CLOVER-WEEVIL 



CLOVES 



303 



has proved a most valuable forage plant. Crimson 

 Clover, or Italian Clover ( T. incut-nut urn), an 

 annual, native of the Hoiith of Europe, with oblong 

 or cylindrical spikes of rich crimson (lowers, is 

 niiicli .-nil i\ .-ii.-,| in France and Italy, ami has of 

 late IMMMI pretty extensively grown in some parts of 

 Kiigland, producing a heavy crop. The Crimson 

 Clover is also sometimes employed as a oVr.irai i\i- 

 annual in the flower-garden. Moliner's Clover 

 ( T. Molineri) very much resembles Crimson Clover, 

 luit is biennial, ;in<l IKIS pale flowers. It is cul- 

 tivated in France and Switzerland. Alexandrian 

 Clover, or Egyptian Clover (T. Alexandrinum), 

 an annual species, a native of Egypt, universally 

 cultivated in its native country, where it is the 

 principal fodder for cattle, has been tried in Britain, 

 out the colder climate has been found to render it 

 less luxuriant and productive. It is supposed to 

 be one of the best kinds of clover for many of the 

 British colonies. It has oval heads of pale-yellow 

 or whitish flowers. Yellow Clover, or Hop Trefoil 

 ( T. ayrarium ), is veiy common in dry gravelly 

 soils in Britain, and in parts of the United States, 

 but is not much esteemed. It has smaller leaves 

 and heads of flowers than any of the cultivated 

 species. Its flowers are yellow. The Showy 

 Clover ( T. speciosum ) is the only plant made into 

 hay in the island of Zante, and has therefore 

 been recommended on trial as a fodder plant in 

 the south of England and the warmer colonies. 

 None of the strictly native North American species 

 have been much utilised as forage plants. 



It is little more than a century and a half since 

 clovers were introduced into field-culture in Britain. 

 They are now universally cultivated on large farms 

 in alternation with grain-crops. The kinds most 

 generally sown are the Common Red, Cow-grass, 

 Dutch White, Yellow, and Alsike. The Common 

 Red is the finest and most valuable, but it is diffi- 

 cult to grow unless on naturally rich soils. Land 

 must be thoroughly cleaned of perennial weeds 

 before it is sown with clover, as the land cannot be 

 subjected to cultivation while it is under this plant ; 

 clover, therefore, is always sown in the end of the 

 rotation, or as near the fallow or turnip crop as pos- 

 sible. A well-manured soil greatly assists in keeping 

 the plants from dying out in spring. Clovers, like 

 grasses, play a most important part in restoring 

 fertility to land which has been exhausted by 

 grain-crops. Their leaves gather food carbonic 

 acid and ammonia from the atmosphere, which 

 they store up in their roots and stems ; and these, 

 on decomposing, afford food for cereals or other 

 crops which are more dependent on a supply within 

 the soil. 



The caterpillars of a number of species of moth 

 feed on the leaves of different kinds of clover ; but 

 the insects most injurious to clover crops are 

 weevils of the genera Apion and Sitona. See 

 CLOVER-WEEVIL, and WEEVIL. 



Clover-weevil, a small black beetle of the 

 genus Apion, which in larval and adult state infests 

 clover and other leguminous plants. See WEEVIL. 



Cloves (Span, clavo, 'a nail') are the flower- 

 buds of the Clove-tree ( Caryophylliis aromaticus). 

 The genus to which this tree belongs is of the 

 natural order Myrtacea 1 ; the tree is from 15 to 

 40 feet high, with a beautiful pyramidal head. 

 The leaves are large, ovate-oblong, acuminated at 

 each end, evergreen ; the flowers are small, but 

 produced in great profusion in cymes. Leaves, 

 flowers, and bark have an aromatic odour. The 

 ripe fruit resembles an olive in shape, but is not 

 quite so large ; it is of a dark-red colour ; it some- 

 times appears in commerce in a dried state, under 

 the curious name of Mother Cloves ; it has an odour 

 and flavour similar to cloves, but much weaker ; 



the broken fruit-stalks are sometimes also used for 

 the same purposes as cloves ; but the flower-bud* 

 themselves are the principal product of the tree. 

 They are gathered, and are dried by exposure to the 

 smoke of wood fires, and afterwards to the rays 

 of the sun, or by the latter alone. When first 

 gathered they are reddish, but become of a deep- 

 brown colour. The unexpanded corolla forms a 

 little round head at the end of the calyx tube, 



Clove : 

 a, a branch with leaves, buds, and flowers ; 6, a bud. 



which is about half an inch long, and thus the 

 appearance is not unlike that of a little nail, 

 wnence the name. The clove-tree is a native of 

 the Moluccas, and the Amboyna cloves are still 

 esteemed the best ; but the tree is now cultivated 

 in Java, Sumatra, Reunion, Mauritius, Zanzibar, 

 Guiana, and some parts of the West Indies. The 

 Dutch, in order to secure a monopoly and keep up 

 the price, destroyed the trees in the other Molucca 

 Islands in the 17th century, and confined the culti- 

 vation of them to Amboyna. In 1770 the French 

 succeeded in introducing the plant into the Isle de 

 Bourbon ( Reunion ). It is not deemed quite certain 

 that cloves are the karyonhyllon of the ancient 

 Greeks ; but before the discovery of the Spice 

 Islands eastern merchants brought them from 

 Arabia, Persia, and Egypt, to the harbours of the 

 Mediterranean, from which the Venetians and 

 Genoese diffused them over Europe. 



The Wild Clove-tree of the West Indies is Myrcia 

 acris. See MYRCIA. 



The properties of cloves depend chiefly on an 

 essential oil, Oil of Ctorcs, which forms one-fifth 

 or one-sixth of their whole weight. They are used 

 for flavouring dessert dishes and articles of con- 

 fectionery, also for driving moths from clothing, 

 furs, &c. , by placing them in the boxes or drawers 

 with the clothing. They are also reputed to 

 possess febrifuge properties. They have a hot 

 taste and a characteristic odour. The oil of cloves 

 is obtained by repeatedly distilling cloves with 

 water, when two oils pass over, one of which is 

 lighter and the other is heavier than water. The 

 oil has a hot acrid taste, is of a light yellow when 

 pure, and brown red when not so carefully pre- 

 pared. It has a well-known odour, and is soluble 

 in ether, alcohol, and the fixed oils. It is useful in 

 medicine to check nausea and griping, caused by 

 the administration of purgatives, and has consider- 



