THE GRASSES, MEADOWS, ETC. 99 



kind ; and when sown very early in the spring or on well 

 pulverized grounds and followed by rains, it will germinate 

 freely without harrowing. After the leaves are developed 

 in the spring, nn application of gypsum should be made 

 by sowing broadcast, at the rate of one to three or four bush- 

 els per acre. The elfect of this on clover is singularly great, 

 and it seems to be augmented by applying it on the leaves. 

 This may perhaps be accounted for in the fact, that besides 

 its other uses, gypsum yields a considerable proportion both 

 of its sulphuric acid and lime to the plant and thus consti- 

 tutes a direct food. The influence of gypsum is almost 

 incredible in developing the clovers on fields where they 

 were hardly discernable before. This may be witnessed in 

 almost any soil where gypsum has any effect. By sowing 

 a quantity over th grass plat containing either the seeds or 

 plants of the clover, however thin or meagre they may be, 

 an immediate arid luxuriant growth distinguishes the spot 

 which has received it, from all the surrounding field. Bones 

 are invaluable manure for the clovers. The table of the 

 ashes shows the great quantity of lime and phosphoric acid 

 (the leading elements of bones) which the clovers contain in 

 comparison with the rye grass which is a type of the other 

 grasses. Thus the red clover has about four times as much 

 lime, twenty-six times as much phosphoric acid, more soda 

 and sulphuric acid, and nearly twice and a half as much 

 potash as the grass. The white clover has about four times 

 the potash ; the lucern nearly seven times the lime, and 

 fifty-two times the sulphuric acid contained in the grass. 



Such are the various demands of plants and the necessity 

 of providing each with its specific food. And hence the 

 advantage of cultivating a variety of grasses and clover on 

 the same spot. Each, it is true, draws its nutriment from 

 the same elements, butiri such unlike proportions that when 

 they cease to yield adequate support to one the soil may still 

 be rich in those which will give luxuriant growth to others. 

 Thus two or more of the forage plants when growing toge- 

 ther may each yield a large crop, swelling the aggregate 

 product far beyond what would be realized in the separate 

 cultivation of either. This is one of the instances, and it is 

 sufficiently satisfactory, of the utility of good husbandry in 

 the cultivation of the mixed grasses and forage. 



Time for cutting and mode of curing Clover. Clover should 

 be cut after having fully blossomed and assumed a brownish 



