( 5 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE GROWTH OF LEGUMINOUS CROPS. 
I.—Brans, Peas, AND TARES. 
EXPERIMENTS on the growth of Leguminous corn-crops, 
with different descriptions of manure, were commenced in 
1847, about 9 acres being devoted to the purpose. 
Experiments with Brans were continued for thirteen 
consecutive seasons, to 1859 inclusive; but, during the 
later years, the crop fell off very much, and the land 
became very foul. 
In 1860 the land was fallowed. 
In 1861 a crop of wheat, without manure, was taken. 
In 1862 beans were again sown, but with some varia- 
tion in the manuring. 
In 1863 the land was fallowed. 
Tn 1864, and since, beans have been grown with much 
the same manures on the same plots as in 1862. 
The general result of the experiments with Brans 
was, that mineral constituents added as manure (more 
particularly potass, and, to some extent, phosphoric acid 
also), increased the crop very much during the early years ; 
and, to a certain extent, afterwards, whenever the season 
was favourable for the crop. Ammonia-salts, on the other 
hand, produced very little effect; notwithstanding that a 
Leguminous crop contains two, three, or more times as 
much nitrogen as a Graminaceous one grown under 
parallel circumstances. Nitrate of soda, however, has 
produced very striking effects. But Leguminous crops 
grown too frequently on the same land seem to be pecu- 
liarly subject to disease, which no combination of manuring 
that we have hitherto tried seems to obviate. 
Experiments with PEas were soon abandoned, owing to 
the difficulty of keeping the land free from weeds; and an 
alternation of Beans and WHEAT was substituted; the 
beans being manured much as in the experiments with the 
game crop above described. 
In alternating Waar with Brans, the remarkable 
result has been obtained, that nearly as much wheat, and 
nearly as much nitrogen, were yielded in 8 crops of wheat 
in alternation with the highly nitrogenous beans, as in 16 
crops of wheat grown consecutively without manure, and 
also nearly as much as were obtained in another field in 8 
crops alternated with bare fallow. 
Experiments with TarEs were also soon abandoned, 
for the same reason ; beans being at first substituted, with 
some variation in the description of the manures employed ; 
but of late this experiment has likewise been abandoned. 
I.—ReEp Cover (Trifolium pratense). 
Experiments on the growth of Clover, with different 
descriptions of manure, were commenced in 1849, and, 
with the occasional interposition of a corn-crop, or fallow, 
have been continued up to the present time. As with 
beans, the result was, that mineral constituents applied as 
manures (particularly potass, and, more or less, phosphoric 
acid also), considerably increased the early crops; whereas 
ammoniacal-salts had little or no effect. But since the 
first few years, all attempts to grow Clover year after year 
on this land have failed to give anything like a fair crop, 
or a plant that would stand the usual time on the ground ; 
notwithstanding that fresh. seed has been sown again and 
again. In one year, a portion of the land was trenched 
two feet deep; one-third of the manure being applied at 
a depth of 16 inches, one-third at a depth of 8 inches, and 
the remainder on the surface, 
The general result of the experiments is, that neither 
ammoniacal-salts, nor nitrate of soda, nor organic matter 
rich in carbon as well as other constituents, nor mineral 
manures, nor a complex mixture, has availed to restore 
the clover-yielding capabilities of the land. 
It is, however, worthy of remark that, in 1854, Red 
Clover was sown in a kitchen-garden only a few hundred 
yards distant from the experimental field, on soil which 
has been under ordinary garden cultivation for, probably, 
two or three centuries, and it has every year since shown 
very luxuriant growth; and, after re-sowing twice during 
the period (in 1860 and 1865), there is, at the present 
time, little or no indication of failure. 
