1/2 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



and northern Spain. In other parts of Europe it has been 

 chiefly cultivated only in the last century. While grown in 

 Chester County, Pennsylvania, as early as 1820, its principal 

 use has taken place since 1890. 



IV. MINOR CLOVERS 



192. BERSEEM (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), also known as Alexandrian 

 clover and Egyptian clover, is an annual with ascending but not very erect 

 stems, two to three feet, and sometimes under irrigation, five feet high. These 

 stems are glabrous and smooth, and rather succulent until the flowering period. 

 The leaflets are more elongated and longer than in red clover, and softly 

 hairy on both sides. The flower heads, smaller and less densely flowered 

 than in red clover, are borne on axillary stalks near the tip of the stems. 

 The flowers are white or cream-colored. The pod is one-seeded, the seeds 

 resembling those of crimson clover. (189) The root system is shallow, 

 but abundant. The roots are characterized by the large tubercles which 

 they bear. 



Berseem is the one great forage crop of Lower Egypt. "Few single species 

 in any country play a more important role in agriculture. It furnishes the 

 green fodder for all work animals in the towns: all beef and milch animals 

 are fed on it: well kept donkeys and even poor fellahs use it for food." 1 

 It has been introduced into America with the hope that it may be found 

 useful in the warmer irrigated sections, but its place, if any, has not yet 

 been established. 



193. HUNGARIAN CLOVER (Trifolium pannonicum Jacq.) has white, creamy 

 or yellowish flowers in dense spikes. Otherwise its appearance and habits of 

 growth are similar to those of mammoth clover. Since it is perennial, it is 

 believed that it might have a place for certain agricultural conditions. It 

 seems, however, to produce seed sparingly and of a rather low germinating 

 power. It is said to be earlier than red clover, but not as well liked by cattle. 

 It is indigenous to Hungary, and has been successfully cultivated for hay in 

 Europe, where it is also used for ornamental purposes. 



194. YELLOW SUCKLING CLOVER (Trifolium filiforme L.) is a small annual, 

 shallow rooted, procumbent plant with somewhat the habit of growth of 

 white clover. It is smaller and does not seem to root at the nodes freely, if 

 at all, as does white clover. There are only five to six flowers to a head; 

 they are yellowish, pedicelled and finally reflexed. The seed pod normally 

 contains one seed. The oval seeds are rather smaller than those of white 

 clover, smooth, glossy, and vary in color from golden-yellow to brown. It 

 is native to England and southern Europe, and is said to prefer sandy soils 

 on which it is recommended for sheep pasture. It is seldom sown. 



iU. S. Dept. Agr., Bu. PI. Ind. Bui. No. 23 (1903). 



