If there is a long interval of time during spring or summer when the land is bare, that is a good time for a green manure crop.
It is always sown thus when it is to be plowed under, as green manure.
You don't get quite the same benefit from the green manure when you pasture as when you plow under.
When medium red clover is sown for being plowed under as green manure, it is always sown with a nurse crop.
For green manure nothing is better than cowpeas as a summer crop and crimson clover as a winter crop.
However, it should be remembered that green manure makes a good home for the growth of scab germs.
Aside from its value as a green manure crop the cowpea is useful as food for man and the farm animals.
Turnips or rape often make good pioneer cover or green manure crops.
There are two great classes of cover or green manure crops, leguminous and non-leguminous.
Where the clovers grow well they make excellent cover crops as well as green manure crops.
| green manure A growing crop, such as clover or grass, that is plowed under the soil to improve fertility. Green manure can also reduce erosion and, if the crop is leguminous, add nitrogen to the soil. |
