LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 169 



from April to June, depending on locality, time of seeding, and 

 the variety. 



186. Varieties. The common form has scarlet flowers, but 

 there is another commercial form in the United States which 

 has white flowers and is said to be taller, less hardy and two 

 to four weeks later in flowering. In Europe strains of the 

 crimson type with different periods of blooming are recognized. 



"Ordinary Trifolium incarnatum blooms the last of May. There is an 

 earlier variety which blooms eight days sooner. A later variety, called St. 

 Johns, cultivated for a long time about Toulouse, prolongs the ordinary 

 harvest at least two weeks. A white-flowered variety, obtained by Lejeune 

 and propagated by Vilmorin, is said to be still later by ten to fifteen days. 

 A yet later variety with red flowers blooms after this last. By sowing these 

 five varieties, we can continue the ripening of the green forage from the 

 beginning of May to the end of the first two weeks of July, at least." l 



187. Distribution and Adaptation. Crimson clover is cul- 

 tivated principally in the South Atlantic states, especially in 

 those states north of the cotton belt. It is not generally adapted 

 to the climate north of the fortieth parallel, except on the Pacific 

 coast. It does best on sandy soils in warm, moist climates. 

 Since it cannot endure much freezing nor extreme heat and 

 drought, its distribution as a cultivated plant is rather limited. 

 The Alabama Station has shown that in some instances its 

 failure to grow successfully may be due to lack of inoculation, 

 but that probably where clovers of any kind will grow artificial 

 inoculation is unnecessary. 2 



188. Value. The principal value of crimson clover is as a 

 cover crop in orchards and as a renovating crop in rotations, 

 the fall sown crop being plowed in time to plant maize or 

 cotton. It may be used for winter pasturage or for soiling, but 

 it is not generally satisfactory for hay, on account of its woolly 



1 Gano: Thesis: The True Clovers, pp. 79, 80; quoted from C. Garola: 

 Plantes Fourragcres, 1904. 



- Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 87 (1897), p. 477, 



