CLOVER 



1439 



CLOVER 



gave to a rain cloud. A nimbus is a rather 

 shapeless formation, for its lower half contains 

 the falling rain-drops. 



The cfrrus, the stratus, the cumulus and the 

 nimbus are the four chief types of cloud 

 forms, and from them most others take their 

 names. Among frequently-seen combinations 

 are the cirro-stratus and strato-cumulus shown 

 in the accompanying illustration, and the cirro- 

 cumulus, a group of fleecy little cumulus clouds, 

 a fair weather sign which most of us call a 

 "mackerel sky." 



The Poetry of Clouds. Like most works of 

 Mother Nature, the cloud has always been a 

 favorite symbol of other things, either, as in 

 Browning, of temporary misfortunes, or, as in 

 Shakespeare, of great heights. One poet alone 

 has caught the spirit of the cloud as other 

 poets have discerned the heart of the flower, 

 the tree or the brook. Here are parts of the 

 first and last stanzas of Shelley's The Cloud: 



I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, 



From the seas and the streams ; 

 I bear light shade for the leaves when laid 



In their noonday dreams. 

 From my wings are shaken the dews that waken 



The sweet buds every one, 

 When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, 



As she dances about the sun. 

 I am the daughter of earth and water, 



And the nursling of the sky ; 

 I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores ; 



I change, but I cannot die. 



Cloud-Burst. In desert and mountain 

 regions a not unusual occurrence is a sudden 

 heavy deluge of rain, lasting only a few minutes 

 and covering but a small area, falling with 

 such terrific force that it seems as though a 

 reservoir in the sky had broken and emptied 

 its entire contents at once. In such a cloud- 

 burst it is impossible for the ground to absorb 

 its usual proportion of moisture, and raging 

 torrents are quickly formed in stream-beds and 

 even in usually dry valleys. Many of the 

 most beautiful of nature's works, such as the 

 fantastic promontories of the Grand Canyon 

 in Arizona, have been carved by these tor- 

 rential floods. 



Scientists can give no satisfactory explana- 

 tion of the origin of cloud-bursts, for the simple 

 reason that they do not yet fully understand 

 how rain of any sort is formed. The space 

 covered by a cloud-burst is seldom more than 

 a few acres and the rainfall may be as much 

 as five inches in fifteen minutes. C.H.H. 



CLOVER, klo'ver, one of the most useful 

 and attractive herbs, found in tufts wherever 

 blades of grass will grow, along roadsides or 



on lawns; or cultivated in great fields for hay, 

 pasture, cover crops, green manuring, for use 

 as green fodder or for soil improvement. Com- 

 monly, clover has three rounded leaves, but 

 sometimes there are more. Who has not 

 searched for the "four-leafed clover for luck," 

 or having found a five- or six-leafed clover 

 has not thought of the old superstition that 

 evil would follow? Most children have dis- 

 covered what the bees have always known 

 that the purple, red, pink, white and yellow 

 dense heads or spikes of blossoms hold stores 

 of nectar. Because bees get so much sweetness 

 from clover, the term, "to live in clover," 

 means the height of luxury and plenty. 



a 



CLOVER 



Leaves and blossoms, (a) White clover; (b) 

 red clover. 



Varieties. There are about 300 species of 

 clover, some of which are merely weeds, but 

 many are of immense value for the uses men- 

 tioned above. The common red clover, native 

 of America and most parts of Europe and now 

 cultivated in other countries, is the most im- 

 portant. It grows in temperate climates from 

 six inches to two feet high and blooms from 

 April to November, and as it lives for two 

 years, it is classed as a biennial (which see). 

 It is used for hay, for pasture and for enriching 

 soil. It is excellent food for milch cows, sheep 

 and young stock. And its roots gather so much 

 nitrogen, which they leave in the soil, that it 

 is an excellent crop to restore fertility to 

 worn-out lands. Bumblebees are absolutely 

 necessary for the fertilization of the clover, 

 however, and the experience of the Australians 

 with this valuable little plant is interesting. 

 They imported large quantities of clover to 

 plant for fodder, but left the bumblebee be- 

 hind, so the next year there was no clover 

 seed for planting, and no crop could be raised 

 until bumblebees were introduced. 



