VACANT PLOTS

Evening Star, Issue 23113, 12 November 1938, Page 23

VACANT PLOTS

Very often we find plots which axe showed to remain uncultivated owing to the poor condition of the soil, ana many people have the idea that unless such ground is heavily manured no crops can be taken from it. This is a great mistake, for such soils car. be brought into cultivation by sowing thickly the common lupines (yellow) as a green manure. This , plant when dug in becomes extremely valuable. It grows so freely that an ordinarily good crop gives to the soil great quantities of manure. When sowing potash should be applied to the soil at’the same time. Not only is the foliage beneficial in forming humus, but the roots of these plants fetch up the phosphoric acid and potash from the subsoil. These accumulate in every part of the plant, and when dug in, are at the disposal of the next crop, and of course being much nearer to the surface, the roots can draw on them abundantly. The nitrogen which is also found ,in the roots, and the nodules are also transformed quickly enough under the action of ferments into nitrate. In this way vacant plots can be quickly brought into cultivation without a great deal of outlay in obtaining animal manures.