Productive farming . n other plants. Note also the one-sidedappearance of the blossoms on all of them. The cloverheads are composed of many blossoms. Exercise.—Nodules on Clover Roots,—Have some ofthe older pupils dig up roots of clover, alfalfa, or other leg-umes. Wash them and find the nodules or lumps, the sizeof a pin-head or larger. These are the homes of many bac-teria which aid the clover plants in getting nitrogen. Savethe best samples obtained in this exercise by placing themin a bottle of water with a small amoimt (2 per cent) offormaUn added to it. (See Pigs. 62 and 55o.) Legumes fo
Productive farming . n other plants. Note also the one-sidedappearance of the blossoms on all of them. The cloverheads are composed of many blossoms. Exercise.—Nodules on Clover Roots,—Have some ofthe older pupils dig up roots of clover, alfalfa, or other leg-umes. Wash them and find the nodules or lumps, the sizeof a pin-head or larger. These are the homes of many bac-teria which aid the clover plants in getting nitrogen. Savethe best samples obtained in this exercise by placing themin a bottle of water with a small amoimt (2 per cent) offormaUn added to it. (See Pigs. 62 and 55o.) Legumes for Summer Forage.—Farmers should givesome attention to the growing of several legume crops and 102 PRODUCTIVE far:\iixg mixed crops for use when pastures are dry in summer, andalso for winter forage. There are two summer, or hot weather, legumes whichshould always find a place in the rotations on a dairy peas (Fig. 53) and soy beans have both been tried sooften that their use is no longer an Fig. 52.—^Alsike-clover roots (on left) and garden-pea roots (on right). Usefulbacteria live in these nodules and enable the plan ts to use nitrogen from the air whichthey otherwise could not do. They have many advantages: Quick, dense growth ifsown in warm weather; a big supply of green forage to feedwhen pastiu-es are dry; very good for hay if cut and curedin dry weather; ten to twelve per cent of protein in the curedcrop; a very high content of protein in the ripened seed,especially of soy beans; a big supply of nitrogen and greenmanure for the improvement of the soil if the crop is turnedunder, or even if the stubble and roots only are worked in;and the deep roots are a great physical help in most soils. FARM CROPS 103 In a warm spring it is safe to sow cow peas early in June,and the quick-groT^ing varieties -n-ill be ready to begin feedinggreen by the middle of July. Six or seven pecks of seed peracre are so-wti. By a succession of sowings of two or three
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