Desirable Agricultural Experiments. 
275 
itself, it seems desirable that at any rate tentative trials should 
be made on different descriptions of soil, with the view of ascer- 
taining whether more advantage cannot be taken of this source 
of nitrogen than our established practices of rotation at present 
secure.” 
County Councils might well be asked to contribute some 
of the money they have to spend upon technical education in 
assisting agricultural bodies to carry out the experiment, as it 
would possess more educational value than scores of the lectures 
upon which they are now spending large portions of the funds at 
their disposal. If, with such assistance or without it, the trial were 
made at ten stations, the results might possibly be so generally 
in one direction as to go far towards settling the main question 
at issue. I do not say that, under any circumstances, they 
would finally settle it, because there are at least two important 
points to consider in addition to the immediate profitableness of 
the rival crops. Supposing that the advantage of the three 
years’ trial should rest with the leguminous crops, there would 
still be the question whether land could be kept clean if these 
crops were substituted for roots. Again, in very light soils the 
solidifying efiect of a root crop fed on is valuable, and the ques- 
tion would arise whether the loss of this advantage would be 
compensated by any gain of nitrogen obtained by the substitu- 
tion of leguminous crops for turnips. For my own part, I do 
not expect to see roots superseded on light soils, although it 
seems to me by no means improbable that the time will come 
when they will be but little grown on heavy land. As it is, the 
best policy of the heavy-land farmer seems to be that of forcing 
the greatest possible bulk of roots from the smallest area of 
land. 
The question of keeping land clean reminds me of a point 
avoided in describing the proposed experiment. The vetches 
and lupins would be cleared off the land comparatively early in 
the summer, and, in order to obtain the greatest advantage 
from the new system, it might be considered necessary to grow 
a second crop, such as rape, mustard, or stubble turnips, to be 
fed off in time for wheat sowing. To include such catch- 
cropping in the experiment would confuse the issue. Still, 
supposing that the leguminous crops turned out more profitable 
than the roots, it might be held that the advantage in their 
favour would be still greater if a catch crop were taken after 
them. Probably it would be, as far as a three years’ trial 
would show ; but the cleansing effect of fallowing the land after 
the vetches and lupins were cleared off might prove more 
profitable than catch-cropping in the long run. 
