plied to improve the pasturage or to enrich the 

 6oil for the cultivation of other crops, the appear- 

 ance of otlier i)lauts is often overlooked, and 

 some do not germinate till after the land is plow- 

 ed and placed under more favorable circum- 

 etauces, of which class of plants the dead nettle 

 furnishes a good example. 



There is another argument which we may 

 advance, in support of this view of the germina- 

 tion and growth of clover, arising from the in- 

 fluence of draining. Where this improvement 

 has been sufficiently made, so as to effect an 

 aniclioration of the soil, white clover is sure to 

 make its appeai-ance. This is owing exactly to 

 tlie same change ia the soil, in con.sequence of 

 drainage, which we have ascribed to the Lime ; 

 for when superabundant moisture is withdrawn, 

 plants of a semiacjuatic nature die, and others, 

 more suited to the altered nature of the soil, take 

 their place, and the atmosphere and sun's rays 

 are permitted to penetrate with facility the space 

 which the water had occupied. The necessary 

 agents for promoting decomposition are then 

 present, and the process first commences among 

 the partially decomposed remains of vegetables 

 which have pci'haps died many years before, 

 and it matters not whether their decomposition 

 has been brought about by the action of Lime or 

 the influence of draining. Seeds of difficult ger- 

 mination, existing in the soil, are placed under 

 the same favorable circum.stauces as with Lime; 

 for the oxygen absorbed by the seeds (Kiring the 

 process converts the farinaceous matter which 

 they contain into sugar, and the roots of the in- 

 fant plant are supplied with it till it possesses 

 strength to take hold of the soil, and to appro- 

 priate to itself a portion of the soluble matter 

 which the process we have described had form- 

 ed in the soil. 



The Marquis of Tweeddale stated, at the So- 

 ciety's meeting at Berwick, that Lime seemed 

 to be injurious to crops on land that had been 

 drained. The lioble Marquis did not state in 

 what respect the crops were injured in conse- 

 quence of the Lime ; but it appeared to us not 

 less evident than if his Lordship had stated it in 

 explicit term.s, that the injury could only have 

 arisen from one of two causes, namely, from too 

 violent action e.xcited by the united influences 

 of draining and liming a .soil containing much 

 decomposable matter; and the con.sequent evo- 

 lution, too, of mucli gaseous matter, in its ascent 

 to the surface, had loosened or heaved the soil, 

 that the seed Avas thrown out or the plant ren- 

 dered so loose as to become incapable of nour- 

 ishing itself in the slightest drouth. This is one 

 way in which Lime might prove injurious to 

 drained land ; but there is another we have fre- 

 quently witnessed in the lodging of the crop 

 before the ear is fllled, from the luxuriance aris- 

 ing from excess of soluble matter excited by the 

 united agencies of liming and draining. 



VVe shall now mention some of the experi- 

 ments which we made in the course of the .sea- 

 son, which tend to illustrate and confirm the 

 statements here advanced as to the causes of the 

 appearance of white clover when Lime is appli- 

 ed. On the lith May, 1841, we had a piece of 

 land, vvell dug and cleaned, divided into nine 

 parts, by means of pin^ driven into the ground, 

 and division-boards nailed to them to keep them 

 firm in their places. The use of the division 

 boards was not only to divide the portions of 

 ground separately, but also when the ground 

 was leveled within them the exact depth of 

 earth in each division might be measured. 

 (G99I 



No. 1. Six feet square ; the clover seed sown on 

 the surface. 



No. 2. Ditto ; the clover seed raked in gently. 



No. 3. Ditto, hiilf an inch of cover. 



No. 4. Ditto; six-eighths of cover, one-half of the 

 division compressed by treading, and afterw.j-ds 

 smoothed. 



No. 5. Ditto ; one inch of cover, and the other half 

 compressed. 



No. 6. Ditto ; one inch and a quarter of cover, the 

 other half compressed and smoothed. 



No. 7. Ditto ; one inch and a half of cover, the oth- 

 er half compressed and smoothed. 



No. %. Ditto ; tvv(j inches of cover, one half com- 

 pressed and smoothed. 



No. 0. Ditto ; two inches and a half of cover, one 

 half compressed and smoothed hke the rest. 



After the one half of the divisions, Nos. 4. .5, 6, 

 7, 8 and 9, were compressed by treading upon 

 them, and smoothing them with the back of a 

 spade, the one-half of each of the nine divisions 

 in the opposite direction r'cceived an ordinary 

 liming. The -weather, for some time after the 

 12th, v/as mild, and sufficiently moist to forward 

 germination. Nos. 1, 2 and 3, were in an act- 

 ive state of germination on the 19th day of the 

 month ; No. 4 on the 21st, an<l the compressed 

 division not till the 25th ; No. 5 on the 24th. and 

 the compressed and limed division not till the 

 1st of Jane, the other .sometime afterwards ; No. 

 6 germinated only on the limed divisions ; the 

 uncompressed about the middle, and towards 

 the end of June ; No. 7 exhibited, at this time, 

 no appearance of clover, and afterwards a few 

 plants appeared on the limed divisions, some 

 time after the removal of the weeds which had 

 germinated upon it ; and this operation, no 

 doubt, promoted both the action of the Lime and 

 the germination of the seeds, b}- allowing tlie air 

 more read}' access to those parts from which the 

 roots had been extracted ; and also, not improb- 

 ably, by bringing some of the clover seeds near- 

 er the surface. On Nos. 8 and 9 we had no clo- 

 ver plants in the course of the season. Ou Nos. 

 1, 2, 3 and 4, we could observe no difference on 

 account of the Lime, though applied in a hot or 

 caustic state ; and the reason we conceive why 

 it had no influence on these divisions vs'as, be- 

 cause they were placed under circumstances so 

 favorable to germination that it was effected be- 

 fore the action of the Lime commenced : and that 

 on Nos. .5, 6 and 7, which were under circum- 

 .stances less favorable, the germination did not 

 take place till stimulated by the action of the 

 Lime ; and whether it willhave any influence on 

 Nos. 8 and 9. next summer will show. 



The practical inference we would draw^ from 

 these experiments, in the first place, is this — Is 

 the present system of sowing clover calculated 

 to promote germination ? We have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that it is precisely the reverse ; for, 

 when sown with rye grass seed and harrowed 

 in, in the usual way, it cannot fail to be too deep- 

 ly covered, and the con.sequence of the rolling, 

 which is now a general practice, must al.so in- 

 crease the evil. It is, perhaps, from this cause 

 that we always see the best braird of clover on 

 the hard and gravelly parts of the field, and we 

 therefore conclude that that is the land best suit- 

 ed for its growth, when, in fact, we are inclined 

 to think that, under the present system of 

 sowing, harrowing, and rolling, it is only the 

 best adapted for the germination of the seed 

 from its more permeable nature. It might be 

 worthy of investisration to ascertain how far the 

 present system of management will account for 

 the falling off" of the crops of red clover, which 

 has been experienced for some years back ; for 



