Seeding of Sainfoin and Lucerne. 



41 



while weeds, such as charlock, campions and brome grasses, 

 were abundant. Plot 1 w T as rather better than plot 2. The 

 herbage on plot 3 (the lucerne mixture) was very good ; 

 there were no weeds, and there was a fair sprinkling of sain- 

 foin ; the lucerne plant, however, was rather weak, but the 

 crop was a satisfactory one. Sainfoin on plots 4 and 5 was 

 poorly developed ; on the unmanured portions of the plots 

 weeds, such as campions and thistles, were abundant, and 

 also rough stalked meadow grass ; on the manured portions 

 of the plots the sainfoin formed a thick close covering, and 

 was at that time in flower. The sainfoin mixture on plot 6 was 

 the heaviest crop, and very few weeds were present ; peren- 

 nial ryegrass was the most prominent grass, although all 

 the others sown were represented ; there was a fair sprink- 

 ling of sainfoin, but scarcely any lucerne. 



The aftermath, or second crop, was a small one, and 

 the sainfoin and lucerne mixtures were thickest in the bottom, 

 and stood the drought much better than did the other plots. 

 The lucerne grew most strongly in the aftermath, but was 

 not as luxuriant as one would expect. 



In Oxfordshire the experiments w T ere begun in the spring 

 of 1896 on land at Kidmore Grange, Caversham, where they 

 have been continued each year since. The points to be 

 determined are the same as in the case of the Dorset 

 experiments ; but an additional object of the Oxfordshire 

 experiments is to test the relative results of sowing sain- 

 foin and lucerne with and without a corn crop, as well as 

 mixed with grass and clover seeds. 



At Kidmore Grange the plots are close to the road, and lie 

 to the right, going north past the farm buildings, about 

 1 50 yards from the buildings. The soil is a dry, gravelly 

 loam, of varying depth, and rests on chalk. The land was 

 cropped with wheat in 1895, except a narrow strip along 

 the edge of plots 1 to 10, which was in vetches ; in 1894 the 

 crop was clover. Each of the twelve plots is J acre in area. 

 All the seeds were sown during the first week of May, 1896. 

 On plots 1 to 6 the seeds were sown with oats, which, 

 owing to the dry summer, were a light crop. On plots 7 

 to 12 the seeds were sown without a crop. 



