RED CLOVER. 83 



hay ; in consequence more nitrogen is left after clover seed than after hay, 

 which accounts for wheat yielding a better crop after clover seed than after 

 hay." 



7. " The development of roots being checked when the produce, in a green 

 condition, is fed off by sheep, in all probability, leaves still less nitrogenous 

 matter in the soil than when clover is allowed to get riper and is mown for 

 hay; thus no doubt accounting for the observation made by practical men 

 that notwithstanding the return of the produce in the sheep-excrements, 

 wheat is generally stronger and yields better, after clover mown for hay, than 

 when the clover is fed oft* green by sheep." 



8. " The nitrogenous matters in the clover remains, on their gradual decay, 

 are finally transformed into nitrates, thus affording a continuous source of 

 food, on which cereal crops specially delight to grow." 



9. " There is strong presumptive evidence that the nitrogen which exists 

 in the shape of ammonia and nitric acid, and descends in these combinations 

 with the rain which falls on the ground satisfies, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, the requirements of the clover crop. This crop causes a large accu- 

 mulation of nitrogenous matters, which are gradually changed in the soil 

 into nitrates. The atmosphere thus furnishes nitrogenous food to the suc- 

 ceeding wheat indirectly, and so to say, gratis." 



10. "Clover not only provides abundance of nitrogenous food, but deliv- 

 ers this food in a readily available power (as nitrates) more gradually and 

 continuously, and with more certainty of a good result than such food can 

 be applied to the land in the shape of nitrogenous spring top dressing." 



The above conclusions should be posted up and read daily by every farmer 

 till they are intelligibly fixed in his mind. 



Owing to the great depths to which the roots penetrate the soil, — fre- 

 quently six feet or more, — they help to bring up a run-down farm; they 

 bring the valuable ingredients from a great depth and store a large part of 

 them in the main bulk of roots near the surface, where they are available 

 for future plant growth. 



WHERE WILL RED CLOVER THRIVE ? . 



Red clover is well adapted to many portions of the temperate regions of 

 the earth. It likes best a soil of clay loam rich in lime, but will thrive bet- 

 ter than Timothy and many other fine grasses where the land is sandy or 

 gravelly. On good grass land it is usually the custom to sow Timothy with 

 red clover, although it blossoms some three weeks later. Many prefer to 

 sow orchard grass with clover, as they flower and are ready to cut at the 

 same time. Timothy is well adapted to sow with the large or late clover. 



Red clover is not only a general favorite in the United States from Maine 

 and New Jersey to Iowa and Illinois, but is very valuable farther West and 

 South. 



For Kansas: Professor Shelton reports that it deserves a prominent place 

 in the list of forage plants. In some very dry seasons, it fails almost 

 entirely, but during the favorable seasons it flourishes abundantly, and 

 yields more — both of hay and pasture — than is generally obtained in the 

 East. When land is once seeded, it never runs out, as is the case in the 

 Eastern States, but thickens and spreads continually by self-seeding. He 

 believes that nowhere are such large crops of clover seed grown as in 

 Kansas. 



In Mississippi : Professor Phares says red clover grows most luxuriantly 



