152 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



Our clearing of the waste hillside helped us 

 out. So soon as the clearing was done, at once 

 the worthless wild grasses began to be replaced 

 by other growths. Bluegrass appeared on the 

 moist flats along the brook bottom ; and wher- 

 ever the sunlight struck upon the unaccus- 

 tomed ground, Japanese clover volunteered. 

 Within a year it had formed a heavy mat, tak- 

 ing firm foothold, crowding into every nook 

 and cranny between the stones. Every beast 

 on the farm took to it as a youngster takes to 

 candy. It is one of the first of the spring 

 growths, and it stands well into the fall ; in the 

 sheltered places it persists even through the 

 mild winters. The sprawling, pale-flowered 

 buffalo clover came, too, some of the myriad- 

 stemmed plants large enough to fill a washtub. 

 Not much seems to be known about that clover ; 

 it has had a minor place, as the germination 

 of its seed is said to be uncertain; but it has 

 taken a firm grip upon our hills. Our white 

 Dutch clover on the lawn had thrived well, and 

 this made its way little by little up the slope. 

 The bur clovers appeared, and the common red, 

 and some little patches of sweet clover, till we 

 had a mixture we couldn't have beaten with any 

 studied planting. 



