530 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



I wish some prominent leader of the agricultural body 



could have been found before now, sufficiently confiding 



in the judgment of those eminent men of science, whose 



names J paraded last year as approvers of experimental ~-~ .- — „ ... .. M .v~ «.%, .«..«. ^ tt <, midu buuvtb itscu, is 



co-operation on an extensive plan ! This question of the by the Clover withering in small patches, in various 



failure in the Clover-crop is one of the infinite number parts of the field. This may begin within three davs, 



farmer had a beautiful crop of Clover on it ; and there 

 I was told the Barley had been sown very early in 

 1843. 



The mode in which the failure at first shows itself, is 



crop 

 that might be taken up by an organised band of experi 

 mentalists, who would probably settle it in a shorter 

 period by some years, than may possibly elapse before it 

 shall have been satisfactorily determined. 



I shall venture to set before the readers of the Agri- 

 cultural Gazelle an account of a very restricted inquiry 

 which I have been making into the circumstances under 

 which the Clover has been usually cultivated in this 

 parish. I shall even be bold enough to hazard a conjec- 

 ture on the cause to which the frt quent failure of this 

 crop may be ascribed ; and then I shall suggest a very 

 simple method of experimenting, by which persons who 

 may think this conjecture worth testing can assist in 

 confirming or refuting it. In order to condense within 

 a narrow compass a review of the various treatment 

 to which 6even different fields have been subjected by one 

 or other of four of our farmers, I shall present their own 

 accounts, under a tabular form. The abbreviations made 

 use of consist merely of the first letter or two of the 

 words signified. As the objects under culture, and their 

 introduction in the rotation, is perfectly familiar to all 

 practical men, they will have no difficulty in compre- 

 hending the table at a glance of the eye. It represents 

 the modifications of the four-course system in the seven 

 field i A, B, C, &o. Wheat and Barley are the staple 

 cop=, which return in regular rotation every four years ; 

 tl e subordinate crops vary. The figures 1 and 2 placed 

 against each year represent the first and second half of 

 the year. The following abbreviations are employed : — 



Ta. Tares. d. drained. 



Tr. Trefoil. f. fed. 



Tu. Turnips. 

 Wh. Wheat. 

 W.C. White Clover, 

 c. cut. 



Ba. Barley. 



Be. Beans. 



CI. Clover (Red). 



Ma. Man 



Pe. Peas. 



R.G. Rje Grass. 



igold. 



m. manured. 

 s. sown. 

 * fallow. 





In all cases the CIov3r was looking remarkably fine at 

 the time when the Barley was cut, and (except on G) it 

 began to go off, generally about October, and has con- 

 tinued dying till now, July 27th. The following 

 observations were made on the different fields :— 



A. The Clover began to die in patches in October, on 



that half of the field which had been manured, until it 



has become nearly bare. The portion of (he field which 



received no manure is looking: very fairly, with 



scarcely any patches of failure, except a large one 



where the haulm had been collected for the purposes 

 of draining. 



B. The failure not so complete as in A. 

 - a P°y er was most toxuriant, and some had even 



awavl "J?** \ hc BarIe 7 WaS cut ' lt be ? an to d ^ 



DromH„ ?u 8yS afterw * rds . an <* ™ soon so un- 

 promumg, that It was ploughed up. 



field Wore irTl\ t0 "V* ° n CCrtain P arts of «* 



t ! r dkt been ° b r d that the Clover was 



by «ub« tL n 8U PP° se ?. tbat ^ey were attracted 



by grubs. The owner of this field had other Clover ' 



on lands w lid, had not grown Tares. Some of hie 

 fields failed, and others did not. 

 E. The Clover here has nearly all perished, except 

 one line across the field, which, on inquiry I? ound 

 was directly over a main drain. • 



F \J\r CI ° Ter ° n tbat P art of lhe fieId whi <* had -rown 

 the Mangold, was on the whole better than on that 



part which had grown the Turnips ; and the cron 



much better than on E. g F 



G. The success in this field was attributed to the sune- 



** of u* Und. A field near i t belc„ s i„ g to „X j ££&'££% 2£ ST^SS^S 



or not until one, two, or even six months after the Bar- 

 ley has been cut. The withered patches gradually 

 spread during the whole time the Clover is left upon the 

 ground. Some plants appear to recover, but in general 

 the evil continues to increase till nearly all are dead, over 

 considerable spaces of the field. I was shown single in- 

 dividuals of a milk-white maggot in the crown of many 

 of the decaying and dead plants. This was, apparently, 

 the larva of some beetle. Without pretending to any 

 skill in Entomology, I fed pretty confident that this 

 larva was not the real cause of the mischief. I had rather, 

 however, leave that part of the inquiry to professed En- 

 tomologists, contenting myself with the observation that 

 where such a very extensive failure has taken place, it 

 seems hardly likely that a stray field, here and there, 

 should have entirely escaped the ravages of these insects, 

 whilst those in the immediate neighbourhood were suf- 

 fering so severely. There are circumstances in the case 

 which incline me to suspect that possibly the parent in- 

 sect lays its eggs only, or chiefly, in those plants which 

 have already shown symptoms of decay. But I speak here 

 with the greatest hesitation. 



