be added to the soil's supply for future crops. These
plants, known as legumes, embrace the clovers, alfalfa, the vetches,
peas, beans, and many others of less value. They provide not only the
organic matter so much needed by all thin soils, but at the same time
they are the means of adding to the soil large amounts of the one
element of plant-food that is most costly, most unstable, and most
deficient in poor soils. Their ability to secure nitrogen for their own
growth in poor land also is a prime consideration in their selection
for soil improvement, assuring a supply of organic matter where
otherwise partial failure would occur.

Storing Nitrogen.--Man needs protection from his own greed, and
nature's checks are his salvation. An illustration is afforded in the
case of legumes grown for the maintenance of soil fertility. The
clovers and some other legumes are seeded primarily for the benefit of
the soil. The need of organic matter is recognized, and a cheap supply
of nitrogen is wanted for other crops in the rotation. The purpose of
the seeding is praiseworthy, but if all of the product were available
for use off the land, observation teaches that the soil producing the
crop probably would fare badly. The crops grown prior to the season
devoted to legumes proclaim their need of better soil conditions, more
organic matter, and more nitrogen, but the legumes, appropriating
nitrogen for themselves, give to the land a more prosperous appearance,
and the disposition to harvest everything that is in sight prevails.

There is the excusing intention to return to the soil the residue from
feeding, which should be nearly as valuable as the original material,
while the fact usually is that faulty handling of the manure results in
heavy loss, and the distribution of the remainder is imperfect. There
is no happier provision of nature for the guarding of the soil's
interests than the unavailability for man's direct use of a
considerable part of most plants, thus saving to the land a portion of
its share of its products. The humus obtained from plant-roots,
stubble, and fallen leaves forms a large percentage of all the humus
obtained by land whose fertility is not well guarded by owners. This
proportion is large in some legumes, amounting to 30 or 40 per cent in
the case of red and mammoth clover.

The Right Bacteria.--The word "bacteria" has had a grudging admission
to the vocabulary of practical farmers, and the reason is easil