REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



139 



formed are extremely soluble and consequently may in a large measure be lost by the 

 leaching of autumn rains, when the crop grown has matured and been harvested early. 

 The cereals are comparatively short-lived crops, and, therefore, the value of sowing 

 clover with them and thus having the ground covered, after the former have been cut, 

 with vegetation that can utilize these nitrates is apparent. The late summer and 

 autumn rains then assist in the storing up of these valuable nitrogenous compounds rather 

 than in their dissipation. 



A further advantage in sowing the clover with the cereals is in keeping down 

 weeds after the grain is harvested. 



SOWING CLOVER WITH BARLEY. 



It will be remembered that in the report for 1896 we recorded the results of an 

 experiment carried on with various clovers as " cover " crops for orchards, stating their 

 relative merits for this purpose and giving their analyses in detail. The figures showed 

 that large quantities of fertilizing materials and humus can be furnished the soil by 

 ploughing under the crop in the autumn. 



In the present report we give the results of a further investigation, the clovers 

 having been sown at various rates per acre with barley, and the roots and dead stems 

 and leaves of the clovers being collected for analysis in the following spring. The barley 

 employed was that known as Odessa, which was sown on all the plots under experiment at 

 the uniform rate of If bushel per acre. The barley and clover were sown together on 

 all the plots on 5th, May 1896, and the barley cut on 27th July. The clover residues 

 (that is, the roots, dead stems and leaves) were collected on May 1st, 1897. 



The results, therefore, indicate the amounts of organic and mineral matter and 

 certain fertilizing constituents contained in the roots to a depth of 9 inches, and in the 

 dead or dried stems and leaves, immediately before spring ploughing. 



The data are presented in tabular form, as follows : — 



Analyses of clover residues (roots, dead stems and leaves), 1897. 



