XI.] BEANS AND CLOVER 



Table XCIII. — Yield of Beans at Rothamsted, 

 1847-1854. 



323 



More recent experiments made by the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society, and others in Essex, upon beans 

 under ordinary farming conditions confirm these results, 

 showing that nitrogenous manures are non-effective but 

 that the crop responds to phosphates and potash. Thus 

 in practice, when beans are being grown on strong land, 

 we may reduce the manuring to 3 or 4 cwts. per acre of 

 basic slag, any other expenditure on fertiliser is not 

 likely to be repaid by the increase in the crop. 



Clover. — Red Clover forms perhaps the most 

 important crop cultivated by the farmer ; not only does 

 the hay furnish a particularly valuable fodder, the 

 nitrogen in which is largely derived from the atmo- 

 sphere and is therefore clear gain to the farm, but the 

 nitrogen left behind in the roots and stubble also 

 enriches the land for future crops. 



Since the time of the Romans it has been known that 

 the wheat is most luxuriant where the clover had grown 

 best in the preceding year ; the Rothamsted experi- 

 ments afford some interesting examples from which the 

 gain of nitrogen can be estimated. One example of 

 the great benefit which the succeeding crops in a 

 rotation derive from a good crop of clover, although 

 it is removed from the land as hay, has already been 

 quoted (Table VIII., p. 33). 



Again, in 1873 a piece of land in Little Hoos field 

 was cropped, part with barley and part with clover, in 

 1874 barley was taken over the whole, and the amount 



