164 



uniform cropping and manuring was divided into two plats of about 

 one fourth acre each. Rye had been grown on both plats that season. 



On one plat white field peas were sown in the rye stubble August 15., 

 The otherplat was given the same preparatory treatment, but remained 

 bare. Both plats were ploughed November 2. The pea vines had grown 

 to a height of 15 to 18 inches, and a large weighed sample showed that 

 the green crop was at the rate of 3| tons per acre, containing 37£ 

 pounds of nitrogen. 



March 23, 1892, barley was sown on both plats. The green-manured 

 plat received no other manuring, but the other plat received an amount 

 of nitrate of soda furnishing 28 pounds of nitrogen per acre. The 

 barley was harvested August 9. The yield on the two plats was prac- 

 tically the same. The agreement in percentage of nitrogen is equally 

 striking. The total nitrogen per acre in the crop from the green- 

 manured plat was 60 . 34 pounds, and from the nitrate of soda plat 60 . 12 

 pounds. The green manuring, with 37.33 pounds of nitrogen per acre 

 had given a result equally as good in everyway as an application of 28 

 pounds of nitrogen per acre in the form of nitrate of soda. But even 

 with this favourable result there was no financial advantage from the 

 green manuring as shown by this single crop. It furnished 37.33 pounds 

 of nitrogen per acre, which at 15 cents per pound would be worth only 

 $5. CO, which would no more than pay for the pea seed used. 



ALFALFA AND CRIMSON CLOVER FOR FEEDING. 



Suppose that,insteadof being ploughed under, thealfalfa grown at the 

 New Jersey Experiment Station, as referred to (p. 156), bad been fed to 

 animals arid the manure carefully saved and returned to the soil. The 

 total yield of four cuttings during the season of 1889 wt.s about 23 tons 

 of green alfalfa per acre. The value of this crop for fodder at $3 per 

 ton would be $69 as compared with its value of $46. 50 for green manur- 

 ing, and it is fair to assume that some $35 worth of nitrogen would 

 "be returned to the soil in the manure. The crop of 13J tons of crimson 

 clover reported elsewhere (p. 158) would be worth about $40 for feeding 

 as compared with $17.25 for green manuring. When made into hay 

 crimson clover is an excellent feeding stuff and rivals bran in composi- 

 tion. Instead of cutting the crop it may be pastured to advantage. 



COWPEA FOR FEEDING. 



A prominent agriculturist in the South says of the cowpea : 



For the production of a nitrogenous food in the shape of a forage crop the cowpea 

 vines are almost without a rival. * * * On an acre r f ordinary land this crop 

 will probably pr< duce more digestible food than either oats or corn. "The manure 

 resulting from feeding this crop is of the highest value and should be carefully 

 preserved and returned to the land. 



At the Ehode Island Experiment Station a crop of 17£ tons of green 

 cowpea forage was harvested. This contained 157^ pounds of nitrogen, 

 which at 15 cents per pound would make the crop worth $23.63 per acre 

 for green manuring. At $3 per ton the 17^ tons would be worth $52.50 

 for feeding fmd there would be less than one third of the fertilising 

 ingredients lost in feeding the crop. 



AYhat has been said of the above crops applies with equel force to 

 other crops commonly used for green manuring. The matter resolves 



