LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 165 



known. Seedsmen usually furnish 60 pounds for a bushel, but 

 the actual weight for a measured bushel is much greater 

 about 90 pounds. 



Except for seed, it is not desirable to sow alsike clover alone. 

 In this case eight pounds of seed to the acre, or about 125 

 seeds a square foot, may be sown. A good mixture for hay 

 is timothy 15, red clover 6, and alsike clover 4 pounds. When 

 grown with timothy, aliske is easily cured and makes a hay of 

 excellent quality. Without timothy, 8 pounds of red clover and 

 6 pounds of alsike may be used. Even where alsike hay is 

 chiefly desired, the addition of some timothy say four pounds 

 timothy seed and eight pounds alsike seed is desirable, because 

 timothy helps to prevent the alsike from being blown down 

 and also facilitates the curing. 



180. History. Alsike clover appears first to have become 

 extensively cultivated in Sweden at the village of Syke or 

 Alsike near Upsala, whence in 1834 it was introduced into Eng- 

 land. At the end of the preceding century it had been introduced 

 into northern France, but its cultivation in parts of Europe, 

 as in Switzerland, is quite recent. There is no record of its 

 first introduction and use in America. 



II. WHITE CLOVER 



181. Description. White clover (Trifolium repens L.), also 

 commonly known as Dutch clover, differs from alsike clover 

 in its shallower root system (mostly within the first six inches 

 of the soil), its prostrate and creeping habit, and its smaller 

 size. (176) The leaf and flower stalks are relatively long. 

 The latter do not arise from erect leafy stems, as in the case of 

 alsike clover, but arise directly from prostrate stems or stolons, 

 which constitutes a ready means of distinguishing the two 

 species. The prostrate stems root freely at the node from which 

 may arise independent plants. This habit, together with its 



