CHAPTER XIII 
RED CLOVER 
HEN the first edition of this book was pub- 
W lished, the author was frequently asked why 
he had not written a chapter on red clover, 
recommending its use for restoring worn and worn-out 
soils. 
The author’s answer was, “Red clover was evidently 
intended to be used for the maintaining of the fertility 
of fertile soils, for it will not grow and flourish on 
worn and worn-out soils, and, as my book treats of the 
worn soil problem, I could not prescribe clover as a 
remedy to restore worn-out soils.” 
Yet, if we should ask the farmer to name the best 
fertilizing and feeding plant, probably nine hundred and 
ninety-nine out of every thousand would promptly an- 
swer, red clover. The farmer so answers because he 
and his ancestors have for centuries made use of this 
plant for fertilizing and feeding purposes, and if any 
One questions its virtues and suggests that there are 
many other plants of greater fertilizing and feeding 
power, he is denounced as a deceiver, and the plants 
named for a substitute are denominated false pretenders 
and cheap imitators, notwithstanding the fact that there 
is no plant grown upon the farm that has to its credit 
so many bad points as clover. 
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