122 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



SOUTHERN CLOVER ( T. medium) is a smaller species than 

 the T. pratense, and matures ten or fourteen days earlier. 

 The soil best suited to it, is nearly similar to that required 

 by the northern clover ; but it succeeds much better on a 

 flight, thin soil than the latter, and it should be sown thicker. 

 Strong clay or rich, loamy soils will produce much heavier 

 crops of the larger kind. Experience alone will determine 

 "which of these kinds should be adopted, under all the cir- 

 cumstances of soil and fertility, and the uses for which it is 

 lesigned. 



WHITE CREEPING CLOVER ( T. repens, Fig. 27). There are 

 several varieties of white clover, all 

 of which are hardy, nutritious and 

 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 pecu- 

 liarly partial to clay lands having a 

 rich vegetable mold on the surface ; 

 and the addition of gypsurn, will at 

 all times give them great luxuriance. 

 Their dwarf character renders them 

 unfit for the scythe, while the dense- 

 ly-matted mass of sweet, rich food, 

 27 - ever growing and ever abundant, 



makes them most valuable for pasture herbage. 



THE YELLOW CLOVER, HOP TREFOIL OR SHAMROCK ( T. 

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

 hardy and prolific. It bears a yellow flower and black seeds. 

 It is one of those unostentatious plants, which though never 

 sown and little heeded, help to make up that useful variety, 

 which gives so much value and permanence to our best 

 pasture lands. 



Another variety of the yellow clover grows to the height 

 of 24 to 30 inches, in most of the States, and bears a pro- 

 fusion of flowers and seeds. This is a good forage for sheep, 

 and an excellent fertilizer for the land, but is not much 

 relished by cattle or horses. 



MANY OTHER OF THE MINUTE CLOVERS AND LEGUMINOS.E, 

 THE WILD PEA, and other species of this family, abound in 

 our untilled lands, and add greatly to the nutritive character 

 of the forage, although their merits and even their existence 

 are scarcely known. 



