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LEGUMINIFERZ. 39 
the free part very short, triangular, acuminated into a slender 
awn-like point, and marked with anastomosing veins. Flower- 
heads 1 to 13 inch in diameter, sometimes in pairs, sessile or very 
shortly stalked beyond the uppermost pair of leaves, which are of 
unequal size, with the stipules dilated so as to be as broad as long, 
and embracing the head of flowers. Calyx-tube with 10 distinct 
elevated nerves, sometimes glabrous; teeth very slender, from a 
triangular base, not very unequal in length. Corolla 7% inch long, 
dull purplish-pink, or more rarely ochreous-white, turning brown 
as it fades; petals united into a tube at the base. Pod small, 
opening by an operculum. Seed ovoid, smooth. Plant more or 
less hairy. Leaflets frequently with a curved transverse white 
mark in the middle. 
Var. 6, which is the common wild state of the plant, is smaller 
in all its parts, the stems being rarely above a foot long, and less 
erect, sometimes indeed procumbent, and always more or less 
curved towards the base; the stipules, especially, are much smaller, 
being from 1 to 2 inch long. The plant is generally more hairy, 
especially on the calyx; and as the calyx-teeth spread more in 
fruit, the fruiting heads look rougher. The flowers generally are 
of a deeper purple. 
Var. y has the flowers very much smaller than either in « or f, 
and the projecting calyx-teeth give a bristly aspect to the heads, 
which does not belong to either of the others. 
Marl Grass, Honeysuckle Trefoil, Red Clover, Honeystalks. 
French, Z'réfle des Prés. German, Roth Klee. 
The red Clover is perhaps the best known and commonest of our field crops, and 
is most important to the farmer as a fodder plant in this country. In its wild state it 
is perennial, but when grown artificially, it seldom lasts many years. It is usually 
sown, with corn, in the spring, and allowed to grow up after the crop is reaped ; pas- 
tured by sheep and cattle, and either cut for hay the following year or mowed several 
times like lucerne, and employed for soiling or feeding in the farmyard. Rye-grass is 
commonly sown with Clover, being considered to correct the heating prcperties of hay 
made from Clover alone. Clover succeeds best on a deep sandy, but rich soil, which is 
favourable to its long roots ; but it will grow on any soil, provided it be dry. Marl, 
lime, or chalk, is very congenial to Clover — containing much alkaline matter and 
lime ; it will not flourish on land that has been exhausted of these substances, and 
which, consequently, becomes, in agricultural phrase, “clover-sick.” Hence, it ought 
not to be grown without allowing some years to elapse between each crop. On good 
soils fitted for its production, Red Clover will yield upwards of three tons of hay per 
acre. Like most plants of the kind, it is very succulent, and requires careful drying 
before it is stacked. In some parts of Russia it is allowed to ferment in heaps before 
drying, and cattle are said to relish it in this condition. To obtain clover-hay in its 
most nutritive state, it is desirable to cut it before it is in full flower,—a rule which 
applies to all similar crops. The nutritive qualities of Red Clover, according to Sir 
Humphry Davy, are as follows :—In 1,000 parts he found 39 of soluble or nutritive 
matter, 31 of starch or mucilage, 3 of sugar, 2 of gluten, and 3 of insoluble matter 
