278 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



Trifolium incarnatum, or Crimson Clover. 



A KECENT number of the " Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland'' 

 contains a prize essay (for which a gold medal was awarded) by James Fulton, respecting 

 this new clover. From his several trials with it during three or four years, it seems to pos- 

 sess some extraordinary properties, which will make it exceedingly valuable. His series of 

 experiments commenced in 1852, and were nine in number, extending down l: to quite a re- 

 cent period. From them he establishes the fact that the crimson clover flowers over a long 

 period of its growth ; that its rapid and luxuriant vegetation is hardly equalled by any other 

 plant, coming forward to the scythe in ten or twelve weeks after being sown ; that its pro- 

 duct to the acre is very large, and it answers capitally to precede a crop of wheat, both by 

 its mechanical effect on the soil, and from its alleged power of collecting nitrogen. In one 

 of the experiments, the wheat after the crimson clover was one-third heavier than after tur- 

 nips, other circumstances being similar ; and it is thought it will be quite possible to grow 

 it in England as an intermediate or stolen crop between a wheat and turnip crop, provided 

 it can be got into the ground by the middle or before the end of August. In the first ex- 

 periment, the seed was sown on the 12th of May ; and on the 17th, the blade began to appear 

 above ground ; and on the 23d, the leaves were fully developed. On the 21st of August, 

 (same season,) one square was cut from three separate parts of the field, the average weight 

 of which (green from the scythe) gave eighteen and a half tons to the imperial acre some 

 of the plants measuring four feet three and a half inches in height. The flowering com- 

 menced by the end of June, when the height of the plants was from eleven to thirteen 

 inches, and it matured seeds by the 1st of September. When in full bloom, the field was an 

 object of striking beauty, presenting to the eye an unbroken sheet of scarlet. It appeared 

 to be an especial favorite with bees ; on looking at it on a fine day in July, it was difficult 

 to fix on a single plant that had no't many of them upon it. 



In the third experiment, the crimson clover was sown on the 17th of July, after a crop of 

 potatoes had been taken off. It came up on the third day, and grew so rapidly as to cover 

 the ground in an incredibly short time. The weight of the crop was taken on the 17th of 

 October, three months after the date of sowing, and was found to weigh twenty-one and a 

 half tons to the imperial acre. 



Among other phenomena in the third experiment was noticed its extraordinary power of 

 resisting frost, free radiation, and a remarkable succulent condition, which may account for 

 the surprising weight of the crop. Its radiating powers, to which its immunity from the 

 effects of the frost were probably due, were very conspicuous in dewy and frosty mornings. 

 In the former, the clover was bent down by the deposit of dew, which was much heavier 

 than on other plants, and in the latter it was so densely covered with hoar as to appear like 

 a fall of snow. 



Grasses and Grass Cultivation, 



Value of Orchard Grass at the West. A correspondent of the "Ohio Cultivator" gives the 

 following memoranda respecting the value of the " orchard grass." He says In 1820, I pur- 

 chased a peck of this grass-seed in New York, and carried it from thence to Wheeling in my 

 saddlebags. In the following spring, I sowed it in various places on my farm, but mostly on 

 steep banks and woodlands, where the underbrush had been taken out. In every place 

 where it was sown at that time it still retains its primitive luxuriance. It starts to grow 

 very early in the spring, and grows faster than any other grass, and sustains itself better in 

 drought than any, with the exception of clover ; and I can farther add to these excellencies 

 the fact that it bears the action of the frost better than all other grasses, with the exception 

 of the English spear grass. My woodland pastures are turfed over equal to a timothy mea- 

 dow, and at the same time it is shaded to an extent that would preclude all other grasses 

 from making the attempt to grow. There are bordering on the Ohio River thousands and 

 even hundreds of thousands of acres of land so steep that ordinary grasses will not grow, 

 and if sown will not sustain themselves ; whereas the orchard grass-seed would thrive luxu- 

 riantly, and sustain its hold an indefinite time. 



