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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



HOW TO GROW RED CLOVER ON CLAY LAND. 



Sir, — A new reason was lately brought forward in the 

 Scoltish Quarterly Journal of AyriciiUure why clover (we sup- 

 pose red clover here is meant) does not grow, or does not 

 grow well, when sown a second time, lanless a number of 

 years intervene; that this is in consequence of the large quan- 

 tity of old roots in the soil having a poisonous effect upon 

 the recurring plant; that these old roots require to be 

 rotted, and their components formed into new combinations, 

 or evaporated, before a healthy recurrence of clover can be 

 got ; while cereals and other annuals, having much smaller 

 roots, and these exhausted in maturing the seed, thence 

 sooner disappeariug or being absorbed, a recurrence can be 

 much more frequent. 



In science it has been a maxim that it is unphilosophic to 

 bring in more than one cause for one eifect. Here 



" I think there be six Richmouds in the field." 



It is an acknowledged fact that certain kinds of plants ex- 

 tract certain kinds of nutriment from the soil (we need 

 not state here whether of what is termed organic or inor- 

 ganic matter), and that a previous crop of the same kind of 

 plant, extracting a portion of 8onie necessary nutriment, or 

 nearly the whole in particular kinds of plants, renders a re- 

 curring crop of the same less luxuriant or even impracticable. 

 Although the seeds germinate, the plant dwindles away in 

 the braird, or, when larger grown, jilotts out, as it is termed, 

 from some disease induced by a want of some of the con- 

 stituents necessary to healthy existence. It is also allowed 

 that time, and exposure of the bare soil to the atmosphere, 

 repairs what is lost, or increa:es the soluble quantity of the 

 soil-supply necessary to the plant. Hence the great advan- 

 tage of bare fallow, and of stirring the soil between plants 

 with the hoe, which, although evaporating a considerable 

 portion of the more volatile organic components of the soil, 

 seems to render soluble the inorganic, and particularly to 

 ■attract nitre from the atmosphere. Cannot all the appa- 

 rently whimsical freaks of our red-clover history be ration- 

 ally accounted for upon this one principle of exhaustion? 



it is also a fact acknowledged by those who have made 

 some inquiry in physiologj', that almost every organism has 

 its enemies or destroyers— in the case of plants generally 

 minute parasites, many kinds of them only^ microscopic. 

 These noxious organisms having greatly accumulated in the 

 previous clover crop (living in clover), may manage to keep 

 hold of existence by remaining in the seed or germ, or egg 

 state, in the soil, or find a supply of food in the other crops 

 barely sufficient to support existince, and only for a few 

 years, tdl an early occurrence of another clover-sowing sup- 

 ply them with tender young plants, which they make their 

 prey. 



Another reason has been brought forward for the red clo- 

 ver sickness in land, though far from being proven— that 

 plants generally throw out certain matter which they have 

 absorbed, but which they cannot digest, or fiud injurious, 

 and that this, remaining in the soil, is more or less poisonous 

 to the same kind of plant recurring — in the case of some of 

 the more delicate, such as red clover, soon recurring — alto- 

 gether destructive. 



Instead of theorising about the cause o( the red clover 

 sickness of land, which still remains doubtful, and may con- 

 tinue so, I thiuk it more fitting the columns of the Mark 

 Lane Express to describe how, in my own cr.se, I succeeded 

 in curing this sickness, and that thoroughly. I will be the 

 more particular about this, although I state nothing new to 

 the experienced farmer, as heav3' crops of red clover is the most 

 important part of high farming, as being the best paying 

 crop of all when fat stock are so dear, aiid grain so 

 cheap, and besides, not only as an enricher and 

 cleaner of the land for the following crops, but also as the 

 great parent of manure, especially when used in soiling 

 cattle alongwith plenty of old straw. If properly attended 

 to, and having the grass always fresh and green, stock in 

 small sheds will feed fully as well aa in the pasture field ; 



while in plastic soils the keep for stock will be double. 

