PHOSPHATIC MANURES 131 



pass without any appreciable results being 

 obtained ; on the other hand, if the summer 

 is genial and sufficiently moist the phosphatic 

 manure will have asserted itself long before 

 the growing season is over. But it is in the 

 second and subsequent seasons that the 

 transformation is so striking. Land which 

 was almost barren, and of a rental value of 

 only a few shillings per acre, has, by the use 

 of basic slag or superphosphate, been trans- 

 formed into a pasture so rich as to be capable 

 of fattening stock, and of commanding a 

 rent of more than a pound per acre. 



Although the prime factor in such im- 

 provement is wild White Clover, it sometimes 

 happens that almost as good results are 

 obtained where the leguminous plants 

 naturally present in the land are Trefoil 

 (Medicago lupulina), or Bird's-foot Trefoil 

 (Lotus corniculatus), or Kidney Vetch (An- 

 thyllis vulneraria), or Red Clover (Trifolium 

 pratense). In the great majority of cases, 

 however, the plant that is stimulated by 

 the phosphatic manure is White Clover, and 

 it is hardly too much to say that without 

 the presence of this plant the striking results 

 obtained by phosphatic manures on grass 

 land could not be secured. In this connec- 

 tion it may be said that it seldom matters 



E 2 



