410 Clover as a Prepatat07y Crop for WJieat. 
The partially dried roots contained — 
Moisture 5-06 
*Organic matter 31'94: 
Mineral matter GS'OO 
100-00 
* Containing nitrogen '804 
An acre of tliis soil, 6 inches deep, produced 3 tons 7 cwts. 
65 lbs. of clover-roots, containing 61 lbs. of nitrogen : that is, 
there was very nearly the same quantity of roots and nitrogen in 
them as that furnished in the soil from the brow of the hill. 
The roots, moreover, yielded "365 per cent, of phosphoric acid, 
or, calculated per acre, 27 lbs. 
In the partially dried soil I found- 
Moisture 4-70 
•Organic matter 10'87 
fMineral matter 8-i-43 
100-00 
* Contaiuing nitrogen -405 
Equal to ammonia •491 
•f Including phosphoric acid .. .. -321 
According to these determinations an acre of the soil from the 
bottom of the hill contains — 
Tons. cwts. lbs. 
Xitrogen in the organic matter of the soil ..2 2 0 
„ clover-roots „ .. 0 0 61 
Total amount of nitrogen per acre . . . . 2 2 61 
Compared with the amount of nitrogen in the soil from the 
brow of the hill, about 11 cwt. more nitrogen was obtained in 
the soil and roots from the bottom of the hill where the clover 
was more luxuriant. 
The increased amount of nitrogen occurred in fine root-fibres 
and other organic matters of the soil, and not in the coarser bits 
of roots which were picked out by the hand. It may be assumed 
that the finer particles of organic matter are more readily decom- 
posed than the coarser roots ; and as there was a larger amount 
of nitrogen in this than in the preceding soil, it may be expected 
that the land at the bottom of the hill, after the removal of the 
clover, was in a better agricultural condition for wheat than that 
on the brow of the hill, 
£.rperi77ients on Clover- Soils from Burcott Lodye Farm, 
Leighton- Buzzard. 
The soils for the next experiments were kindly supplied to me 
in 1866 by Mr. Robert Vallentine, of Burcott Lodge, who also 
sent me some notes respecting the giowth and yield of clover 
hay and seed on this soil. 