A favourite theory, which involves a peculiar definition 

 of the word " tired," is the supposition that the land 

 where these failures occur may have been deprived, some 

 eight or ten or more years ago, of a certain hitherto un- 

 ascertained mineral substance, more especially essential to 

 the healthy development of the Clover crop. Tired, in this 

 sense, does not exactly mean that the land has been over- 

 cropped, or too much exhausted, for the general purposes 

 of cultivation; it merely means that a homoeopathic dose 

 of this hitherto unknown "something"has been -abstracted; 

 and, consequently, that whenever the refinements of 

 chemical research shall have ascertained what this 

 " something " really is, there will be no further dread of 

 the failure of a Clover crop. This " something " will be 

 required in such small proportion, that nothing will be 

 easier than to restore the "tired" earth to its pristine 

 vigour, and fit it for bearing as much Clover as Atlas 

 may feel disposed to allow us to lay upon it. Now, 

 1 do not mean flatly to deny the correctness of this 

 favourite theory ; but until this unknown " something" 

 shall have been detected, and thus the theory have be- 

 come firmly established, I shall not hesitate to oppose 

 conjecture to conjecture, and to venture a suggestion, 

 that the frequent failure of our Clover crops may be 

 attributed to a physiological, rather than to a chemical 

 or an entomological cause. 



Under what circumstances is Clover usually culti- 

 vated ? In every instance, so I am assured, it is sown 

 on land which is simultaneously occupied by Barley, or 

 by some other white crop. Therefore, during the early 

 stages of its growth, and up to the time when the white 

 crop is cut, the Clover is not developing under conditions 

 which a nursery gardener, or even a botanical physiolo- 

 gist, would consider to be otherwise than injurious to 

 the constitution of the plant. It is shaded and sheltered 

 by the Barley, too much for the direct light of the 

 sun to have such full influence upon its leaves as 

 may stimulate them to the preparation of a full 

 proportion of the " proper juice " essential to the 

 perfectly healthy condition of the plant I find the 

 Barley-stubble is sometimes left lengthy, in order to 

 nurse the Clover, I. e. t to protect it from the evils con- 

 sequent on a too sudden exposure to a hardier condition 

 of life than that to which it had previously been accus- 

 tomed. Experience, no doubt, has suggested the pro- 

 priety of this step ; but that very expeiience points to 

 the primary cause (as I conjecture) of the frequent fail- 

 ures in this crop. The Clover has been living under a 

 vicious system of education, and when the protection of 

 the fostering Barley is removed, finds itself (like some 

 over-fondled youth when he gets to Cao;brid<je) unequal 

 to cope with a world of evil influences to which it is now 

 so suddenly exposed. After the Barley has been cut 

 there may be a variety of circumstances, more or less' 

 contributing on the one hand to restore it to r healthy 

 state ; or more or less conducing, on the other, to 

 increase the debility of its weakened constitution, and 

 ultimately to bring it to an untimely end. Very slight 

 differences m the soils of different fields, or even in dif- 

 ferent parts of the same field, may have most marked 

 effects upon plants thus circumstanced. Local differences 

 in the Baney crop may also be among the inducing 

 causes to a variety of results. Variations in season must 

 be ranked among the causes which are likely to operate 

 advantageously, or otherwise, upon Clovers growing 

 oa different soils. Another consideration presents 

 itself to my mind, upon a review of the circumstances 

 under which I am told those Clovers are pretty generally 

 cultivated which are expressly intended for seed. They 

 are either fed off in May or else they are then cut, in 

 order that the seed may be produced from fresh shoots ; 

 exptner.ee having proved that the "virgin seed," as it 

 is called, obtained from the first shoots, is worthless 

 That seed procured from plan's cultivated under circum- 

 stances so disadvantageous to the formation of an ade- 

 quate supply of "proper juice" should be worthless will 

 not appear at all wonderful to botanical physiologists 

 Their theory of vegetable nutrition may readily incline 

 them also to admit, that the seed may be good which is 

 obtained from the fresh shoots, supplied as they now will 

 he by proper juice, which has been elaborated under 



[Aug. 3, 



as it were (by this abstraction of the first shooto f 

 the use of those stems which themselves a^e now 

 developing their leaves under the very best conditio * 

 required for the vigorous health of the Clover But 

 although the seed thus obtained may be good will it hi 

 the very best that could be raised ? Let this question 

 also be answered by the test of fair and sufficient experi 

 ment. I am inclined to think that seed ripened from 

 plants which may never have been half-choked by the 

 Barley, or afterwards mutilated so late in the year as 

 the month of May, would be more likely to produce a 

 robust stock than seed procured in the usual way. It may 

 possibly have been a work of years gradually to have im- 

 pressed upon a hardy native stock, like Clover and Trefoil 

 the more tender constitution of an exotic j just as it may 

 requiie the pinching of more than one generation of our 

 sturdy peasantry, to reduce them to such dastard de- 

 gradation as befits only the policy of a despotic sove- 

 reign. But peculiar management will in time work 

 wonders in changing natures (vegetable as well as animal) 

 from good to evil, as well as from evil to good. 



