82 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



to fresh ones. This should at first be done as often as once a day. 

 If considerable paper is used the plants will require to be changed less 

 frequently and will be less likely to become discolored if neglected. 

 Plants should be gathered when dry, and preferably in dry weather. 

 In the collection of specimens botanists commonly carry drying pa- 

 pers into the field and place the plants in them as soon as gathered, 

 holding them in place by straps. When this is not convenient a tin 

 collecting case is often used, which keeps the plants from wilting 

 until they can be placed in the drying papers. _ A very good substi- 

 tute for such a case is ordinary paper, in which the plants may be 

 wrapped as gathered. In placing the plants in the papers to dry, 

 have but one kind on a sheet, and place with it at once a label bearing 

 the date and place of collection, with the name, if known, and any 

 other particulars desired. Fleshy plants will need to be divided to 

 dry properly, and thick specimens to prevent them occupying too 

 much space. Seeds may be placed in an envelope and deposited with 

 the remainder of the plant. 



SOME NATIVE CLOVERS. 



There are in the United States 40 species of native clovers {Tri fo- 

 lium). 



The larger number of these belong to the Pacific side of the conti- 

 nent, and to Utah, Idaho, and Montana; a few species belong to Texas 

 and the Southern States, two or three of which extend northward in 

 the States adjacent to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 



None of our native species have been cultivated so far as is known, 

 although several of them are of as large and vigorous growth as the 

 common red clover, and are worthy of trial, as they may prove bet- 

 ter adapted to some soils than that species. We give descriptions and 

 figures of the most promising ones, and suggest that in the sections 

 where they grow they should be subjected to experiment. 



Trifolium fucatum. 

 This is one of the largest and strongest growing of our native kinds, 

 and is found on the Pacific coast. Under favorable circumstances it 

 attains a height of 3 to 3 feet. The stem is decumbent, smooth, thick, 

 and juicy. The stipules at the base of the leaf are half an inch to an 

 inch long, ovate, broad, and clasping the stem. The leaves are trifoli- 

 ate, with stems or petioles 3 to 6 inches long; the leaflets vary from 

 roundish or oblong to obovate. thickish, strongly veined, three-fourths 

 of an inch to an inch and a half long, ajid with numerous small, sharp 

 teeth on the margins. The flower heads are large (1 to 3 inches in 

 diameter), larger than those of the common red clover on naked 

 peduncles (stems), which are longer than the leaf -stalks (sometimes 5 

 to 6 inches long). There is a conspicuous green involucre surround- 

 ing the base of the flower head deeply divided into 7 to 9 ovate, entire^ 

 and pointed lobes, which are about half as long as the flowers. The 

 heads contain comparatively few flowers (about 8 to 10), but these 

 are about an inch long, thick and inflated, the calyx about one-fourth 

 as long as the corolla, which varies from pink to purple m color. Mr. 

 S. Watson, in the "Botany of Calfornia," says of this: "A common 

 species in the Coast Ranges and in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, 

 thnmgh the length of the State— in some places very abundant and 

 affording good pasturage "* It would seem very desirable that this 

 species should be given a fair trial in cultivation. (Plate I.) 



