400 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



clover and lucern, mixed eight pounds of each to the acre, except 

 about half an acre with lucern alone, 16 pounds to the acre, har- 

 rowed with a light harrow. The lucern and clover came up very 

 well, and would have produced about half a ton of hay to the 

 acre had it been mown this autumn; it has been fed down, though 

 not so closely as to injure it. Put in at the same time and in 

 the same manner, one acre upon a strong loam, laying flat, and 

 somewhat wet, the ground having yielded potatoes for the last 

 two years. The lucern after the barley on this ground is very 

 promising, and has not been fed — expenses of the same as above, 

 £6 4 on the three acres; however, I am satisfied that th» ensu- 

 ing crop will amply repay the expense." 



No. 5 was sown with buckwheat and lucern; No. 6, one-third 

 acre with turnips and five pounds of lucern, and on ISTo. 7 a 

 small strip with lucern alone. This did remarkably well, and 

 would have perfected seed, had it not been cut. 



At the end of the second year Mr. Livingston was well pleased 

 with the results, and said : 



" From the first experiment, it appears that it may be easily 

 sown on a dry soil with oats and clover, and that its annual clear 

 profits, after deducting every expense, will exceed on the first 

 two years £7 per acre. The failure, therefore, of that sown 

 this year with oats, must be ascribed to the following causes: 

 First, a luxuriance in the oats, which was, by no means, to be 

 expected from the soil, and is wholly to be attributed to the im- 

 provement it had received from clover and gypsum, and is so far 

 a striking lesson to farmers, as well as a confirmation of the 

 conjectures I had the honor to submit to the society on the effect 

 of gypsum as a permanent improver of the soil. Second, the 

 oats having been sown on one plowing, so that the ground was 

 less mellow than it should be for the reception of lucern. Third, 

 to the extreme drouth of the spring; clover having not suc- 

 ceeded better than lucern, when sown together. The second 

 experiment proves that ground which has not been ploughed in 

 the spring, or pulverized fully, is improper. The failure, how- 

 ever, of this experiment, may in some sort, be charged to the 

 early sowing, since the rapid growth of that sown with the buck- 

 wheat during the hottest season of the year, would intimate 

 that the ground should be warm and mellow to suit the constitu- 

 tion of this plant while in its infant state. The success that at- 

 tended the sowing with barley proves, that, notwithstanding the 

 unfavorable season, if the earth is properly pulverized, a good 

 product may be expected. 



