On the Giant Sainfoin. 



6J 



taken into account, which last will be equal in quantity and value 

 to from 30 to 40 tons of meadow hay, supposing each to be equally 

 well gotten. By adopting this system, it follows that the whole 

 of the clover upon the farm may be fed with sheep, except in 

 such localities where a more successful mode of disposing thereof 

 can be had recourse to. This practice, moreover, will meet one 

 of the peculiar properties of this species, which is this : — I do not 

 think it wdl remain in plant so long as the common stock ; which, 

 with its maturing itself so much earlier, and the extra mowing it 

 undergoes, is not very surprising. Still I have known it answer 

 well for five years, where most abundant crops of hay were pro- 

 duced in each year ; but the seed crop of the last year was a failure, 

 the seed dropping from the stem after it was set. In another in- 

 stance, when it was sown upon a weak clay, well drained, in the 

 middle of a 30-acre field of the common stock, and treated the 

 same, by being mown once and then depastured, it remained in 

 plant as long as the other was allowed to remain, being eight 

 years. 



I shall now proceed to show how my own experience and ob- 

 servation bear out the utility of the system I have laid down in 

 theory. In 1845 I selected a field of 24 acres, which had been 

 well manured in February, 1844, and sown partly with beans and 

 partly with peas. The soil was a reddish loam, with a fair pro- 

 portion of gravel stones, and the subsoil, at the depth of from 18 

 to 24 inches, was partly chalk and partly a dry white clay of a 

 chalky character. This was all planted with wheat in the autumn : 

 the sainfoin drilled between the rows in the spring, and the 

 stubble left during winter to protect the plant. It has received 

 no manure since that period, but has been mown once for hay 

 and once for seed in every subsequent year ; part was drilled at 

 the rate of 2 bushels, part at 2J, and the remainder at 3 bushels 

 per acre. The crop was all good, but I gave a decided prefer- 

 ence to the thickest sown. The hay is not so coarse, and there are 

 more stems to produce seed on the second mowing. The field 

 having planted well, I am desirous of ascertaining how long it will 

 continue in plant, being mown once for hay and once for seed in 

 each year. The field planted in 1846 was prepared in a similar 

 way, and although the wheat crop was splendid, and partially 

 lodged, the sainfoin is very good/ 3 bushels per acre having been 

 sown. In 1847 a piece of exceeding poor chalk land was planted, 

 after being prepared in a similar way ; but, like all the sainfoins 

 in this neighbourhood, being its first year in plant, it suffered in 

 the spring from excessive wet weather, and the hay crop was not 

 so productive as I usually grow, but has since been thrifty, and 

 promises w T ell for future years. The piece planted in 1848 was 

 put in with wheat, sown partly after beans and partly after rape. 



