The Clover Mystery. 241 



influence the crops. But when I let the best of these first mentioned 

 farms, the tenant had no diflaculty in producing what is called 

 Clover sickness, and that too more than once, and in a most marked 

 degree on one of the best circumstanced fields on the farm. These 

 facts certainly seem to lead to the conclusion, that if a farmer sows 

 good seed produced in a suitable climate, and uses little or no Rye 

 Grass, he may be sure of growing fair crops of clover, though he 

 could not ezpect them to be nearly as good nor as uniformly good 

 as he could obtain were the land cultivated on the Clifton-on- 

 Bowmont system. 



As the facts as regards the sole instance of failure seem of interest 

 I give the manager's report of the field in full :— 



"Stackyard FibivD Grass Mixturb, One Ybab's Hay." 



"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 

 grazed 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 

 successfully adopted, in essentials, the same remedy in both cases. 

 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 top soil, in other words 

 soil rich in humus, and this entirely changed the aspect of affairs, 

 as the land was thus restored in a very great degree to its virgin 



Q 



