MEADOWS AND PASTURES 195 



soils, it is mixed with red clover. On the richest soils, 

 red clover is often sown alone. 



184. White Clover (Trifolium repens). This plant is 

 so small that it is of no value for hay purposes. But 

 it is a very desirable pasture plant. It supplements Ken- 

 tucky blue-grass for pasture, as red clover supplements 

 timothy for hay. White clover stems spread about on 

 the ground and take root, so that a single plant may pro- 

 duce many plants. (See Figs. 14 and 100.) The other 

 clovers do not have the power to spread except from 

 the seed. White clover will grow on poorer soils than 

 either of the other clovers. A few pounds of it should 

 be sown in pasture mixtures for permanent pastures. 



185. Mixtures of Grasses and Clovers. Alfalfa is usu- 

 ally sown alone. The other grasses and clovers are com- 

 monly used in mixtures. Mixtures for hay should mature 

 at the same time. For pastures, they should mature at 

 different times. A plant that does not thrive alone on 

 the soil will be of little value in a mixture. 



The advantages of a mixture are that the roots of dif- 

 ferent plants do not occupy the same areas of the 

 soil; hence the soil may be more fully used by growing 

 deep- and shallow-rooted plants together, as red clover 

 and timothy. Some seasons favor certain of the plants 

 and some favor others; when red and alsike clover are 

 sown with timothy, the clover is sometimes chiefly red 

 and sometimes, on the same farm, chiefly alsike. In most 

 fields there are irregularities of soil; by sowing a mixture, 

 each soil variation will b covered with the type that 

 thrives best on it. In pastures, a mixture will furnish 

 grasses that grow at different seasons of the year. 



