634 



EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



1 



\ 



The protein contents were 12.6, 12.6, 12.73, 15.79, and 15.55 per cent, respec- 

 tively. 



The effect of inoculation of sweet clover with soil from alfalfa and sweet- 

 clover fields was to produce enormous increases in the yield of dry matter and 

 to reduce slightly the percentage of protein. There was a large increase in the 

 yield of both tops and roots of alfalfa and sweet clover as a result of inocula- 

 tion, and the gain in weight was an actual increase in dry matter per plant 

 and not an increase in theLpumher of plants growing upon a given area of soil. 



In each individual case, with both alfalfa and sweet clover, the ratio of tops 

 to roots was greater in the inoculated plat than in the untreated check plat. 



Determinations were made of the percentage of total ash and of nitrogen, 

 phosphorus, and potassium in the dry matter. The figures for total ash show 

 a very remarkable effect of the inoculation in increasing the ash content of the 

 roots and decreasing it in the tops of the plants. Other results are given 

 below. 



Effect of inoculation upon quantity of plant-food constituents in crops of sweet 



clover and alfalfa. 



Results of lucern tests, season 1914-15, A. E. V. Richardson (Jour. Dept. 

 Agr. Victoria, IS {1915), No. 7, pp. 417-436, pi. 1, figs. 10).— The results of 

 tests in both pot and field experiments as carried on at Werribee are given as 

 follows : 



"A lucern crop transpired approximately 681 tons of water to produceJl_ton 

 of dry matter at Werribee for the season 1914-15. By giving a lucern crop as 

 much water as it would use up during the season 1914-15 an equivalent of 8 

 tons of 16i cwt. of dry lucern was produced per acre. To produce this quantity, 

 however, no less than 72 acre-inches of water were required, of which 61 acre- 

 inches had to pass through the crop, and 11 acre-inches were dissipated from 

 the soil by evaporation. In field tests the water requirements of lucern were 

 even greater, on account of the impossibility of obtaining a perfect mulch and 

 thus keeping down the loss by evaporation from the soil. On a block of 15 

 acres, sown in October, 1912, 12.3 tons of commercial hay, containing 10.45 tons 

 of dry matter, were produced in 2i years. During this period 9.1 acre-feet of 

 water were supplied as rain and irrigation water. Consequently, under field 

 conditions, for every ton of dry hay produced 10^ in. of water were required, 

 3i in. of which was lost from the soil by evaporation and 7 in. by transpira- 

 tion. A d acre of lucern in full growth will use up considerably more water 



