RED CLOVER 141 



Mechanical analysis shows the two soils are practically 

 identical, the subsoil of Geescroft being somewhat the lighter 

 of the two, and the situation of the two fields is equally good 

 as regards surface drainage. The constant wetness and un- 

 workability of Geescroft appears to be entirely due to the 

 unflocculated character of the clay due to the absence of chalk, 

 in other words, the cultivation of the other Rothamsted fields 

 has been rendered possible by the improvement in the texture 

 of the soil effected by the large quantities of chalk put on, 

 probably in the eighteenth century. Even at the present time 

 water will often stand on the surface of the Geescroft land, and 

 the predominant growth of Deschampsia ccespitosa is additional 

 evidence of the persistent wetness of the soil, a wetness which 

 cannot be accounted for by the situation, the nature of the 

 subsoil, nor the constitution of the surface soil, but only by its 

 bad condition induced by the absence of lime or chalk. 



II. THE CONTINUOUS GROWTH OF RED CLOVER ON ORDINARY 

 ARABLE LAND, Hoos FIELD. 



In the Hoos field, experiments upon the growth of legumi- 

 nous crops began in 1849 with red clover. The following table 

 shows the results for a period of twenty-nine years, during 

 which clover was sown fifteen times but only produced a crop 

 in seven of the years. Even with the many intermissions, 

 when the land grew wheat or barley or was left fallow, 

 only the first crop of all was a satisfactory one ; nor, as will 

 be seen, had either mineral or nitrogenous manures any effect 

 in keeping the land in a condition to grow clover success- 

 fully. 



In 1878, the land on which these attempts to grow red 

 clover had been continued since 1849 was divided into a 

 number of small plots, and sown with various leguminous 

 plants. Various systems of manuring were tried on each 

 series of plots, which carried the following leguminous 

 plants lucerne, peas or beans alternately, Bokhara clover, 



