THE VALUE OF CLOVER
The production of clovers under the right conditions enriches the soil. This is true even when the crops produced are cut and removed. Clover, as has been pointed out, is capable of taking its nitrogen from the air. Not only does it take from the air under the right conditions a large proportion of the nitrogen which becomes a part of its stems, leaves, and flowers, but it takes a large amounts of nitrogen which becomes a part of its roots. The three tons of clover hay which an acre of good clover land will Droduce in a year will contain about 1201b of nitrogen; and yet after the production of this crop the soil will contain more nitrogen than it did at the start, if conditions have heen right, for the roots and the stubble of the clover are very rich in this element, and when these decay, the nitrogen they contain becomes a part of the capital of the soil, and this nitrogen has been taken from the air and thus brought within the reach of subsequent crop through the agency of the growing clover. In one other direction the growth of clovers is likely to result in soil improvement. Most of them are very deep-rooted plants. They have long, thick tap roots, which run down into the soil. As a consequence, the subsoil compound is opened up and mellowed. The availability of the stores of plant food in it as well as in the surface soil is increased. Crops which follow clovers are likely to send their roots deeper into the soil than when following grasses, which are more shallow rooted.
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King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 435, 31 January 1912, Page 6
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278THE VALUE OF CLOVER King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 435, 31 January 1912, Page 6
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