278 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



to follow the practice of their ancestors, 

 merely because it was their practice ; cir- 

 cumstances might have arisen which re- 

 quired that they should deviate from it. 

 For example, their ancestors did not use 

 artificial manures to stimulate the growth 

 of their crops ; and hence, in their wis- 

 dom, they laid down the ground for a cer- 

 tain number of years, in order that veg- 

 etable matter might accumulate there. It 

 was in this way that he accounted for the 

 prevalence in that county of the practice 

 of laying down seeds for two or three 

 years. He thought it would be worth 

 while to ascertain by experiment whether 

 one year would not suffice ; whether, by 

 means of a sort of modification of the 

 four-course rotation, they might, in four 

 years, obtain a better return than they 

 had done under the present system. (Hear, 

 hear.) 



The Rev. E. Phillpotts observed 

 that the agriculturists of that neighbor- 

 hood were in the habit of seeding out, not 

 only with clover, but also with some of 

 the other grasses. He would be glad to 

 know whether or not that practice inter- 

 fered with the application of the princi- 

 ple laid down by the lecturer. 



Mr. Nesbit said, the grasses generally 

 did not enter so largely into the question 

 as clover. He had been speaking more 

 particularly of clover. The grasses were 

 not of the same race as clover ; and, , not 

 having so large an amount of roots, did 

 not follow exactly the same rule. When 

 they were laying down a regular pasture, 

 of which clover would form only a small 

 portion, the principle which he had laid 

 down w r as not applicable to quite the same 

 extent, that it would not answer to feed with 

 clover unless they were laying down the 

 land for a great number of years, and 

 even then it would be better to let the 

 clover grow for a certain time than to let 

 it all be fed off as it was produced. They 

 could keep a much larger quantity of ani- 

 mals by thai means, than by allowing the 

 stock unlimited access to the pasture. 



The Chairman said, a gentleman had re- 

 marked that he thought the leases in that 

 neighborhood contained a clause which 

 prohibited the cutting of clover twice. 

 The gentleman was quite right ; such a 

 clause was always inserted, and it w T as im- 

 portant to bear that in mind in discussing 

 this question. 



The Rev. Mr. May thought it might, 

 in Eome cases, be desirable to feed sheep 

 on half the crop, and to cut and plough 

 in the other half. 



Mr. Nesbit said, what he had been ad- 

 vocating was, the allowing the clover to 

 be fully developed before it was either 

 fed off or cut. To cut it completely, and 

 then allow it to develop again, would cer- 

 tainly be preferable to continuous feeding ; 

 but by ploughing in both the top and the 

 bottom growth they would of course ob- 

 tain the greatest result in the after-crop. 

 The best course to be pursued depended 

 to a great extent on the amount of vege- 

 table matter in the soil. The plan of 

 letting clover acquire very large roots 

 might not always answer on some peculiar 

 descriptions of light land, a certain me- 

 chanical compressed condition of the soil 

 being required in exceptional cases. He 

 knew that Mr. Hudson, of Castleacre, 

 found that it would not do for him, in cer- 

 tain cases, to cut clover twice, because 

 his land was too light. 



Mr. R. Wise said, he had dressed some 

 clover, just after the barley was cut, so 

 that it was protected all through the win- 

 ter. He grew two tons of hay per acre 

 on very poor land. He laid it down for 

 permanent grasses, and he found it an- 

 swer very well. 



The Chairman : There was a top ma- 

 nure afterwards ? 



Ma, Wise : Yes. 



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 



Dr. Pethick said there were two or 

 three questions which he would take the 

 liberty of putting to the lecturer. The 

 first question was, whether, in the ap- 

 plication of bone-dust as a manure, it was 

 not better that it should be applied on the 

 surface, and harrowed in, so as to secure 

 the free access of air to favor the decom- 

 position of it, instead of being, according 

 to the prevailing method, turned entirely 

 under the furrow? Secondly, he wished 

 to know whether ammonia existed at all 

 as ammonia ? his opinion being that the 

 ammonia which was evolved in the de- 

 composition of organic substances was 

 generated at the time that decomposition 

 was going on ; the nitrogen and hydrogen 

 in the act of flying off having a strong 

 affinity for each other, and then chemi- 

 cally combining and forming ammonia. 

 Ammonia being nothing more than a com- 



