22 CLOVER ClILTURE. 



states, we requested Prof. Wilson, of the Iowa Experiment 

 Station, at Ames, Iowa, to determine the depth at which clo- 

 ver grew best in the light soil of the College farm. He has 

 kindly furnished us the results of this experiment, as follows: 



u The College Experiment Station sowed red clover at 

 different depths in the spring of 1892, to ascertain the effect 

 on germination. The spring was late, owing to repeated 

 rains that prevented seeding. The land used is a dark, sandy 

 loam that had been in barley the previous year, and had been 

 fall-plowed. Plots a rod square were used and the seeding 

 was done on the ninth of April. A plot was sowed broadcast 

 on the surface and raked in. A plot was sown in drills one 

 inch deep. A plot was sown in drills two inches deep, and 

 one three inches deep. The seed sown broadcast was above 

 the ground and a good stand April 25th ; that sown an inch 

 deep was also a good stand April 25th; that sown two inches 

 deep was through the ground only partly on the 25th of April, 

 while that sown three inches deep was as good a stand as any 

 on the 27th of April. 



The season was favorable to germination and growth of 

 grass seeds. Rains were abundant during both spring and 

 summer. On July 2Oth the four different plots were very 

 similar, being about eight inches high and ready to cut for 

 hay. That sown three inches deep was the most vigorous of 

 any. The plots were hoed between the rows and kept free 

 from weeds. Several other grasses were sown simultaneously 

 with the clover that showed quite different results, but depth 

 of sowing in this case raises no decisive objection to any of 

 the depths at which the seeds were sown. 



It may be well to state. that the soil used is entirely free 

 from any trace of clay, consequently it does not pack as much 

 as some lands in the state, while it is not as loose a soil as the 

 bluff deposit of the Missouri slope. Repeated experiments 

 must be made to determine the effect of different depths of 

 sowing in dry seasons. The indications so far, with the wet- 

 test season for some years, are that clover seed germinates as 

 promptly at a depth of three inches as at a depth of one inch 

 where the frost is out of the ground and the temperature is 

 the same, and further, that there is no evident weakening of 

 the young plants when the seed is sown three inches deep. 



Contemporaneous with the foregoing it may be observed 

 that the station sowed peas from three to five inches deep, 

 and while the latter sowing was longer in coming up, yet at 



