WILD VEGETATION AlTKi: Will; AT, IK '. i::7 



another leguininous crop, atU'r it li.ul hcctniic '-sick' tliit>iii:li 

 the long-continued growtli of beans; thei-e is oilirr cn idrncc. 

 liowever, that the growtli of one leguminous cioi) rtii(lti> ilir 

 aoW less fitted to carry another, even of a diiVrrcnt spceics. 



Tahlk XI ax. 



After the removal of the clover crops in 1SS5 this portion 

 of the field was fenced off to exclude cattle, and has been left 

 uncultivated ever since. A luxuriant growth of gra»("> and 

 other vegetation soon established itself, which may be profit- 

 ably compared with the similar natiu-al vegetation tliat has 

 established itself after the wheat at the top of Broadbalk tidd 

 (see p. 41). In the summer of 1903 a ])()rtion of the herbage 

 was cut on both these portions of land which had been allowed 

 to run wild after wheat and leguminous plants respectively : 

 these were sampled as usual and a full l)otanieal analysis made, 

 the results of which are set out in Table L. Karly in 11M)4 

 soil samples were also obtained from three places in each 

 field, and determinations of carbon and nitrogen have been 

 made to compare with those made at the beginning of the 

 experiments, so as to ascertain the accumulation of fertility by 

 the land left under "prairie" conditions for twenty years. 



It will be observed that the leguminous plants have never 

 been able to obtain a footing in the Geescroft field afiri' elowr 

 and bean.s, although in the similar wilderness following wheat 

 in the Broadbalk field, Lat/f//r/(s con.stitutes a considerable 

 proportion of the herbage. The conclusion seems inrvitablr 

 that the prehminary long-continued growtli of leguminous 

 plants (beans and clover) has in .some way unfitted the soil for 



