WHERE CRIMSON CLOVER THRIVES 169 



Erie it has succeeded with the orchardists, I think, about 

 two years out of four. It is of no use in the cornbelt 

 except in very favoring years, which is unfortunate, as 

 it would be the best sort of legume for keeping our nitro- 

 gen, and enable us to follow corn with corn much more 

 than we can now safely do. The home of crimson clover 

 in America seems to be limited to Long Island, New Jer- 

 sey, Delaware, eastern Virginia, the Carolinas and all 

 the Gulf States. It is in use chiefly in New Jersey, Dela- 

 ware and Virginia. There it is commonly sown after to- 

 matoes or other truck crops, or in the corn at the time 

 of last cultivation. In Maryland it grows in very poor, 

 sandy soils deficient in lime, which.it does not seem to 

 need as much as do most clovers. I have seen it green 

 all winter, even with a good many hard frosts and some 

 freezing weather. It responds to fertilizers admirably, 

 and in these poor sandy soils it is a godsend, accumu- 

 lating nitrogen and humus, using the little dole of com- 

 mercial fertilizer thrown in it in a most economical man- 

 ner and returning with prodigious liberality. It is a 

 plant for poor soils and mild climates. Nevertheless, it 

 yields most on good soils, which it makes still better. 



Steadily the region of crimson clover's domain en- 

 larges as men know how to use it and soils become in- 

 oculated for it. After testing every one of the common 

 clovers in Louisiana, I am convinced that crimson clover 

 has more merit than any other for a winter-growing 

 catch-crop, though I liked well there the mixture of 

 crimson clover, bur clover and red clover. This use 

 convinced me that the whole South should take up crim- 

 son clover and use it after corn and cotton as a catch- 



