riments of Dr. Voelcker," said I, "give me great
encouragement. Here is a soil, 'originally rather unproductive, but much
improved by deep culture; by being smashed up into rough clods early in
autumn, and by being exposed in this state to the crumbling effects of
the air.' It now produces 40 bushels of wheat per acre, and part of the
field yielded three tons of clover-hay, per acre, the first cutting, and
5-1/2 bushels of clover-seed afterwards--and that in a very unfavorable
season for clover-seed."

You will find that the farmers in England do not expect to make their
land rich, by growing clover and selling the produce. After they have
got their land rich, by good cultivation, and the liberal use of animal
and artificial manures, they may expect a good crop of wheat from the
roots of the clover. But they take good care to feed out the clover
itself on the farm, in connection with turnips and oil-cake, and thus
make rich manure.

And so it is in this country. Much as we hear about the value of clover
for manure, even those who extol it the highest do not depend upon it
alone for bringing up and maintaining the fertility of their farms. The
men who raise the largest crops and make the most money by farming, do
not sell clover-hay. They do not look to the roots of the clover for
making a poor soil rich. They are, to a man, good cultivators. They work
their land thoroughly and kill the weeds. They keep good stock, and feed
liberally, and make good manure. They use lime, ashes, and plaster, and
are glad to draw manure from the cities and villages, and muck from the
swamps, and not a few of them buy artificial manures. In the hands of
such farmers, clover is a grand renovating crop. It gathers up the
fertility of the soil, and the roots alone of a large crop, often
furnish food enough for a good crop of corn, potatoes, or wheat. But if
your land was not in good heart to start with, you would not get the
large crop of clover; and if you depend on the clover-roots alone, the
time is not far distant when your large crops of clover will be things
of the past.

AMOUNT OF ROOTS LEFT IN THE SOIL BY DIFFERENT CROPS.

"We have seen that Dr. Voelcker made four separate determinations of the
amount of clover-roots left in the soil to the depth of six inches. It
may be well to tabulate the figures obtained:

Clover-Roots, in Six Inches of Soil, Per Acre.

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