CLOVER CULTURE. 4g 



part, we would sow red and mammoth clover in about equal 

 prop9rtions, the usual amount of timothy, more or less blue 

 grass, and, south of latitude 42, more or less orchard grass,, 

 and on all wet lands and sloughs in dry lands, we would sow- 

 alsike clover. The reason for this suggestion is that the blue- 

 grass, which forms a prominent part in all permanent pas- 

 tures where it does well, can not be expected to be ready to 

 completely occupy the ground inside of three years. Dur- 

 ing this time the land should be producing to its full capacity 

 and hence should be occupied by the larger clovers and other 

 grasses which can afford less resistance to the growth of blue 

 grass than white clover would if a full stand were sown with 

 it. This subject will be more fully discussed when we come 

 to speak in detail of grass mixtures suitable for different ro- 

 tations and parts of a rotation. 



In sowing the smaller seeds such as blue grass and white 

 clover the depth of covering which is so necessary for the 

 larger clovers in a light soil and a dry climate is not required.. 

 It is not safe, however, in the drier and lighter soils to trust 

 to surface sowing, and white clover, while it grows when, 

 seeded naturally on the surface, yet has the advantage of the 

 freezing and thawing of the soil in winter to enable it to im- 

 bed itself in the soil. This Imbedding on land under tillage^, 

 such as is necessary for grain crops can be secured by the use 

 of a common smoothing harrow and it were better still if this 

 were followed by a light brush harrow, or, where the condi- 

 tions are suitable, light rolling. 



One of the. varieties most recently introduced into the 

 West is alsike or Swedish clover, (irifoliitm hybridum,} an, 

 illustration of which will be found on the following page. Its 

 botanical name (liybridum} was given by the early botanisU. 

 Linnseus, who believed it to be a cross or hybrid between the 

 white and the red. This, however, has long since been dis- 

 covered to be a mistake. It is a distinct species, native over 

 a large part of Europe, and is believed to have been first cul- 

 tivated in Sweden, deriving its name from the village oi 

 Syke in that country. It was first introduced into Englandi 

 in 1834 and into Germany in 1854, where it is said to be large*- 

 ly grown not only for its forage but also for the seed. Our 

 attention was first called to it some ten or twelve years ago,. 

 We instructed the tenant on one of our farms to sow some* 

 fowl meadow grass, (pea serotina] on a small patch of wet bot- 

 tom land, and to sow a small quantity of alsike for experiment: 

 on a piece of dry, corn land. Instead he sowed the two together 



