EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



223 



The less satisfactory yields of the Turkestan and French varieties are unques- 

 tionably due to the poor location of the plots and not to inferiority of the varieties 

 themselves. The Turkestan is nearest and the French next nearest to the side 

 of a steep hill from which most of the top soil had been removed in grading and 

 leveling about the house. Furthermore a careful investigation of the roots of 

 numerous plants failed to reveal the presence of the tubercles so essential to the 

 best development of leguminous crops. It should be recorded also that a thin 

 coat of well rotted stable manure was applied to alfalfa plots in the fall of 1902. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



The seed was sown in May, 1901, and notwithstanding some injury by the 

 weather at the beginning of June and the frost on the 8th of that month yet by 

 the middle of July the ground was densely covered; the plants nearly even and 

 obtaining a height of 36 inches by the middle of August. The difficulty in curing 

 the hay complained of elsewhere was experienced at this Station. Cut Septem- 

 ber 4th it was not sufficiently cured on the 6th to haul. A shower made It necessary 

 to spread it out again leaving it one day in small heaps and two days in large 

 ones. Although in apparently prime condition when finally hauled to the barn, 

 it was found to be moldy less than two weeks after. The root system of crimson 

 clover differs materially from that of the medium red; the roots being short and 

 spreading close to the surface. That It ought to succeed in this latitude as far 

 as hardiness is concerned was shown by the fact that the plants made a good 

 growth during the balance of the season and a number of new blossoms could be 

 seen before the ground disappeared under the November snows. Up to November 

 13th the thermometer had repeatedly rgistered 17° and 18° yet when on the latter 

 date the average depth of snow reached 8 inches there could still be seen an occa- 

 sional sprig and bright Crimson blossom. The harvested plot planted May 25th 

 covered a surface of 2,066 feet. The plants blossomed August 16th and were cut 

 September 4th, giving a yield of, approximately, 4,110 pounds per acre. 



Sown May 1st, 1902, on a plot rather poorer in quality than the plots upon 

 which the other varieties of clover were sown, it suffered from the cool weather 

 of June. It was harvested August 11th and yielded 2,533 pounds of well cured 

 hay per acre. 



SANFOIN OR ESPARSETTE. 



This variety of clover is extensively grown in Europe. It is somewhat coarser 

 than June clover though fully as hardy; its showy appearance when in full blos- 

 som is nearly as conspicuous as that of crimson clover. The stand was thin 

 owing to poor seed and the vacant spaces were reseeded early in August. It seemed 

 to grow well but a poor stand made harvesting impossible. 



FIELD PEAS. 



In 1901 four vai'ieties of field peas were tested. The squirrels damaged the 

 plots, shelling a great many pods and carrying away not a few. The White Wonder 

 is a good quick-ripening variety, the peas moderate in size and the pods well filled. 

 For early ripening the Early Britain is fully as good, slightly angular and of a 



