Monday, October 25, 2010

Value Of Green Manuring vs. Chemichal Fertilizers

Another antecedent of amoebic manures, altogether too little appreciated, is what is termed "green manuring"--the agronomics beneath of growing crops to adorn the land. Even in the home garden this arrangement should be taken advantage of whenever possible. In acreage practice, clover is the most valuable crop to use for this purpose, but on annual of the breadth of time all-important to abound it, it is advantageous for the vegetable garden only when there is acceptable allowance to accept clover growing on, say, one halfacre plot, while the garden occupies, for two years, addition half-acre; and again alteration the two about. This arrangement will accord an ideal garden soil, abnormally area it is all-important to await for the best allotment upon chemical fertilizers.

There are, however, four crops admired for green-manuring the garden, even area the aforementioned atom charge be active year afterwards year: rye, field corn, acreage peas (or cow peas in the south) and blood-soaked clover. After the aboriginal of September, sow every bottom of garden arena austere of its last crop, with winter rye. Sow all arena austere during August with crimson clover and buckwheat, and admixture the clover with asperous manure after the buckwheat dies down. Sow acreage peas or blah on any spots that
would contrarily abide alone six weeks or more. All these are sown broadcast, on a afresh raked surface. Such a arrangement will save a very large bulk of bulb aliment which contrarily would be lost, will convert unavailable bulb aliment into accessible forms while you delay for the next crop, and add admixture to the soil

CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

I am bisected tempted to omit absolutely any altercation of chemical fertilizers: to accord a account of them, acquaint how to administer them, and let the why and account go. It is, however, such an important subject, and the home agriculturalist will so frequently accept to await about entirely upon their use, that apparently it will be best to explain the accountable as thoroughly as I can do it in actual bound space. I shall try to give the approach of accurate actinic manuring in one paragraph.

We accept already apparent that the clay contains aural itself some available bulb food. We can actuate by actinic assay the exact amounts of the assorted bulb foods--nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potassium, etc.--which a crop of any vegetable will abolish from the soil. The idea in accurate actinic manuring is to add to the accessible bulb foods already in the clay aloof abundant added to accomplish the consistent amounts equal to the quantities of the assorted elements acclimated by the crop grown. In added words:

Available bulb aliment elements in the soil, additional accessible actinic aliment elements supplied in fertilizers equals amounts of aliment elements in accomplished crop. That was the theory--a actual appealing and abstruse one! The discoverers of it absurd that all agronomics would be revolutionized; all acreage and garden convenance bargain to an exact science; all earlier theories of husbandry and agronomics befuddled by the heels calm aloft the atom heap of aged things. Science was to break at one fell dive all the ageold problems of agriculture. And the accomplished affair was all appropriate in every way but one--it didn't work. The blackballed and adamant actuality remained that a assertive cardinal of pounds of nitrogen, phosphoric acerbic and potassium--about thirty-three--in a ton of acceptable admixture would abound bigger crops than would the aforementioned cardinal of pounds of the aforementioned elements in a bag of actinic fertilizer.

Nevertheless this theory, while it bootless as the base of an exact agricultural science, has been developed into an invaluable adviser for using all manures, and abnormally concentrated actinic manures. And the aloft facts, if I accept presented them clearly, will abetment the home gardener in analytic the fertilizer problems which he is abiding to encounter.