Agronomists' study

Usage examples of soils.

Such are sandy soils that have been much worn by cropping, and also stiff clays in which the humus has become practically exhausted.

Alfalfa flourishes best on those mountain valley soils when irrigated, or when these are so underlaid with water as to furnish the plants with moisture.

Applications of muriate or sulphate of potash or kainit may prove profitable, but on many soils they are not necessary in growing clover.

Alsike clover has much the same adaptation to soils as the medium and mammoth varieties, but will grow better than these on low-lying soils well stored with humus.

Crimson clover has highest adaptation for sandy loam soils into which the roots can penetrate easily.

Small, white clover has adaptation for soils very similar to that of alsike clover.

Japan clover and burr clover will grow on almost any kind of soil, but on good soils the growth will, of course, be much more vigorous than on poor soils.

They have power to gather nitrogen from the air and store it in the soil in tubercles which form on their roots, in all soils in which they produce a vigorous growth.

But since these clover plants have the power to bring nitrogen from the air, it must not be supposed that they will grow with sufficient vigor in soils destitute of this element.

Clay soils may call for the free use of the harrow and roller used in some sort of alternation before they are sufficiently pulverized.

Excessive fineness in pulverization of these soils is also to be guarded against in rainy climates, lest they run together, but this condition is present far less frequently than the opposite.

On some soils the ground becomes sufficiently honeycombed through the agency of water and frost to put it in a fine condition for receiving the seed.

Such are soils, in some instances at least, that have been newly drained, also soils that grow such plants as sorrels.

On such soils this is most cheaply applied in the air-slaked form, such as is used in plastering and in quantities to effect the end sought.

Seeds sown in the early autumn as soon as the rains come will make a good stand before the winter, but there are some soils in the South in which alternate freezing and thawing in winter, much more frequent than in the North, would injure and in some instances destroy the plants.