 

 temporary seeds ley incorporates a large quantity of valuable 

 organic matter in the soil, and to this extent most arable land 

 is green-manured at intervals. The potato growers of Lincoln- 

 shire commonly turn in the aftermath of the clover as a green 

 manure, with good results. Where the land is left down to 

 grass for several years, as in the Aberdeen district and many 

 districts in England, the sod of grass which is ploughed down 

 is an excellent green manure, and gives so much nitrogen to 

 the soil that no nitrogenous artificials are needed for a follow- 

 ing oat crop, and indeed, their use is liable to cause lodging. 



Green Manuring Abroad. —We must, however, go overseas 

 to find the practice of green manuring in its mosl highly 

 developed stale. 



An outstanding example on the Continent is that of Germany, 

 where large tracts of barren sandy heath have been reclaimed 



