EXPERIMENTS ON CLOVEE-SOILS. 149 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



EXPERIMENTS ON CLOVER-SOILS FROM BURCOTT 

 LODGE FARM, LEIGHTON BUZZARD. 



" The soils for the next experiments, were kindly supplied to me, 

 in 1866, by Robert Valentine, of Burcott Lodge, who also sent me 

 some notes respecting the growth and yield of clover-hay and seed 

 on this soil. 



" Foreign seed, at the rate of 12 Ibs. per acre, was sown with a 

 crop of wheat, which yielded five quarters per acre the previous 

 year. 



" The first crop of clover was cut down on the 25th of June, 

 1866, and carried on June 30th. The weather was very warm, 

 from the time of cutting until the clover was carted, the thermome- 

 ter standing at 80 Fahr. every day. The clover was turned in the 

 swath, on the second day after it was cut; on the fourth day, it 

 was turned over and put into small heaps of about 10 Ibs. each; 

 and on the fifth day, these were collected into larger cocks, and 

 then stacked. 



" The best part of an 11-acre field, produced nearly three tons of 

 clover-hay, sun-dried, per acre ; the whole field yielding on an aver- 

 age, 2^ tons per acre. This result was obtained by weighing the 

 stack three months after the clover was carted. The second crop 

 was cut on the 21st of August, and carried on the 27th, the weight 

 being nearly 30 cwt. of hay per acre. Thus the two cuttings pro- 

 duced just about four tons of clover-hay per acre. 



" The 11 acres were divided into two parts. About one-half was 

 mown for hay a second time, and the other part left for seed. The 

 produce of the second half of the 11-acre field, was cut on the 8th 

 of October, and carried on the 10th. It yielded in round numbers, 

 3 cwt. of clover-seed per acre, the season being very unfavorable 

 for clover-seed. The second crop of clover, mown for hay, was 

 rather too ripe, and just beginning to show seed. 



" A square foot of soil, 18 inches deep, was dug from the second 

 portion of the land which produced the- clover-hay and clover- 

 seed. 



SOIL FROM PART OF 11-ACRE FIELD TWICE MOWN FOR HAY. 



" The upper six inches of soil, one foot square, contained all the 

 main roots of 18 strong plants ; the next six inches, only small 

 root fibres, and in the third section, a six-inch slice cut down at a 



