368 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



the organic matter in the soil after clover-seed occurs in a more 

 advanced stage of decomposition than found in the clover-roots 

 from the part of the field twice mown. In the manure in which 

 the decay of such and similar organic remains proceeds, much of 

 the non-nitrogenous or carbonaceous matters, of which these 

 remains chiefly, though not entirely, consist, is transformed into 

 gaseous carbonic acid, and what remains behind becomes richer in 

 nitrogen and mineral matters. A parallel case, showing the dissi- 

 pation of carbonaceous matter, and the increase in the percentage 

 of nitrogen and mineral matter in what is left behind, is presented 

 to us in fresh and rotten dung ; in long or fresh dung the per- 

 centage of organic matter, consisting chiefly of very imperfectly 

 undecomposed straw, being larger, and that of nitrogen and 

 mineral matter smaller, than in well-rotted dung. 



" The roots from the field after clover-seed, it will be borne in 

 mind, were dug up m November, while those obtained from the 

 land twice mown, were dug up in September ; the former, there- 

 fore, may be expected to be in a more advanced state of decay 

 than the latter, and richer in nitrogen. 



" In an acre of soil after clover-seed, we have — 



lbs. 



Nitrogen in first 6 inches of soil 4>7*5 



Nitrogen in roots 51^ 



Nitrogen in second 6 inches of soil 3)35° 



Total amount of nitrogen per acre in 12 inches 8,1 26 j 



Equal to ammonia 9,867 



or, in round numbers, 3 tons and 12J cwts. of nitrogen per acre, 

 equal to 4 tons 8 cwts. of ammonia. 



^' This is a very much larger amount of nitrogen than occurred 

 in the other soil, and shows plainly that the total amount of nitro- 

 gen accumulates, especially in the surface soil, when clover is 

 grown for seeds ; thus explaining intelligibly, as it appears to me, 

 why wheat, as stated by many practical men, succeeds better on 

 land where clover is grown for seed than where it is mown for 

 hay. 



" All the three layers of the soil after clover-seed are richer in 

 nitrogSn than the same sections of the soil where the clover was 

 twice mown, as will be seen by the following comparative state- 

 ment of results : — 



