118 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



prepared loams, ten or twelve pounds of good seed will fre- 

 quently give a full covering to the land, while on clay, 

 twelve to sixteen pounds are necessary per acre. When 

 sown with the grasses, six on the first, and eight to twelve 

 pounds on the last soil will suffice. An additional amount 

 of seed, as with the grasses, will give a finer quality of hay, 

 in consequence of multiplying the number of stalks ; and 

 for this purpose, as well as to insure it on every spot of the 

 field, it should always be liberally sown. The covering, 

 like that of grass seeds, should be of the slightest kind ; and 

 when sown very early in the spring, or on well pulverized 

 grounds and followed by rains, it will germinate freely with-, 

 out harrowing. 



.After the leaves are developed in the spring, an applica- 

 tion of gypsum should be made by sowing broadcast, at the 

 rate of one to three or four bushels per acre. The effect of 

 this on clover, is singularly great, and it seems to be augmented 

 by applying it on the leaves. This may perhaps be account- 

 ed 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 constitutes a direct food. The influ- 

 ence of gypsum is almost incredible, in bringing up the clo- 

 vers on fields where they were hardly discernible before. This 

 may be witnessed in almost every soil where gypsum has any ef- 

 fect. By sowing a quantity over the grass plat containing either 

 the seeds or plants of the clover, however thin or meagre 

 they may be, an immediate and 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 (page 35), shows the great quantity of lime and 

 phosporic 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 phos- 

 phoric 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, con- 

 tained 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 clovers on 

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

 the same elements, but in such unlike proportions, that when 



