7 he Nitrogen Problem in Crop Production. 109 
Table III. — Yields during the same years on Plots inhere no 
Manure is supplied. 
1st crop, wheat 
2nd crop, 
swedes 
3rd crop, barley 
Grain 
Straw 
Grain 
Straw 
Bushels 
Cwt. 
Cwt. 
Bushels 
Cwt. 
Yield after clover 
223 
18-9 
5'1 
10-5 
97 
Yield after fallow 
231 
19 0 
16 2 
14-4 
10-3 
Decrease due to clover . 
•8 
_ 
111 
39 
•6 
Percentage decrease 
— 
685 
27 
3-8 
Many cases are on record where leguminous crops have 
effected great improvement in the soil. Jethro Tull, writing 
in 1730, mentions a farm of over 100 acres on thin slaty land 
“ of ten pounds per annum rent, which, whilst in arable was 
like to have undone the tenant, but, being all planted with 
St. Foin by the owner, was let out a(f one hundred and 
ten pounds per annum, and proved a good bargain.” A 
classical instance is furnished by the Schultz-Lupitz estate in 
Altmark, North Germany. Fifty years ago this was a barren 
sand ; it was manured with lime, potash, and phosphoric acid, 
and cropped alternately with lupines and cereals. The lupines 
were either ploughed in or fed, and so increased the amount 
of nitrogen 1 and organic matter that the barren sand was after 
a time converted into a rich soil, capable of growing a large 
variety of crops. This excellent result had been obtained 
without buying in any nitrogenous manure. In our own 
country the late Mr. Mason, of Eynsham Hall, Oxon, effected 
a marked and permanent improvement in some poor Oxford 
clay by deep cultivation, treatment with basic slag, and sowing 
with lucerne. Wherever a good plant was obtained, the soil 
was considerably enriched in nitrogen ; as the ley got old, it 
was either converted into meadow by sowing appropriate grass 
seeds, or else ploughed up and put into corn and roots. 
It is hardly necessary to lay further stress on the impor- 
tance of leguminous crops. Their value is great, whether 
they are fed green or made into hay, and whether the hay 
is fed or sold off. Unfortunately they suffer from two or 
three drawbacks. 
They cannot replace roots as winter and spring food. 
Attempts have been made to convert them into- silage to be 
fed in winter and spring, but without any great success ; 
1 In 1880 the top 8 inches of soil contained '087 per cent, of nitrogen, and 
in 1891 "177 per cent. An adjoining pasture was found in 1880 to contain 
only -027 per cent. 
