FIELD CROPS. 



37 



Experiments "with leguminous plants at Danish State plant experiment 

 stations, 1880-1899, N. P. Nielsen ( Tidsskr. Landbr. Planteavl, 10 (1904), pp. 159- 

 -/.'./). — Final accounts are given of experiments with red, alsike, and white clover 

 grown from seed of different origin, and also of a large number of comparative trials 

 with kidney vetch, trefoil, alfalfa, and Lotus lenuifolim. Most of the experiments 

 have been conducted for a period of 20 years under a great variety of soils and sea- 

 sons, as, for instance, the red clover experiments, which were conducted on 27 dif- 

 ferent fields with over 1,000 seed samples of different origin, planted on 2,581 plats. 



The average yields of red clover hay for 2 seasons on all fields compared as fol- 

 lows: Early varieties — Silesian, 100; Danish and Russian, 98; Bohemian, Moravian, 

 and American, 95; Hungarian, Steiermark, and Galician, Rhine region and Holland, 

 88; English, 81; French, 79, and Italian, 25. Medium late varieties — American, 102; 

 English, 99. Late varieties — Danish and Swedish, 116; Norwegian, 114; Russian, 109; 

 Silesian and Galician, 107; American and English, 101. The following comparative 

 data were obtained with alsike clover: Swedish, 100; Rhine region, 98; English, 97; 

 Germany, 91; Canada, 83; North America, 80. In the average for 2 years the 

 relative yields of white clover from seed of different origin stood as follows: Danish, 

 100; Italy (Lodi clover), 94; Holland, 92; America, 89; Pommern, 86; England, 80; 

 Provstiet, 80; Silesia, 76; Germany, 73. 



The seed of different origin and the characteristics of the seed market in the 

 various regions are discussed, and it is shown that American red clover seed has 

 undergone a marked improvement in quality during the 20 years under investiga- 

 tion. Placing the yields from Silesian seed at 100, those from American seed during 

 successive 5-year periods were 81, 91, 95, and 96. 



The principal results obtained with leguminous plants are summarized in the 

 following table, the yields being given in hundredweight per Tondeland, or 1.36 

 acres. 



Comparative yields of leguminous plants. 



Ten fields of alfalfa during 3 years yielded a total of 227.8 cwt. per Tondeland and 

 9 fields of sand lucern 225.2 cwt. per Tondeland. 



Hungarian alfalfa seed produced the largest yields of hay in all trials. French 

 alfalfa seed gave about 80 per cent of the yield obtained from Hungarian seed, while 

 seed of other origin yielded in the following order: German, Italian, American, and 

 Russian. The yields secured from American and Russian seed yielded only one- 

 third to one-half of that obtained from Hungarian seed. Six series of trials were 

 conducted at 2 different stations with red clover or kidney vetch mixed with alfalfa 

 for the purpose of increasing the yields during the first and second year. The 

 results shown in the following table were obtained on 6 different fields for the first 

 3 comparative trials and on 5 fields for the other tests. 



5409— No. 1—04 4 



