This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 Excerpt: ... uses of green manures, the more important are the following: The seed must be cheap; it must be a crop which can make good growth if sown broadcast; it should be a crop which makes rapid growth; it should have a deep and vigorous root system; it should be hardy, i. e., not injured by frosts. If, in addition to the characteristics named, it is a legume and possesses the ability to gather nitrogen from the air it will prove most valuable. (a) Ability to thrive broadcast--This is the quickest method of planting and if a crop will thrive under it, it costs least to put it in. Moreover, the crop sown broadcast most quickly and efficiently covers and shades the ground, and therefore is most effective in stifling weeds. (b) Rapid growth--A crop which makes a rapid growth from the very start is the most effective assistant in helping to free a field from weeds. As it produces a large bulk of vegetable matter in a limited time, it may be possible to enrich a soil in humus to an extent otherwise impossible in the perhaps limited interval between the growth of crops which are to be harvested. (t) A deep and vigorous root system--The possession of roots reaching deep and wide and filling the entire soil means that the crop will have a maximum influence in the direction of the various kinds of improvement possible from green manuring. Such a system of roots makes a crop a good rustler, to use the expressive Western phrase, and this is the kind of crop which the farmer needs for soil improvement. (/) Hardiness, nitrogen conservation--The prevention of the waste of this important element is oftentimes one of the most important of the effects of green manuring. But waste of nitrogen in the form of nitrates is most common during the period of heavy autumn rains, in the cli...