 Red clover and annual ryegrass are much more productive 

 when allowed to rise to their full flowering height, than 

 when cut earlier or depastured. Annual ryegrass, a stronger 

 plant than the perennial, may be known from perennial by 

 the want of buds or eyes on the crown of the root. 



In the case of some land belonging to the writer, in the 

 Carse of Gowrie, where it is not found profitable to con- 

 tinue the clover-grass beyond one year, facts do not accord 

 well with the new theory of old-root poison, and rather go 

 to confirm the first doctrine of a defect in some food neces- 

 sary to the health of the plant. At the time I began to 

 ; cultivate this land — about 53 years ago — it had been 

 i brought, by a succession of six years' rotation and shallow 

 ; ploughing, to be clover-sick, seldom giving a second cutting, 

 except in scattered small patches, and sometimes very de- 

 j fective in the first. To correct this I broke up the fallow 

 portions (during the first rotation) in the spring, with four 

 horses in the plough, at a depth of from ten to twelve 

 'inches; and, in addition to the manure made in the place, 

 some town manure, containing ashes, &c., to which the 

 land had not been accustomed, was applied ; at the same 

 j time giving it a fair liming, and changing the rotation to a 

 I seven-year shift, with two white crops immediately pre- 

 ceding the clover. The result was an immediate cure of 

 the clover-sickness, and the clover crops have been for the 

 last forty-five years unsurpassed in the country — never a 

 failure of two heavy cuttings, excepting one season — 

 a cold, very wet summer. During this time a little 

 extraneous manure was sometimes given, and the whole 

 clover crop was always consumed on the farm, most of it 

 in soiling, vwhich is by far the most economical in a plastic 

 soil. Last season, so dry in this quarter, and the grass 

 in consequence defective, except on good heavy soil, on 

 this ground the annual ryegrass rose nearly to three feet, 

 and, leaning over, allowed the red clover to rise above it, 

 which last, also leaning over, allowed the allaike to rise 

 through both— the whole composing a piece of resistance 

 seldom equalled, and which below the feet felt like a thick 

 mattress. Where some part of it was cut for hay, it had 

 scarcely room to get won, partaking of the nature of three 

 crops. Of course, this would not have been profitable in a 

 wet season, as the ryegrass which at first leaned over would 

 have fallen close to the ground, and rotted, while the clo- 

 vers were rising, and would have required to be cut earlier. 

 Here we may mention that good land in high condition 

 produces a much closer crop, whether of red-clover grass, 

 corn, or timber trees, than inferior soil. Many parts of 

 the Carse of Gowrie (a silt formation, similar to that at the 

 mouth of other rivers, and from which the sea has retreated 

 many centuries) have become clover-sick chiefly where the 

 soil is poorest, and where the former clover plants in the 

 last rotation were rather minute, or even altogether 

 wanting; while in the richer, deeper soils of our carse clay, 

 under the same length of rotation, and where the roots last 

 rotation were large, the ensuing clover crop is generally 

 good. 



It is amusing to listen to some of the old-school farmers, 

 who after they and their iathers for more than half a cen- 

 tury back have made hay of at least half their clover grass 

 crop, and driven it away to a town at some distance, with- 

 out bringing back any manure in return, complain that their 

 land will not bear clover. They had killed the goose of the 

 golden egg — had driven away from their land the peculiar 

 jirinciple of red clover, and are astonished that it is gone. 

 This fact, along with the foregoing account of my own 

 practice, I thiuk is conclusive against the doctrine of the 

 Scottish agricultural paper ; and that enriching the land by 

 town mauure and lime, deep ploughing, consuming »11 the 

 clover produce on the farm, and taking care that the crop 

 among which the clover is sown be not too heaves is the 

 effectual remedy for the clover sickness. 

 lu the fine cftlcareoua loams of Folaud, east of the Yistula, 



