162 



with good effect on the crop following, or it may be pastured. Serra- 

 della is an excellent fodder plant and may be fed with none of the dan- 

 ger attending the feeding of lupines. It miy be fed either green or as 

 hay or silage. It is eagerly eaten by all kinds of farm animals, retains 

 its palatability and food value up to the end of blooming, and has a 

 very favourable effect on the secretion of milk. 



The claim is frequently made, in advocating growing serradella for 

 green manuring, that it is an exceedingly cheap means of securing 

 nitrogen ; that with a small expenditure for seed, and no extra labour 

 except that of sowing the seed, a large amount of nitrogen is secured 

 from the air. Admitting this, has not this nitrogen, in the form in 

 which it exists, namely, as portein, a much higher value when used 

 for feeding animals than when ploughed under ? If it is a cheap source 

 of nitrogen for manuring, is it not also a cheap source of portein for 

 feeding, especially when three quarters of the nitrogen in the crop is 

 recovered in the manure ? 



A German authority on feeding and farni management has calcu- 

 lated the ma'ter on a financial basis. Assuming an average crop of 

 17,600 pounds of green serredella, which is a moderate crop, he finds 

 the nitrogen in the crop from an acre to be worth $11.06. This is 

 taken as the value of the crop for green manuring, as the nitrogen is 

 the only fertilising element not derived from the soil, and the barnyard 

 manure furnishes nearly as much humus as green manuring 



The estimated profit from feeding the crop of 17,6uO pounds of green 

 serradella to milch cows, when the barnytird manure is returned to 

 the soil, is $23 . 12. In this c dculafion even possible expense attend- 

 ing the feeding is taken into account, including care of animals, 

 interest on m ney, cost of carting the barnyard manure to the land, 

 etc., and allowance is made for the phosphoric acid and potash sold in 

 the milk. The comparison stands then as follows : — 



Profit from feeding crop of serradella from 1 acre $23.12 



Value of crop of serradella from 1 acre of green manuring 11.06 



Difference $12.06 



This calculation shows the crop of serradella to be more than twice 



as valuable for feeding as for green manuring. 



The above calculation assumed a daily milk yield of quarts, sold 



at 2\ cents per quart. On the basis of only 1£ cents per quart of milk, 



the feeding value would be $13.52, or still $2.46 higher than i he value 



for green manuring. 



GREEN MANURING ON MEDIUM RICH SOILS. 



Green manuring on medium rich soils has much less to recommend 

 it than on sand}' soils. Although the green manuring of light sandy 

 soils with lupines is often of very great advantage in enriching the soil 

 in humus, this advantage does not hold good in the case of better soil. 



There are other plan s better adapted than lupines to serve as fallow 

 crops on these better soils. Serradella does well, but as a rule is not 

 to be recomm°nded for a principal crop, and when sown with rye, giv- 

 ing a good yield, it is often so choked out as to amount to very little. 

 But where it can be grown with advantage as a first crop on better 

 soils it must be fed to be utilised to the fullest extent, as pointed out 

 above. 



