With this view I sowed three red clovers, 
three white clovers two yellow tr*f >ils, the 
scarlet Trifolium, the purple Lucerne, the red 
Sainfoin, the pink clover, the vigorous Bok¬ 
hara Clover,and the purple vetch; every one 
of these had the option of feeding upon thir¬ 
ty-four different combinations of manures, 
each of which differed more or less from the 
other. This experiment has now been going 
on for several years, b it I propose to give 
merely the result of a competitive examina¬ 
tion made at the end of May of the present 
year. 
Before going into the field I decided on 
classing the various crops under three heads: 
1. Good: which should represent a fair 
agricultural crop. 
2. Very good: where the produce was much 
in excess of an ordinary crop. 
8. Bad: where the produce was much be¬ 
low that of an ordinary crop. 
Each crop had, so to speak, thirty-four 
chances, having the opportunity of producing 
the thirty-four different manures, came under 
the class described as good, or very good. 
Pour of the oth*-r crops have the largo major¬ 
ity good or very good; f ur have the majority 
bad, but the only crop which is bad throughout 
the whole of the thirty-four varieties of 
manuring is the ordinary red clover. 
Itpo hippen9 that this rod clover adjoins the 
Sainfoin which L a good or a very good crop 
under every variety of manuring. In no case 
is the Sainfoin less than 18 inches high, while 
in several cases it is between two and three 
bet high and very thick upon tho ground; 
the red clover, on the other hand, ii not more 
than two or three inches above the ground, 
and although tbo pi ant is not diseased there is 
no active growth. 
Passing from this field, let us now go Into 
another where an exp-riment on an ordinary 
four-courso rotation of turnips, barley, el( ver 
and wheat, was commenced in 1848, and his 
been carried on, without any apphcat.on of 
manure to the soil, from that day to the pre¬ 
sent time. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress. In the year 1882, by the Rural New Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
Vol XLL No. 1700. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 26, 1882. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
S2.00 FXB YEAR. 
farm Copies. 
CLOVER SICKNESS. 
SIR JOHN BENNET LAWES, BART, LL.D. F.R.S. 
A short time a" o Professor Scott delivered 
a lecture beiore the London Farmers’ Club 
upon the “Recent Advances in the Science and 
Practice of Agriculture.” 
Amongst other subjects he referred to pota¬ 
to disease and clover sickness, and in reference 
to the latter mentioned that at Rothamsted 
upon a garden soil, without further manuring 
I bad grown red clover for 28 years in suc¬ 
cession. 
The discussion which followed turned a good 
deal upon clover sit kness ; and one of the 
members who had recently returned from the 
States—after giving his experience with re¬ 
gard to the disease following a too frequent 
repetition of the crop—mentioned that at a 
in one of our fields, we decided to apply a 
variety of manures to the crop and to restore 
it if it died away. I have no intention of giv¬ 
ing a history of all our failures, but will mere¬ 
ly mention the fact that after twenty-two 
years, feeling somewhat weary of wasting 
money on several acres of land without being 
able to arrive at any definite results as re¬ 
garded the object of our investigations, I left 
Dr. Gilbert to go on with the experiment on a 
more confined area, thinking that a few 
square yards would prove equally as well as 
some acres of land whether the crop of clover 
could be grown continuously or not. I may 
say, however, that the last ten years have 
given no more successful results than the 
twenty-two years that preceded them. 
Upon the remainder of the land—which had 
been under clover experiment for twenty-two 
years—I have now for some years been trying 
to grow other plants of the same order; and in 
addition to the red clover, I have five other 
clovers, and nine other agricultural crops of 
the leguminous order. 
A GROUP OF HOLSTEIN CATTLE.— From Life.—Fig. 263. —See Herdsman Department. 
meeting of one of the Granges in America he I may tpention here that, as far as chemical a good result under any one of the thirty-four The third crop in the rotation was clover 
was called upon to speak and “Amongst other composition is concerned, the Leguminosae manures. and a very large produce was carried off, but 
things, be said, I mentioned clover-stok land, bear a very close relation to ea 'h other, and The whole of this portion of the field bas as usual when the attempt was made to repeat 
aud, directly after I sat down, a lady got up the same is the ease with the graminaceous been under experiment since 1S48, its oondi- the crop after an interval of four years it 
and began to ri Hcule the farmers of England, crops; while there is a marked differeR’* be- tion therefore with regard to manures is well failed. Beans were then tried in place of the 
and the scientifi c men of E gland, because tween beans and wheat, or peas and barley. known. Since 18^4 no dune has been applied * clover, and they were repeated every fourth 
they could not, in their scientific researches, the distinction between the various plants of and, upon certain portions of the land, no year until IS'!3 when red clover was sown 
find out some remedy for this grpat evil.” the ?ame order—whether we take the whole substance e ntaining nitrogen has been nsed with the harlev. The crop was not diseased 
To the best of rav belief nowhere t ut at plant or the seed alone—is very slight; wheat since the commencement of the experiment in j n flnv wav and it stood the Winter, but there 
Rothamstel has any attempt been made, np barley, corn and rice closely resemble each 1848. wa5 no active growth; and the hay, which 
to the present time, to find out why red other. Mv object therefore in carrying out The result of the examination brought out was cut three times, only weighed 1J^ ton 
clover would not grow continuously upon the this experiment was to ascertain whether the the following facts: Five of the different per acre. A crop of beans was taken in the 
same land. land was only clover-sick, or whether it would crops grown, Sanfoin, tares, Bokhara Clover, fourth following year, and red clover was 
In the year 1848, having Bomeacresof clover refuse to grow any other crop of the same order Lucerne and Trifolium, under every one of again tried with the barley in 1881; the crop 
