POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE OF LATENESS. 15 



Another feature in this connection, wliich is better ilhistrated than 

 described, is shown in figure 2. Many leaves borne on the long 

 stalks arising from short stems near the crown of the root persist in 

 a growing condition until the plant is quite mature, and are cut with 

 the hay. In the specimen from which the illustration was made 

 the main stems were cut off, leaving only the basal leaves. Much 

 of the leafiness observable in Plate I, figure 1, is due to the persist- 

 ence of these leaves. Compared with that froni American strains, 

 a large percentage of the hay is made up of this tender leafy mate- 

 rial, which improves its quality and increases its palatabilit3^ The 

 American strains also produce these leaves, but not in such profu- 

 sion, nor do they persist. (See PI. I, fig. 2.) As a rule they become 

 brown and dead, and if the weather be wet, decayed, and almost 

 all fall off before the hay is made. 



It is hoped that the smooth Orel clover will prove of permanent 

 value especially in North Dakota and South Dakota, where clover 

 culture is but little practiced and where on account of the waning 

 productiveness of the soil, due to continuous cropping with wheat 

 and other cereals, this cTop is much needed for renewing and main- 

 taining soil fertility. 



LATENESS OF HAIRLESS CLOVER WITH REFERENCE TO INSECT 



RAVAGES. 



A recent circular'^ prepared by the Bureau of Entomology calls 

 attention to certain insects which destroy' the clover seed crop and 

 suggests as a method of preventing their ravages the clipping of the 

 clover in May in order to cause blossoming to come on at a later 

 date, when the danger from injury by these insects has passed. It 

 is possible that the natural lateness of this new^ type of clover may 

 accomplish this same result, thus doing aw^ay with the necessity for 

 early clipping, which w^ould probably make impossible the securing 

 of more than one crop in any year. 



A point of considerable interest and importance in reference to the 

 general question of the harm done by insects was noted on the 

 plants at Wapakoneta, Ohio. Grasshoppers were quite numerous 

 and destructive in that section during the summer of 1905. The 

 hairless Orel clover, known as No. 16, was not included in the ex- 

 periment, but another smooth type from Kief, Russia, was tested at 

 this place. It w^as found that the grasshoppers preferred the hairless 

 clover to such an extent that they destroyed almost every plant of 

 it, but did not molest the hairy American plants on the neighboring 

 plats. 



a "Some Insects Affecting the Production of Red Clover Seed." By F. M. Webster. 

 Circular 69, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1906. 



95 



