LUCERNE

Wairarapa Age, 19 November 1919, Page 7

LUCERNE

A SOIL IMPROVER

Mr. A. Macpherson, Fields Instructor, of Chris church, writing in the Agricultural Journal, says:—lt must be taken into consideration that apart from crop returns, the dand ok which lucerne is sown is not depreciating in quality, but greatly increasing in productiveness. This is due to the power of the lucerne plant as a collector of nitrogenous matter from the air, and of drawing to the top soil, from strata at great depths underneath, valuable mineral elements that shallow-rooted plants could never reach, leaving these elements of fertility to be utilized by future crops of whatever kind. Further, the mechanical effect of the extensive root-system of the lucerneplant can hardly be over-estimated, the decaying of the roots adds humus to the soil, and the openings left by them in the under-strata form a wonderful system of channels for .the penetration of air and water into the soil. The continual dropping of lucerne leaves from the cuttings also makes heavy annual contributions to the humus and nitrogen of the soil. Thus when the lucerne field is ready to be. used for a different crop it will be found that the soil is wonderfully changed not* only in its chemical elements, but also in its physical character. In countries where this aspect of lucerne-culture has been investigated it is estimated that, after a field has been in lucerne for five or six years, the fertilising value of the stubble and some 6in. deep of roots ploughed under is about £4 per acre, whi'e the value of the stubble and entire root-system is not less than £7 per acre, '