102 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



such time as experience shows to be the proper one for 

 leaving it to mature a full crop of seed. Early mowing 

 removes the first weeds, and the second growth of the clo- 

 ver is so rapid as to smother them and prevent their seeding, 

 and the clover is thus saved comparatively clean. It is then 

 mown and raked into very small cocks, and when dried at 

 the top they are turned completely over without breaking, 

 and as soon as thoroughly dried they may may be carried 

 to the threshing floor and the seeds beaten out with sticks, 

 ligjit flails, or with a threshing machine. An instrument 

 with* closely cet 't^eth' v and drawn by a horse is sometimes 

 usecl for collecting the, clover heads from the standing stalks 

 from ^v'nch'ihe.seed is Afterwards separated. If wanted for 

 Use on the "farm", these heads are sometimes sown without 

 threshing. The calyx of the clovers is so firmly attached 

 to the seed as to be removed with difficulty, but if thrown 

 into a heap after threshing and gently pressed together a 

 slight fermentation takes place and the seed is afterwards 

 readily cleaned. A fan or clover machine may be used for 

 cleaning the seed for market. The produce is from three 

 to six bushels per acre which is worth to the farmer from 

 $3 to $5 per bushel of 60 Ibs. 



SOUTHERN CLOVER (Trifolium medium) is a smaller spe- 

 cies than the T. prateme and matures ten or fourteen days 

 earlier, and the soil best suited to it is nearly similar. It 

 does better on a light thin soil than the larger northern and 

 should be sown thicker. Strong clay or rich loamy soils 

 will produce much heavier crops of the larger kind. Expe- 

 rience alone will determine which of these kinds should be 

 adopted under all the circumstances of soil, fertility, &c. 



WHITE CREEPING CLOVER (Trifolium repens.) There 

 are several varieties of white clover all of which are hardy, 

 nutritious find self-propagating. Wherever they have once 

 been, the ground becomes filled with the seed which spring 

 up whenever an opportunity is afforded them for growth. 

 They are peculiarly partial to clay lands having a rich 

 vegetable mould on the surface, and the addition of gypsum 

 will at all times give them great luxuriance. Their dwarf 

 character renders them unfit for the scythe, while the dense 

 matted mass of sweet rich food ever growing and ever 

 abundant, makes them most valuable for pasture herbage. 



THE YELLOW CLOVER, Hop TREFOIL OR SHAMROCK (Tri- 

 folium procumbens) like the white, is of spontaneous growth, 