The day is passed when the agricultural body were 

 unanimous, or very nearly so, in sneering at our rciences 

 because we asserted we could tell them more about the 

 lt laws of nature," and the "reasons for their practices " 

 than they knew themst-lves. Therefore it is that I now 

 venture once more to direct attention to the propriety of 

 a litt'e co-operation in the attempt to verify a suggestion 

 supplied by a slight acquaintance with the principles of 

 physiological botany. I am not at all trespassing as I 

 did last year, perhaps rather injudiciously, upon the 

 province of the chemist. I now find that I should have 

 spared myself the trouble of inviting the farmers of 

 Suffolk to try our gypsum experiment, if Boussingault 

 had only published his work some 18 months ago. It 

 seems that he has rr.ade such advances towards a full de- 

 terminaion of the modus operandi of gypsum, both 

 directly upon leguminose plants, and indirectly in the 

 fixation and liberation of ammonia under the forms of 

 two salts useful to vegetation, that my little humble ex- 

 periment is not very likely to be of much service in the - 

 cause ; still it will be a pity not to carry it out fairly, 

 now that it is so much advanced — and even yet it may pos- 

 sibly not be without its uses. 



The inquiry 1 now suggest is, whether the Clover of 

 1844 may not be a more tender stock than is advisable for 

 the description of culture to which it is subjected by our 

 farmers ; and whether we can contrive, by growing 

 seed apart from those crops which are intended for fodder, 

 to produce a better race of plant ? Let those who sow 

 Clover next spring leave a stetch or two in the middle of 

 their fields, without any intermixture of Barley or any- 

 thing else. They will thus have an opportunity of seeing 

 whether such unsheltered Clover behaves itself like the - 

 rest, and whether the seed it shall produce (without the 

 plant having been touched by tooth or scythe) may not 

 the following year give birth to a somewhat sturdier 

 race. If it should ever be proved to the satisfaction of 

 all farmers, that a more careful attention to the 

 seed-crops destined for future culture is an important 

 step in the progress of agriculture, then, perhaps, we 

 may see a suggestion followed out, and which has long 

 been a favourite notion of my own also, that it would 

 be advisable to encourage the labourers of every parish to 

 direct their aim, in a special manner, to the growing of 

 certain crops for seed upon those allotment-', whichwe 

 may hope before long will be more generally provided for 

 them throughout the country.—,/. S, Henslow, Hitcham, 

 July 2!>, 1841. 



HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 

 There are two sorts of Wheat cultivated in this coun- 

 try — Triticum hybernum, or winter Wheat, and T. eesti- 

 vum, or spring Wheat. 



There are many varieties of both these kinds of Wheat 

 in cultivation. The white sorts are generally esteemed 

 the best— the red varieties having a thicker and rougher 

 husk, a hardier nature, and being better adapted for 

 cold climates ; but they are less productive, and yield an 

 inferior flour to the white. 



The Spring Wheat is less h«rdy than the winter 

 variety, and in our uncertain climate is seldom culti- 

 vated, except in some of the more southern counties. 

 The grain is smaller and less productive than winter 

 vVbear. The only advantage it possesses is the security 

 which it offers against the injurious effects of a cold and 

 rainy spring ; so that in situations where winter Wheat 

 has failed, it cm be sown as a substitute. It is the 

 practice of some farmers, when the winter Wheat has 

 goie off in patches, or appears thin, to rake in spring 

 Wheat into the vacant places ; by this means, if the 

 operation be performed early enough, the uniformity of 

 the crop is restored, for the spring-sown Wheat will 

 arrive at maturity as soon as the winter-sown. 



When spring Wheat is intended to be sown by itself, 

 it should not be delayed beyond the end ot March ; from 

 which time till its maturity, the farmer has little to 

 dread from severe weather. Sir Humphry Davy, in his 

 valuable work on " Agricultural Chemistry," says the 

 nutritive parts of spring Wheat are not quite equal in 

 quantity to those of winter Wheat, being 95£ per cent, in 

 the latter, and only 94 per cent, in the former, of the 

 entire bulk of the grain : the gluten varies in a greater 

 degree ; that of winter Wheat being 24, while spring 

 Wheat is only 19 per cent. 



Winter Wheat is generally committed to the ground 

 in October or November in England, on a Clover lea, 

 with one ploughing, or on a well-wrought summer fallow. 

 The land should be well wrought, clean, and well 

 manured ; this beiDg accomplished, it is of little import- 



