Valne of Legumes to the Soil.
By legumes we mean those plants that
lay hold primarily on nitrogen, forming a
1 rotein  compound. The   dominant  ele
ment which forms blood, muscle, bone and
milk, especially the tirst two, is nitrogen,
ml proteins or proteid  foo.ls are especial-
of other plants. These plants are called
legjimes or leguminous plants. Among
these  legumes  we  find  the  cow  pea   and
soy   bean.
Modern  agricultural chemists have discovered that leguminous crops are not only
consumer's   of   available   plant     t Is,   but
Where the crop has been previously grown.
Good results    are sometimes obtained by
treating the seed  preliminary to sowing.
As   has   been   said   nitrogen-  is  the   most
important   plant   food: It  is   the   most
expensive  fertilizer  in  artificial  manure*
It is nis.i the most Important and neees-
terest   many   readers.
"It is a serious misfortune that the repu-
tation of the citalpas bus I n sadly discredited by the use or the Catalpa Wgnbn-
oiiles ami its hybrids for the true Catalpa
spociosa. the hardy Northern variety.
The Catalpa  speciosa  is erect  In its habit
Rev. Chas. W. Postill, of the M.  E. Church, Remington, sends us the above cut, and writes:      "Great interest is shown iu our county and adjoining
counties in the Boys' Corn Growing Contest.      A most successful meeting was held here in Remington, March IT.   A splendid and most profitalble
address was given- by J.  H.   Biddle on corn culture.      About 42 boys   manifest their interest by entering tht contest.''
I> valuable because of this combination.
The weight of air is 15 pounds to the
square inch. Eighty per cent of this air
is nitrogen. This means that there are
•'- pounds of nitrogen over every square
"ah of the earth's- surface, or a weight
cf nearly 40,000 tons on each acre. Nearly all of this nitrogen is in a form not combined with any other chemical clement,
•nd is called free nitrogen. Of course
ii very little of this nitrogen is combined
>>ith other elements, forming nitric acid,
•unmonia, etc., but it is a very inoonsid-
'table amount, and of no practical value.
•Scientific experiments prove that planus
111 J-'eneral can not use the flrec nitrogen
"<" 'lie air, that they get very little ramp
'"led nitrogen from the air, so that they
"re dependent upon that previously stored
'" the soil, or in manure. But it has
1 <en demonstrated beyond question that
'uere is a class of very easily grown plants
at do acquire largo quantities of nitro-
»n directly from the air, and while
'''«y are building it into foods, valuable
"f man and beast, they are also storing
j'*e soil with a large supply of nitrogen
10 combination, available for future crops
that they actually manufacture the most
valuable and most essential nitrogenous
compounds, using the free gaseous nitrogen of the air. This transformation of
inert gas takes place through the agency
of infinitely small bacteria, which live
within the tissues of the roots of plants
of this order, producing knot-HJ.e swellings or galls upon them. Each variety
of leguino has its own peculiar bacterium,
on whose presence it is dependent J and
unless ils particular species^of lTHvTtM'ium
conies in contact with and infests the
toots, the plant cannot get more nitrogen
than could be secured by the roots of a
grass  plant. If  these  bacteria   are  en
tirely absent from the soil, (which is not
apt to be) the bean or pea will not fully develop unless the soil contains abundant nitrates in solution. This accounts for the
failure, sometimes, of_ crops when tried
upon soils not previously devoted to their
cultivation. It has. been found by experiment in this country, that such new
leguininuns crops may be successfully cultivated by inoculating the land with artificial preparations, or cultures, containing these githis, or with soil from a field
sary element of animal foods, for when
it is entirely absent there can be neither
growth nor the complete repair of worn-
out tissue.        Hence it can readily lie un-
lersl 1 why the abundant cultivation  of
leguminous  crops  is  so   necessary. The
legumes are the only crops which will
wnen plowed under, im reuse tha total of
fertilizing  materials  of  the soil.
Leguminous crops are furthermore valuable soil renovators because they are
deep feeders. Their nxits extend down
into the stiffer, more compact subsoil rendering it more permeable by water. The
roots bring up from below potash salts
and phosphoric acid and leave them mar
Ihe surface lo be utilized by potash devouring plants, such as cereals, root crops,
etc. C. B.  D.
Kansas.
Ihe Catalpa Speciosa.
We have occasional enquiries concern;
ing the species of catalpa best adapted to
use as fence posts and similar purposes.
The following article written by E. F.
Stevens of Crete. Neb., published recently
in  the  Kansas  Farmer,  will doubtless in-
ot   growth. The  ti s   attain  a  height
of sixty feet and a diameter of three to
four  feci. The   wood   has   remarkable
durability.
A Catalpa speciosa telegraph pole oO
feet in height that had been in use 40
years ami still sound, was exhibited at Ihe
St. Louis Exposition. Fence-rails forty
yi ars in service, railroad lies subjected
to heavy traffic for .".0 years still retaining their original soundness, were also
included  in  the  exhil it.
A remarkable instance showing the durability of catalpa wooil comes from Missouri. In 1811 an earthquake near New-
Madrid sunk considerable areas of catalpa groves. Water flowed in over these
sunken timber lands, killing the trees. In
1888 trees of the Catalpa speciosa were
yet standing imdelayed after.a space 77
years.
The Catalpa speciosa seeds very sparingly. Because of the erect habit of the
trees, seeds are not as readily gathered
as from the low-branched, sreading Catal-
a bignouoiiles. The latter and its hybrids yield seed very freely. Since
these are so much more easily ami cheap-