9 
But animals, as well as plants, require nitrogen for food. 
By feeding the crops of clover, cow pea, etc., only about one- 
fourth of the fertilizing materials of the crop is lost if the 
manure is properly cared for. As the nitrogen of the air is 
the cheapest source of nitrogen for plants, so it is the cheapest 
source of protein (nitrogen) for animals. The leguminous 
crop is the best utilized when it is fed out on the farm and 
the manure saved and applied to the soil. The greatest profit 
is thus secured and nearly the same fertility is maintained as 
in green manuring. 
The system of soiling, or feeding green crops in the barn 
in place of pasturage, enables a larger number of animals to 
be kept on a given area of land, and the manure to be more 
completely saved. For this purpose leguminous crops are 
extremely valuable. 
Trials at the station in Wisconsin showed that by soiling 
in summer a certain area of land will yield double the amount 
of milk and butter that it will when pastured." 
cow PEA FOR FEEDING. 
A prominent agriculturist in the South says of the cow pea : 
'*For the production of a nitrogenous food in the shape of a 
forage crop the cow pea vines are almost without a rival. 
* * * On an acre of ordinary land this crop will probably 
produce 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 Rhode Island experiment station a crop of 17^^ tons 
of green cow-pea 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 
$^ per ton the 17^ tons would be worth $52.50 for feeding, 
and there would be less than one-third of the fertilizing in- 
gredients lost in feeding the crop. 
Grow more leguminous crops. They furnish the cheapest 
food for stock and the cheapest manure for the soil. They 
do this because they obtain from the air a substance necessary 
for plants and animals alike, which costs in the form of fer- 
tilizers and feeding stuffs from 15 to 25 cents a pound. 
