clover2 What Are LegumesWhat Are Legumes? Any plant that grows and then rots in the soil will add to the productive power of the soil. There are basically ten essential constituents of Plant food, and the soil itself only contains four. Nitrogen is in the air in abundance, but plants cannot draw directly from this source in any useful amount. The Nitrogen in the soil is light because nitrogen is unstable in and has seeped out from the soil in large amounts during the past.

Legumes are plants which can use bacteria Called rhizobia found in the root nodules of the plants. To take the nitrogen out of the air into a form available for their use, and the plants supply of nitrogen can be added to the soil’s supply for future crops.

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. They are the best source for green manure to till back into the soil. Some of best known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, mesquite, carob, and peanuts.

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