1910.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 667 



and 1908, in each case with barley. The most successful mixture con- 

 tained :— Perennial ryegrass, 15 lb. ; Italian ryegrass, 8 lb. ; English 

 red clover, 8f lb. ; trefoil, 2| lb., and alsike, if lb. ; total, 36^ lb. per 

 acre, costing 145. yd. On a heavy loam in 1908 the crop with this 

 mixture was 29 cwt., and on a sandy loam in 1909 38! cwt. With a 

 larger proportion of Italian, and less perennial ryegrass, the crop was 

 smaller. This was also the case when both ryegrasses were decreased 

 by a quarter. 



It has been found advantageous to leave the "seeds" down for 

 three years and upwards, on some thin, poor clay soil lying on Boulder 

 Clay, and four seeds mixtures were sown with the object of finding 

 the most suitable for this purpose. The plots were \ acre in 

 area, and were sown down on wheat, after summer fallow, in the 

 spring of 1906. They were cut for hay in the three years 1907-9, and 

 the best results were given by a mixture costing 295. per acre, made 

 up as follows : — Perennial ryegrass, 6 lb. ; Italian ryegrass, 6 lb. ; cocks- 

 foot 6 lb. ; timothy, 3 lb. ; meadow fescue, 8 lb. ; red clover, 4 lb. ; alsike, 

 2 lb. ; white clover, 4 lb. ; wild white clover, 4 lb. The crop from this 

 mixture averaged 28^ cwt. per acre. The most valuable plant in the 

 mixtures was wild white clover. On two plots where it was sown a 

 remarkable carpet of white clover developed, while ordinary white 

 clover failed to produce plants.* 



A part of the plots was dressed with different manures, 10 cwt. of 

 basic slag being compared with 10 tons of farmyard manure, and with 

 these two manures together. Wherever clover was sown the slag gave 

 more hay than farmyard manure, or than farmyard manure and slag 

 together, probably because the dung, in developing the grasses, tended 

 to repress the clovers. 



Seeds Mixtures for Permanent Pasture (Holmes Chapel Coll. of 

 Agric. Year Book, 1909). — Five seeds mixtures were sown in 1907 on 

 a heavy clay soil. These comprised a cheap temporary mixture, cost- 

 ing 185. Sd. per acre, a variation of the " Elliott " mixture s which in- 

 cludes burnet and other deep-rooting plants, permanent mixtures with 

 and without perennial ryegrass, and the mixture used for 9 acres of 

 pasture which was being laid down. Notes are given on the appear- 

 ance of the grass in the first two years. 



Grass Seed Mixtures (Aberdeen and N. of Scotland Coll. of Agric, 

 Bull. 15). — This experiment dealt with seeds mixtures for the three 

 years of temporary grasses which are included in the common rotation 

 of the North. The usual mixtures of ryegrasses and clovers were 

 compared with others containing smaller proportions of ryegrass' or 

 without ryegrass, its place being taken by natural grasses or deep- 

 rooting plants. The results of the mixtures in providing hay in the 

 first year and pasture in the second and third years, and their effect 

 as regards weeds and the improvement of the soil are recorded. The 

 conclusions are generally unfavourable to large seedings of ryegrasses. 



Seeds Mixtures for Temporary Ley (Field Expts. at Harper Adams 

 Agric. Coll., and in Staffs and Salop, 1909.)— Various mixtures of rye- 

 grass and clovers were sown in 1907 and 1908 for a one-year's ley. Three 

 mixtures of Italian ryegrass and clover, costing 195. yd., 135. id., and 



* See Journal, December 1909, p. 713. 



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