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rrop^ and the remedy to be applied, there is much difficulty. 
The following are a few facts respecting its disappearance 
from certain soils. Around Hemsworth, the property of Sir 
Francis Wood, situated upon the coal measures of the West- 
Riding, the soil of which being a rather stiff clay, formed by 
the decomposition of the binds and shale of the coal strata, red 
clover after teazles always fails ; but upon the magnesian 
limestone, a soil very similar in its composition to that of the 
Wolds, after teazles the growth of red clover is always cer- 
tain ; so that the continual treading by the feet of men in 
" spitalling" (which is merely cutting off the surface weeds) 
and in the reaping, imparts to the lighter soil of the magne- 
sian limestone a degree of consolidation favourable to the 
growth of the plant, but which upon the clay soil renders it 
so stiff and coherent, that the destruction of the same crop 
follows. In a letter from the Duke of Portland to the editor 
of Bell's Weekly Messenger, he states that the clover failed 
on some sandy land which had been boned for turnips, while 
upon the other half of the same held, which had been 
manured with fold-yard dung, the red clover flourished in 
great perfection. In the one case, probably, the earthy 
undecomposed portions of the bones would have a tendency 
to keep open or render more friable the soil, while the dung 
in two years would have nearly disappeared from the soil. 
At all events, an excretion from the roots would have equally 
affected both parts of the field. 
The red clover is naturally a tender plant ; for all annuals 
which flower early, and whose seeds drop and germinate before 
winter, resist cold less easily than such as flower late, and 
whose seeds lie dormant in the soil till spring ; and plants of 
a dry nature resist cold better than such as are watery. An 
alternation of wet and frosty weather during autumn and 
winter frequently destroys a considerable portion of the 
plants ; and a dry and cold spring impairs their strength to 
