106 RESOUECES OP CALIFORNIA. 



sends deep into the ground, thus enabling it to resist the 

 drought, while above the surface it puts forth a dense mass 

 of stalks and leaves, spreading out sometimes several feet in 

 every direction. Cattle prefer it to every other indigenous 

 herb of the state. The seeds seem to abound throughout the 

 soil, for wherever the earth is ploughed up for the first time, 

 there the alfilerilla appears, though it may never have been 

 seen there before. It is common in gardens, cultivated fields, 

 and fallow lands. 



The white Californian clover has a large yell o wish- w^hite 

 bloom, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, a beau- 

 tiful plant, well suited as an ornament for yards and gardens. 

 It grows very large, and two feet high in moist, favorable sit- 

 uations ; while in dry places it w^ill also mature its seed with- 

 out rising more than two or three inches above the ground. 

 It is very sweet, and it is often eaten by the Indians, w^io like 

 it both raw and boiled. Cattle are also extremely fond of it. 



Another species of clover has a round bloom about a third 

 of an inch in diameter, composed of violet-tinged flowers. 



Another clover has a bloom from a sixth to a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter, the flowers of which are subdued green, 

 tipp'^d with pink at the end. 



The Melilotes officinalis^ another herb, commonly called a 

 closer, though not strictly entitled to that name, likes a very 

 moist soil, and then grows luxuriantly, crowding out nearly 

 every thing else. Its bloom consists of a drooping head about 

 an inch long and a sixth of an inch thick, hung with little yel- 

 low flowers. Cattle are not fond of this herlJ in any shape, but 

 they like it better in hay than when green. 



Of nutritious grasses there are a number, but they do not 

 form a sod. The drought of summer and fall seems to kill the 

 roots. 



Of wild flowers there are a great variety and abundance in 

 California, and they have their difierent seasons for blooming ; 

 and in caiions where the soil is always moist, flowers may be 

 seen in every month of the year. In the spring-time the hill- 



