944 



Rural School Leaflet 



is not generally sown on land where these other clovers do well. However, 

 where the soil will not grow red or white clover without lime, it will often 

 grow alsike very well. Alsike is especially useful on wet pasture, and, 

 on the whole, it is a really valuable plant. 



Field studies. — It would be well to make a field survey of the waste 

 lands and roadsides in your neighborhood in early June, when the alsike 

 is in blossom and most easily recognized, in order to find on what kinds 

 of soil it seems to be growing wild. 



Find out by inquiry whether there is any land in the neighborhood on 

 which some one has tried to grow red clover and failed. Has he tried 

 alsike clover, and, if so, with what success? 



Learn to identify alsike clover before it blossoms, when in blossom, 

 and when the heads are ripe. 



Does alsike clover spread by the stems, creeping over the ground? Do 

 white clover and red clover spread in the same way ? 



Dig up a plant of alsike and see whether you can find any tubercles 

 on the roots ? 



Get a packet of alsike clover from a seedsman and learn to identify the 

 seed alone or when mixed with other seeds. 



Alsike clover 



Again I see the clover bloom, 



And wade in grasses lush and sweet; 



Again has vanished all my gloom 

 With daisies smiling at my feet." 



JOHN BURROUGHS 



