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VOL. LXIX INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 25, 1014 4# NO. 17 Soy Beans and Cow Peas for Soil Improvement If I had to write the eleventh commandment so it would cover the greatest number of farming sins, it would be this: Thou shalt grow sufficient legumes to maintain the supply of nitrogen and organic matter in the soil. It seems strange that some allow their soil to become hard, compact, lifeless, badly deficient in organic matter and almost devoid of nitrogen, when all of these conditions may be How to Grow and Manage These Valuable Crops for the Greatest Benefit to the Farm.—By J. C. Beavers wheat follows clover or beans. (This rotation is widely known as one that maintains the soil in a high state of productivity.) In 1884 Hellriegel and Willarth, two German scientists, found that leguminous plants did gather ni- acre, to contain in top and root from 100 to 130 pounds of nitrogen. The data concerning which of the two crops contains the most nitrogen is somewhat conflicting but usually the crop that thrives best in a particular local- down in very poor physical condition. Of course, the ideal way of improving the physical condition of any soil, when it is possible to do so economically, ls to use those crops that will add large quantities of both organic matter and nitrogen. The available data Indicate that there are few crops that are so well suited for this purpose as soy beans and cowpeas. These crops may be grown from the Great Lakes A Field of Soy Beans as They Should be Grown. prevented by the proper use of legumes cm the farm. Yet, there are millions of acres in the southern states and hundreds of thou.sands in the northern states that have been so reduced in fertility that they are agriculturally unprofitable, because sufficient legumes have not been grown or because not enough of those grown has been turned under. Throughout the corn belt, and in fact in most of the territory north of the cotton belt, clover has been and mo doubt will continue to be the principal leguminous crop. But in this territory th( e are many large areas of thin sandy and clay soils that for various reasons will not grow clover. On such soils cow peas and soy beans are rapidly becoming important crops, just as they have been in the south for many years. Value of Ijeguines Known to Romans. That beans, vetches, or lupines were the best preparation for a wheat crop was common knowledge of Roman agriculture, and the same observation afterwards led to the formation of the Norfolk four-course rotation In which trogen from the air, but only when, by infection from the soil, certain characteristic nodules were found upon the roots. While this discovery was made nearly thirty years ago, its significance in general agriculture is just beginning to be appreciated. The present wide spread and rapidly increasing culture of soy beans and cow peas is due to their ability to thrive upon thin soils and to improve their productive capacity. The main part of this improvement is undoubtedly due to the large quantity of nitrogen added. The Indiana Experiment Station found that cow peas grown as a cover crop after wheat made an average for three years of 7.1 tons of green forage per acre which contained 112 pounds of nitrogen. The stubble and roots from the same crop contained 16.8 pounds of nitrogen to the acre. Soy beans grown under the same conditions produced 6 tons of green forage per acre which contained 92 pounds of nitrogen, while the stubble and roots contained 13 pounds. Judging from this data we may expect a crop of soy beans or cow peas that produces 2 tons of cured hay to the ity will produce the greater amount of forage per acre and give the greater amount of .soil improvement. The Question of Nitrogen and Humus. At present there is no way of determining how much nitrogen the plant gets from the soil or air, but it is usually estimated that these crops when grown under normal conditions, will gather about two-thirds of their nitrogen from the air. On this basis a crop capable of making two tons of cured hay to the acre would gather from the air from 8 to 12 dollars worth of nitrogen. There is much evidence to show that the turning under of such a crop gives marked improvement. One farmer in southwestern Indiana reports an increase of 20 bushels of wheat to the acre from turning under one crop of cow peas on run-down sandy soil. While nitrogen is an important element to be considered when selecting crops to be used for manuring, it is not the only one. In certain cases organic matter may be of as much benefit to the soil as nitrogen. This ls particularly true on soils badly run to the Gulf and will thrive on a greater variety of soils and under more adverse conditions than any other of our common leguminous crops. I have yet to learn of a soil that is so badly- run down that it will not grow one or the other of these crops when reasonable attention is given to its culture. The .Effect of Ijeguines on Thin Soil. Wherever they have been grown on thin soils, marked improvement in the productivity of other crops has been noted. At the Alabama Station cotton waa grown on one plat in 1898 and on an adjoining plat, cow peas were grown. Thecowpeas were picked by hand and yielded 11.8 bushels per acre. The following spring the vines were turned under and both plats were planted to cotton. The plat which had been in cow peas the previous year made 367 pounds more seed cotton per acre than the one which grew cotton the previous year. In order to find out how much residual effect the cow peas would give, both plats were put in oats in 1910. Oats on the plat which had grown cow peas produced Continued on page 20.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1914, v. 69, no. 17 (Apr. 25) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA6917 |
