CLOVER CULTURE. 11* 



Nebraska, page 76). Carrots and mangolds are also affected 

 Some of the clover sickness referred to by European writers 

 is undoubtedly due to the abundance of this parasite in the 

 soil. Everyone should be on the lookout for this fungus 

 If found, it should be exterminated at once. Rotation witV 

 corn and oats for a number of years has been very effective 

 The clovers, however, are subject to a very much more 

 dangerous, though, fortunately, as yet an uncommon para- 

 site, the clover dodder, {Cuscuta epithymum}. The dodders 

 belong to the morning glory family, and are near relations 

 to the common bind-weed, the morning glor} 7 , moon flowei 

 and sweet potato. The genus Cuscuta, or dodder, contains 

 upward of a hundred different species, forty-four of which 

 have been found in America, and thirty-nine of these are 

 found in no other part of the world. They occur on various 

 native plants such as smart weed, goldenrod and sunflowers. 

 The reader, passing through a slough in the fall of the year 

 that has been allowed to grow up to weeds, common to such 

 locations, may have noticed a vine of reddish or yellow color, 

 closely entwined around some weeds and which, on examina- 

 tion, has no connection with the ground. This is one of 

 the dodders. Dodder grows from seed and if it finds no 

 suitable plant upon which to take hold, dies: t If, however, 

 it reaches a stalk of clover or alfalfa, the clover dodder 

 pierces the bark with small and short rootlets which are 

 called suckers or haustoria, and then lets go of the ground 

 and lives from the plant, like a worthless son-in-law, who finds 

 it easier to live off his wife's parents than to make a living 

 for himself. 



The dodders contain little, if any, green coloring matter 

 in the minute scales on the stems, which are their substitute 

 for leaves, or in the stems themselves, and, hence, cannot 

 assimilate, that is, make starch out of raw material as the 

 ordinary green leaves do, but must derive their nourishment 

 entirely from the plant upon which they live* They are, 

 therefore, essentially parasitic. The stems of the dodder 

 are small and fleshy, orange or reddish in color, and are 

 twisted around the stalk of the host, or plant on which they 

 feed. At the base of the flower and at the joints of the 

 stems may be found minute scales which are rudimentary 

 leaves ; but the plant in its present stage of development has 

 no need of green leaves, as it finds food already prepared in 

 the host plant. The reader will find, on the following page, 

 an illustration of this detestable parasite, by referring to 

 which he can follow the description herewith given the more 

 readily. The flowers appear in clusters around the stem, 



