1913.] 



Herbage Studies. 



267 



interesting account of Wild "White Clover, by Dr. A. Gilchrist, Professor 

 of Agriculture in the Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, was published 

 in the 'Journal of the Board of Agriculture' in 1909 (vol. XVI, No. 91). 

 As an illustration of the difference between this form and the commonly 

 cultivated variety, Prof. Gilchrist cites an experiment made at Cockle Park 

 Farm, Northumberland, in which two quarter -acre plots of the poorest type 

 of boulder clay soil, laid down to grass in April 1906, each received together 

 with other seeds 4 lbs. of cultivated or commercial white-clover seed per 

 acre and one of them (Plot II), in addition, 4 lbs. per acre of the wild 

 white-clover seed ; the hay produced on the two plots was as follows : — 





Weight of hay. 



Plot L 



Plot n. 





cwt. 



cwt. 



1907 





35 



1908 



18i 



28i 



1909 



15§ 



21| 



Average 



21* 



28* 



To quote Prof. Gilchrist, " The aftermath has been grazed every year. 

 White clover and practically all the clovers disappeared from Plot I after 

 the first year but now some natural clover plants are spreading on this 

 plot. Plot II has always had a thick and close sward of white clover and 

 this continues to be so. It may be noted that on this cold clay soil meadow 

 fescue seed has failed to produce plants. A striking result is that on 

 Plot I the grasses have not been nearly so luxuriant as on Plot II. This 

 was so even in the first year's hay crop and is undoubtedly due to the 

 collection of nitrogen from the atmosphere by means of the nodules on 

 the clover roots and to the stimulating effects of the nitrogen on the 

 grasses." 



We have not succeeded in finding cyanide in white clover raised from 

 " cultivated " seed at any stage of growth. When the wild white seed is 

 germinated, faint traces of cyanide can be detected even on the fourth or 

 fifth day, as soon as the cotyledons begin to assume a green tinge, the 

 response to the cyanide test being more distinct a day or so later when 

 they aie fully green though only just emerging from the seed husk. 



VOL. lxxxvi. — b. 



u 



