THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



noticed the successful and continued growth of 

 red clover in certain situations, were to communi- 

 cate the fact to this journal. For instance, in my 

 own garden at Croydon, some seeds being acci- 

 dentally spilt, about four years since, on the old turf 

 under some oak trees of near a century's growth, 

 produced a few clover plants which have since 

 annually grown with great vigour ; and again in 

 the fields around Torquay, in South Devon, where 

 I am writing this, the farmers tell me that their 

 red sand and limestone soils have hitherto evinced 

 no symptoms of the clover-sickness : they never 

 hesitate to sow clover every fourth year. The same 

 report is made to me by the farmers of North 

 Devon — clover is sown every fourth year ; they 

 remark, that when they dress their soils with Hme, 

 that the cows and sheep prefer the herbage grow- 

 ing on the limed portion of a clover field to the 

 undressed part. 



In summing up the result of their experimental 

 enquiries at Rothamsted, their authors observe, 

 that they are of opinion that the many practical 

 observations and experiments lead to the conclu- 

 sion that our old axiom of the organic compounds 

 of the soil being only valuable to plants as a 

 source of carbonic acid, requires modification ; and 

 that it is probable that although some plants depend 

 for their supply of carbon mainly, if not exclu- 

 sively, upon carbonic acid, other plants derive 

 a considerable amount of their substance from 

 other carbon compounds. 



The practical conclusions resulting from these 

 lengthened and valuable experiments, need hardly 

 be given in any other words than those with 



which the essay on which I have been dwelling 

 concludes, viz., I. "That when land is not what is 

 called ' clover-sick,' the crop of clover may fre- 

 quently be increased by top-dressings of manure 

 containing potash and superphosphate of lime ; 

 but the high price of salts of potash, and the un- 

 certainty of the action of manures upon the crops, 

 render the application of artificial manures for 

 clover a practice of doubtful economy; II. That 

 when land is what is called clover-sick, none of the 

 ordinary manures, whether artificial or natural, can 

 be relied upon to secure a crop; III, That so far as 

 our present knowledge goes, the only means of 

 ensuring a good crop of red clover is to allow 

 some years to elapse before repeating the crop 

 upon the same land. 



From these trials then, although no material 

 discoveries have been made relating to the clover- 

 sickness which so many soils exhibit, yet they are 

 not without their considerable value to the farmer. 

 They were conducted in the cautious, patient 

 spirit, which regards truth before all things, their 

 authors readily confessing the difficulties and 

 acknowledging the failures they so continually 

 met with. It is only by such careful and earnest 

 researches, that any really valuable information 

 on such mystic questions as the diseases of our 

 cultivated plants can be expected : and the skilful 

 farmers who read these pages are well aware that 

 it is no objection to the institution of other expe- 

 rimental enquiries, that our progress in this track 

 has been hitherto so slow, the phenomena on differ- 

 ent soils so contradictory, our ignorance so very 

 considerable. 



THE MECHANICAL CONDITION OF THE SOIL FAVOURABLE 

 FOR THE GROWTH OF SEED. 



BY PROFESSOR TANNER. 



[Prize Essay.J 



The cultivator of the soil will find in the prepa- 

 ration of the land for the reception of seed his 

 most laborious duties, and those which demand 

 his greatest judgment and skill. "When these are 

 accomplished he has, comparatively speaking, 

 httle else to do but to commit the seed to the 

 ground, leaving the work he has carried thus far, 

 to be completed by the secret operations of nature, 

 directed by His will who estabhshed the law that 

 seed-time and harvest shall not fail. 



Plants, having passed through several stages of 

 grovvth and performing the earlier functions de- 

 volving upon them, have the last but most im- 

 portant duty of life reserved for the period of 

 their greatest perfection and beauty. This duty 

 IS the formation of seed, endowed with powers 

 ^^^•^u 1°^ '"eproducing plants similar to those by 

 which the seed has been formed. In the seed we 

 have one of the most interesting examples pos- 

 sible ot the wise provision made for the perpetua- 

 tion of the various forms of vegetation. In it, 

 the powers of vegetable life lie dormant until 



aroused by the conditions favourable for their 

 development, and when these are present the seed 

 forthwith springs into action and growth. In 

 speaking of vegetable life we naturally associate 

 with it the co-operation of some mysterious 

 power, by which the vital energies of the plant 

 are stimulated into action ; but although we cannot 

 fully understand the primary principle of hfe, 

 yet an examination into the changes which take 

 place in the growth of seeds will remove much of 

 the mystery which is often attached to it. To 

 this end, we may take the seed of wheat as a fa- 

 miliar specimen for our examination. It is par- 

 ticularly worthy of notice that the seed consists 

 of two distinct parts — the germ, which is the true 

 seed ; and the nourishment stored for the growth 

 of the germ. The position of the germ is indi- 

 cated by a sear or cicatrix upon the skin, but it 

 is a minute body and forms but a small proportion 

 of the entire seed. It is always placed adjacent 

 to the bulky portion of the seed, consisting of 

 starch mixed with gluten and albuminous matter. 



