WHITE CLOVER 



Trifolium repens L. 



May - July 

 Lawns, fields 



Over the landscape, meeting the sky, the clover fields are 



ill hlooni. 'Vhv acres of red clover are covered with a 



rich, dusty rose color that is set off hy the emerald of 



the nearhy wheat and the fluff of wild carrot along the road: and the 



perfume of the rod clover fields is a tangihle thing, splendid to hrcathc. 



delightful to ta^ste. 



The fields of altalla are ])urple and silver. Their scent is sweet and 

 the huttcrflies know ii. They hover all day over the slender sprays of 

 l)urj)le flowers, and the liees are thei-e with a nuirnuiring that is so much 

 a part of a clover field that one no longer is conscious that the sound is 

 there, hut would feel the lack if it stoj)ped. And if tlie hees stopped and 

 went away, the clover would not set its seed. 



The white clover on the lawns of lity and village are full of round, 

 sweet-scented heads l)elove(l of honey hees and ehildivn. 'i'he children. 

 as they have done for centuries. j)crhaps as long as children and ilover 

 have livo<l as neighlxu-s. ])iek the wiry stems and hraid them into wreaths 

 and hracelets, make chains and baskets and ornaments which quickly 

 wilt hut retain their sweetness. 



The white clover is an old, old plant, as reckoned in terms of culti- 

 vation under the hand of man. It is believed to gi'ow wild in all conn- 

 tries of the world: for several thousand years certain dovei-s have been 

 grown by man. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the olde.«t of cultivated 

 l>lants. Ked clover (I'rifoliuw invfrnsc) grown for a shorter time his- 

 torically, but known longer than alfalfa in the New World, came from 

 Flanders to England in KiTfi and later canu^ to America. Xow under a 

 shining sky and warm sun. the pink and i)urple and yellow and white 

 fiebls send a lich and incomiiarable perfume into the air. 



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