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Still Learning… Scientific American & Lupines…

We continue the “Still Learning” series by our former office manager, Stephanie, who relocated to another sate:

Lovers of children’s literature know the book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, the sweet tale of a little woman who brought the bloom of lupine to the coast of Maine.  It was an act that flowed from a desire to be content in her circumstances, and even make a masterpiece of her life.  Cooney’s artwork is memorable, as is the lesson she -illustrates,  so the word “lupine” caught my eye as I skimmed through a The Scientific American issue of the late 1800’s.

I have been immediately aware of the inventions featured in this publication, without taking in the additional material in these journals.  Directly following an expected “The Properties of Iron and its Resistance to Projectiles at High Velocities” came the surprising, “Character, Cultivation and Use of the Lupine.”  The full page report begins, “We continue this week our valuable extracts from the agricultural office of the Patent Office Report for 1861 by publishing in full the article on the Lupine, by Louis Schade, of Washington, D.C. –“, exciting my interest with the promise of other content in preceding issues.

This one is so well-written that I, science and math challenged as I am, followed the explanation and proposal.  It seems Mr. Schade studied the extensive use of these plants in European countries, particularly Germany and Prussia, where they served the dual purpose of providing cattle fodder as well as fertilizing the ground.  It seems the lupine creates more energy than usual in its absorption of soil minerals, and it “dissolves the the chemical constituents of minerals by the evaporation of its root, which is impossible for other plants,” which in turn enriches the soil.  Within two years the physical change can even be seen in the changed color of the land.

The point of this piece is a plea that farmers adopt this crop as an economic solution to the very real challenge of favorable soil.  Species of lupine are compared and rated/recommended, and sowing methods and seasons are meticulously described.  I appreciate a bit more how vital this publication was to the successful establishment of the strong agricultural system we have today.  And I am looking forward to a little more digging through the botanical titles, particularly those that stretch my gardening interests into the realm of the science of growing food.

Being firmly convinced that the lupine, if introduced by our farmers into this country, will be a Godsend to all those who have either light, sandy or exhausted soil, I consider it a matter of the highest importance that some trials with the same should be made, particularly on the sand lands of New Jersey, and the worn-out lands in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and other States.