272 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



from rain coming upon it, I have known it effectually preserved 

 and furnishing an excellent fodder. 



There are different kinds of sainfoin, some of them distin 

 guished from others by a greater earliness. I saw, in the same 

 field, side by side, and where both kinds had been once mown 

 at the same time, a second crop coming on, where, in one case, 

 the plant was in full flower, and, in the adjoining land, the plants 

 showed no signs of flowering. I know no means of distinguish 

 ing one from the other in such a case, but by actual trial. The 

 farmers who cultivate this crop successfully esteem it very 

 highly. The Messrs. Lawson, of Edinburgh, speak of having, 

 in 1833, introduced from France the double yielding sainfoin, a 

 very luxuriant growing variety j but I have not seen it. 



16. CRIMSON CLOVER, ( Trifolium Incarnatum.) This is an 

 annual plant, presenting, in its blossoming, a beautiful crimson 

 flower in the shape of a cone. It is a very productive plant, and 

 is principally valuable as green feed ; made into hay, it is deemed 

 superior to the common clovers. Here it is sometimes sown 

 upon a wheat or grain stubble, the stubble being simply har 

 rowed, and the seed sown ; and it is then bush-harrowed and 

 rolled. This gives a good crop for green feed the ensuing 

 spring. It is said to be a fortnight earlier than lucern. Pew 

 things in the vegetable world present a richer appearance than a 

 field of crimson clover in full flower. It is sometimes drilled at 

 the distance of eight inches in the rows. The quantity of seed 

 is from eighteen to twenty pounds to an acre when sown broad- 

 cast ; less would be required when drilled. Its chief value is its 

 quick return ; as, when sown in autumn, it may be mowed so 

 early the next season, as to leave a favorable opportunity for 

 fallowing the land for wheat. In this respect, however, I cannot 

 perceive that it has any advantage over our common June clover 

 and I should have great distrust of its endurance under the severe 

 frosts of New England. I have tried it myself upon a smal 

 scale, but then it was sown early in the spring. 



17. WHIN, FURZE, OR GORSE, (Ulcx Europeans.) This is a 

 coarse, evergreen, prickly shrub, growing, in many cases, to a 

 height of some feet, propagating itself, and spreading over large 



