480 



Trifo/ium pmtense (Red clover ; June clover ; early clover ; 

 small red clover; red top clover ; medium red clover. Fig. 36). 

 A biennial or short-lived perennial clover, native of the old world, 

 but now extensively cultivated in both hemispheres. It is ascending, 

 more or less branching, one to two feet high, with trifoliate leaves 

 on long leaf-stalks and oval or blunt leaflets half an inch to an inch 

 and a half long, with a large pale spot on the upper side, and pink 

 flowers in large, rounded, stemless heads. Red clover holds the 

 same position as a forage plant in the eastern and northern states as 

 alfalfa in the south-\vest and \vest, or as cow peas in the south. Its 

 cultivation is almost universal. The seed is sown at the rate of 

 from 15 to 20 pounds per acre, from March to May, either alone, or 



FIG. 36. Red clover (Trifoliuni pralcnse). 



more commonly with grain. It requires a deep, rich, fertile, 

 calcareous loam, neither too wet nor too dry. On the black-waxy 

 and gumbo soils of the Mississippi Valley, red clover is almost sure 

 to freeze out or ''heave" in winter, and on rocky or light sandy 

 soil it suffers from drought in summer. It is mown for hay twice 



