324 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



has such general resemblance to the proper trefoils or clovers, 

 that it is often mistaken for some of the smaller species. The 

 form and colour of the seed-pods afford a ready mark of dis- 

 tinction. 

 Native of Britain. Root annual ; in some situations biennial. 

 Experiments. — At the time of flowering, the produce from a 

 sandy loam is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 20 oz. The produce per acre - 13612 8 



80 dr. of grass w^eigh, when dry - 30 ? <" 1 04 1 1 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 120 3 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 8507 13 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 3 0^ ^qo i p 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 15 3 



•- We are informed in Mr. Young's Annals of Agriculture, that 

 this plant has been much sown of late years for sheep food in open 

 fields, where it is a considerable improvement, first, for the sweet 

 food, and then, to help the land by ploughing it in, getting a good 

 crop of wheat after it on indifferent soils. Mr. Zappa, of Milan, 

 says, that it likes deep ground, rich, and exposed to the sun ; mul- 

 tiplies very well from the seed, grows chiefly in the spring, flowering 

 at the beginning of May, and ripening the seed at the beginning 

 of June; it grows but little towards the end of summer and autumn. 

 It is cut with Foa trivialis, fifteen inches high, but is naturally 

 procumbent. The seed of this plant falls so readily, that great 

 loss ensues from moving it, and, in thrashing, the least stroke 

 clears it. It is a good way, therefore, to thrash it in the field on 

 a cloth, which is moved to the seed, and not the seed to the cloth. 

 This account, extracted from Mr. Young's Annals, perfectly agrees 

 with what I have observed of the habits of this plant, only that it 

 does not flower here till the middle or end of May. For light soils 

 only it appears to be adapted, and these must be deep, as the root 

 penetrates to a considerable depth, and is but little fibrous. It 

 does not appear fit for separate cultivation, nor even to be em- 

 ployed in a large proportion in a mixture of other seeds. The 

 root is annual, or at most a two-year-lived plant, and its use is 

 therefore confined to the alternate husbandry. To sow the seeds 

 of this plant with others on land intended to remain for permanent 

 pasture, would be subversive of the intention; as every spot this 



