PLOUGHING IN GREEN CROPS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 733, 2 April 1881, Page 2

PLOUGHING IN GREEN CROPS.

The Boston Journal of Chemistry ex-J----plains as follows how this helps to fertiliso the soil. A large number of farmers . are unable to understand how it is possible to better the condition of landß by ploughing in clover, rye, buckwheat, &c., in a green condition, The difficulty ia in comprehending methods by which crops that are supposed to draw their sustenance from tho soil in which they grow can return anything more to the soil than they took away in its growth. This point ia cleared up when it is known that all plants draw nourishment from'the atmos-"' phere as well as from the soil, and this is • ono source of gain. While the.leaves are accumulating stores of fertility from the air, the roots are busy searching for it in the soil, and thus the two distinct parts of plants work together. It is probable that crops absorb in some way nitrogen from the atmosphere; at least, it has never been satisfactorily proved that they ; -do not, and hence from that source one of the most valuable of the various kinds • of plant food may be derived. If this point is in doubt, it is certain that the leaves gather from the atmosphere organic ■ matter, and organise them so as to form the great body of the plant, and when wo turn under the clover it leaves its organio matter in the soil, and this is, in an important sense, manure, But the excellent effects of ploughing under clover or other green crops are not from air. The • groat, deep penetrating roots go to a point lower than most of the cereals, and hence they draw supplies of mineral food from sources inaccessible to other valuable plants; the further, it is observed, that these roots of coarse texture disintegrate and loosen the soil, so that the air is let., in, and in some sense the work of' tho plough is performed by them, ffhon; these roots decay, thoy form a ble portion of organic or vegetable matterwhich, combined with tho mineral, gives a good compost for bettor plants to thrivo in; From these brief considerations it will be readily seen how it is possible to ■ manure land by ploughing in green crops, and we will here romark that it is a practice not of ton, enough followed Wmiy husbandmen.