190 The Clover Mystery. 



' STACKYARD FIELD GRASS MIXTURE, ONE YEAR S HAY. 



Lb. 



Alsike Clover 3 



Kidney Vetch 3 



Lb. 



Italian Ryegrass 10 



Cocksfoot 5 



Late-flowering Red Clover 4 



" The seed was put in with a good mould, with the exception of 

 the heavy clay portions of the field, which, at the time of seeding, 

 were somewhat rough. There was not a heavy crop of barley, and 

 there was none of the crop ' lodged.' 



" There was a fair take of seeds after the corn was cut, but a. 

 want of clover, more especially on the clay portions. The seeds were 

 eaten in the late autumn with sheep, but only to a moderate extent. 

 When the hay was cut (a fair crop) there was little clover to be seen 

 — none in the heavy clay parts ; the same remark applies to the 

 kidney vetch. 



"It is sometimes said that 'Cocksfoot does not come the first 

 year' — in this field Cocksfoot bulked largely in the hay crop." 



It is, I think, of practical interest to add here that I have in my 

 long planting and agricultural experience observed the same causes 

 of soil decline both in India and in Roxburghshire, and have success- 

 fully adopted, in essentials, the same remedy in both oases. We (the 

 planters) cleared forest lands on the Western Ghauts of Mysore, and 

 planted them with coffee. All went well till the stock of humus in 

 the soil fell to a low ebb, when the inevitable decline ensued, 

 accompanied by decreased production, and increased plant diseases. 

 We then consulted the agricultural chemists, who advised varying 

 combinations of artificial manures, but this only made matters worse, 

 leading to a bumper crop one year and hardly any crop the next, 

 accompanied, as might be supposed, with a decline in the quality of 

 the berry. Then I went back to Nature, and carted on to my land 

 immense quantities of forest topsoil ; in other words, soil rich in 

 humus, and this entirely changed the aspect of afiairs, as the land 

 was thus restored, in a very great degree, to its virgin condition. In 

 like manner I have treated the once run-out soil of the Clifton-on- 

 Bowmont farm, where field after field had been enclosed from the hill. 

 The virgin turf gave, of course with the aid of a little artificial 

 manure with the turnips and swedes, splendid crops for a certain 

 number of years ; but as, from the distance from the steading, no 

 farmyard manure could be applied, the inevitable exhaustion of humus 

 ensued. There was only one way of remedying the evil, and that was 

 to produce humus on the spot in the shape of turf. This was done 

 with the aid of my system, and I have found, by comparative analysis, 

 that I have not onlj' restored the run-out humus, or decaying 

 vegetable matter of the virgin turf, but supplied it in a much more 

 effective degree, in consequence of my deepening the soil with the 

 aid of the deep-rooting plants and grasses used in my mixture. 

 Whether, then, the season is excessively wet, or one of extreme 

 drought, we produce, without fail, the fullest crops of clover, which, 



