40 LUTHER BURBANK 



new varieties that might be of enormous value. 

 The fact that the plant thrives more or less 

 under disadvantageous surroundings has partly 

 accounted, no doubt, for its neglect by the plant 

 developer. But now that year by year there is 

 a growing recognition of the need of intensive 

 cultivation of farm crops, the clovers are sure 

 to come in for a larger share of attention. 



Other leguminous plants, including the peas 

 and beans as well as the clovers, have long been 

 known to be characterized by the unusual 

 amount of their protein or nitrogenous content. 



THE FOOD VALUE OF CLOVER 



This has led the plant physiologist to regard 

 the clovers as having an exceptionally high food 

 value. As compared with timothy grass, for 

 example, clover contains, pound for pound, a 

 very much larger amount of nitrogen. As nitro- 

 genous foods are the muscle builders, the value 

 of this is obvious. 



There has been a tendency in recent years, to 

 be sure, to question whether the nitrogen content 

 has quite the significance that was formerly 

 ascribed to it. It has been pointed out that 

 horses do not need a very large amount of pro- 

 tein foods unless they are exercising actively, 

 and that in this event they usually secure an 



