However,
at the present, the principles of lucern seed production are not
well established, and the seed crop is uncertain.
Alfalfa is a leguminous crop and gathers nitrogen from the air. It
is therefore a good fertilizer. The question of soil fertility will
become more important with the passing of the years, and the value
of lucern as a land improver will then be more evident than it is
to-day.
Other leguminous crops
The group of leguminous or pod-bearing crops is of great importance;
first, because it is rich in nitrogenous substances which are
valuable animal foods, and, secondly, because it has the power of
gathering nitrogen from the air, which can be used for maintaining
the fertility of the soil. Dry-farming will not be a wholly safe
practice of agriculture until suitable leguminous crops are found
and made part of the crop system. It is notable that over the whole
of the dry-farm territory of this and other countries wild
leguminous plants flourish. That is, nitrogen-gathering plants are
at work on the deserts. The farmer upsets this natural order of
things by cropping the land with wheat and wheat only, so long as
the land will produce profitably.
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