LA+L-fL-£ 
4.0 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
or refuse. As a fodder plant, the Clover is very much esteemed by all farmers, and, 
xecording to Loudon, one acre is equal to three of ordinary pasture for feeding horses 
or black cattle, and the hay is reckoned more valuable by from 15 to 20 per cent. 
than the same weight yielded by the best meadow-land. 
In feeding cattle with green Clover, great care must be observed to prevent the 
swelling or hoving, which is very apt to take place when they are first put upon this 
food, especially if it be wet with rain or dew ; and the more luxuriant the Clover the 
greater is this danger. After being accustomed to this rich food for a few days, during 
which it should be given sparingly, the danger is less; but it is never safe to allow 
milch-cows to eat large quantities of wet clover. The Red Clover appears to have 
been introduced into English agriculture first in the year 1645, by Sir Richard 
Weston, who had observed its large and successful cultivation in Belgium. It appears 
to have been grown on the Continent long before this time, the absence of the fine 
natural pastures which we possess having led the French and German agriculturists 
to encourage the growth of those plants which would form their best substitute. 
Owing to the moisture of our climate, it is somewhat difficult to obtain a supply of 
clover-seed, and much that we use is imported from Belgium and Holland. The seeds 
and dry flowers of the Red Clover, like those of the white species, have been occasionally 
used as a substitute for flour in bread-making, and those of all the native species might 
possibly be so employed. 
SPECIES I1T.-—TRIFOLIUM MEDIUM. Linn. 
Pirate CCCXLVITI. 
tootstock with slender elongated branches. Stems ascending 
or decumbent, flexuous, mostly branched. Leaves distant; leaf- 
lets oblong-elliptical, generally apiculate and not emarginate at 
the apex, entire on the margins. Stipules herbaceous, with a few 
nerves which do not anastomose, adnate for half their length, 
the free portion elongated, linear-triangular, not applied to the 
petiole. Uppermost leaves generally opposite, a little way below 
the flower-head, with slightly dilated stipules. Flower-heads shortly 
stalked, sub-globular. Calyx-tube 10-nerved, nearly glabrous 
exteriorly, without a callous ring, but with a ring of hairs in the 
throat; teeth very slender, subulate-setaceous, with a slender 
central nerve, the 4 upper ones a little shorter than the calyx- 
tube, the lower one exceeding it by about one-third; becoming 
spreading, but undergoing very little alteration in size in fruit. 
Corolla twice as long as the calyx. Plant sub-glabrous, with the 
margins of the leaflets ciliated. 
In bushy places, by roadsides, rocks, and meadows. Common 
in the North of England and Lowlands of Scotland, but less so 
towards the two extremities of the island. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer 
and Autumn. “yer 
