482 Field Experiments on Clover-Seeds. 



experiments were tried. Had more rain fallen in the spring 

 months of 1864, it is quite possible that several of the top- 

 dressings, more especially the mixture applied to Plot 2, would 

 have shown a much better result. 



We may learn from the preceding experiments how exceptional 

 may be the results obtained by an occasional experiment, however 

 carefully conducted, and consequently the great utility of syste- 

 matic field experiments continued on the same land year after 

 year. Indeed, I do not conceive that great progress will be made 

 in the rational and economical application of manures until sepa- 

 rate institutions, like that called into existence bj Mr. Lawes, 

 are established in various parts of this country. Few men 

 interested in agricultural pursuits are aware of the immense 

 amount of work and its practical value which has proceeded 

 from Rothamsted, and how greatly landed proprietors and 

 tenant farmers are indebted to Mr. Lawes for setting aside 

 entirely for scientific purposes a number of acres, on which for 

 the last twenty-five years most important agricultural experi- 

 ments have been carried on from year to year. I have visited 

 most of the agricultural laboratories recently established on the 

 continent in connection with experimental fields or experimental 

 stations (Versuchs Stationen, as they are called), and know that 

 much laborious and useful work is carrieu on in these establish- 

 ments. Without disparagement to any of them, however, I may 

 be allowed to say that the Rothamsted experimental fields and 

 laboratories are models to all similar establishments, and that 

 England may well be proud of Rothamsted and the valuable 

 chemico-agricultural work that has already been carried out 

 there by Mr. Lawes and his able coadjutor Dr. Gilbert. 



Clover Experiments in 1865. 



Mr. Jacob Wilson, of Woodhorn Manor, kindly undertook 

 to carry on the clover experiments on which I have reported for 

 another season. The same top-dressings which were used in 

 1864 were applied again in 1865, on May 8th, to 10 plots of 

 clover-seeds in precisely the same quantities as before. 



In 1864 the crop was reaped on the 6th of July, when it did 

 not appear to make any further progress; in 1865 it was left 12 

 days longer on the ground, as it was all the while in a growing 

 condition. The results obtained are incorporated in the following 

 Table : — 