Date of Original | 1914 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-04-19 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | VOL. LXIX INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 25, 1014 4# NO. 17 Soy Beans and Cow Peas for Soil Improvement If I had to write the eleventh commandment so it would cover the greatest number of farming sins, it would be this: Thou shalt grow sufficient legumes to maintain the supply of nitrogen and organic matter in the soil. It seems strange that some allow their soil to become hard, compact, lifeless, badly deficient in organic matter and almost devoid of nitrogen, when all of these conditions may be How to Grow and Manage These Valuable Crops for the Greatest Benefit to the Farm.—By J. C. Beavers wheat follows clover or beans. (This rotation is widely known as one that maintains the soil in a high state of productivity.) In 1884 Hellriegel and Willarth, two German scientists, found that leguminous plants did gather ni- acre, to contain in top and root from 100 to 130 pounds of nitrogen. The data concerning which of the two crops contains the most nitrogen is somewhat conflicting but usually the crop that thrives best in a particular local- down in very poor physical condition. Of course, the ideal way of improving the physical condition of any soil, when it is possible to do so economically, ls to use those crops that will add large quantities of both organic matter and nitrogen. The available data Indicate that there are few crops that are so well suited for this purpose as soy beans and cowpeas. These crops may be grown from the Great Lakes A Field of Soy Beans as They Should be Grown. prevented by the proper use of legumes cm the farm. Yet, there are millions of acres in the southern states and hundreds of thou.sands in the northern states that have been so reduced in fertility that they are agriculturally unprofitable, because sufficient legumes have not been grown or because not enough of those grown has been turned under. Throughout the corn belt, and in fact in most of the territory north of the cotton belt, clover has been and mo doubt will continue to be the principal leguminous crop. But in this territory th( e are many large areas of thin sandy and clay soils that for various reasons will not grow clover. On such soils cow peas and soy beans are rapidly becoming important crops, just as they have been in the south for many years. Value of Ijeguines Known to Romans. That beans, vetches, or lupines were the best preparation for a wheat crop was common knowledge of Roman agriculture, and the same observation afterwards led to the formation of the Norfolk four-course rotation In which trogen from the air, but only when, by infection from the soil, certain characteristic nodules were found upon the roots. While this discovery was made nearly thirty years ago, its significance in general agriculture is just beginning to be appreciated. The present wide spread and rapidly increasing culture of soy beans and cow peas is due to their ability to thrive upon thin soils and to improve their productive capacity. The main part of this improvement is undoubtedly due to the large quantity of nitrogen added. The Indiana Experiment Station found that cow peas grown as a cover crop after wheat made an average for three years of 7.1 tons of green forage per acre which contained 112 pounds of nitrogen. The stubble and roots from the same crop contained 16.8 pounds of nitrogen to the acre. Soy beans grown under the same conditions produced 6 tons of green forage per acre which contained 92 pounds of nitrogen, while the stubble and roots contained 13 pounds. Judging from this data we may expect a crop of soy beans or cow peas that produces 2 tons of cured hay to the ity will produce the greater amount of forage per acre and give the greater amount of .soil improvement. The Question of Nitrogen and Humus. At present there is no way of determining how much nitrogen the plant gets from the soil or air, but it is usually estimated that these crops when grown under normal conditions, will gather about two-thirds of their nitrogen from the air. On this basis a crop capable of making two tons of cured hay to the acre would gather from the air from 8 to 12 dollars worth of nitrogen. There is much evidence to show that the turning under of such a crop gives marked improvement. One farmer in southwestern Indiana reports an increase of 20 bushels of wheat to the acre from turning under one crop of cow peas on run-down sandy soil. While nitrogen is an important element to be considered when selecting crops to be used for manuring, it is not the only one. In certain cases organic matter may be of as much benefit to the soil as nitrogen. This ls particularly true on soils badly run to the Gulf and will thrive on a greater variety of soils and under more adverse conditions than any other of our common leguminous crops. I have yet to learn of a soil that is so badly- run down that it will not grow one or the other of these crops when reasonable attention is given to its culture. The .Effect of Ijeguines on Thin Soil. Wherever they have been grown on thin soils, marked improvement in the productivity of other crops has been noted. At the Alabama Station cotton waa grown on one plat in 1898 and on an adjoining plat, cow peas were grown. Thecowpeas were picked by hand and yielded 11.8 bushels per acre. The following spring the vines were turned under and both plats were planted to cotton. The plat which had been in cow peas the previous year made 367 pounds more seed cotton per acre than the one which grew cotton the previous year. In order to find out how much residual effect the cow peas would give, both plats were put in oats in 1910. Oats on the plat which had grown cow peas produced Continued on page 20. |
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