GRASSES AND CLOVER. 131 



It bears its seed in the first crop. It yields a fair crop of hay 

 or pasture, and is in great favor with bee keepers, as, like the 

 white clover, bees can work it, while they can not reach the 

 sweets in the common red clover. 



Lucern, or alfalfa, is largely cultivated in some countries to 

 supply green food for cattle. It is not valuable for hay, as it be- 

 comes very woody and fibrous as it matures, and should be cut 

 for green food before it comes into blossom. It will bear several 

 crops in a season, and produce a large amount of succulent 

 food. It does not succeed on wet soil or tenacious clays, but 

 is specially adapted to warm, sandy soils, and to hot climates as 

 its long roots enable it to withstand drought. It is largely 

 grown in Peru, under the heat of a tropical sun, and is es- 

 teemed a valuable plant in California and the South. As it is 

 very sensitive to weeds, it is best to sow in drills and hoe the 

 first season, till it becomes well established, and top dress each 

 fall with well-rotted manure. When once well established, it 

 will yield bountiful crops for many years. 



White clover is rarely sown as a farm crop, but seems to be 

 indigenous to many soils, and comes in of itself along the road- 

 sides, pastures, and meadows. I was much troubled with it in my 

 strawberry beds many years ago, when engaged in market garden- 

 ing, and was puzzled to know how the seed came there, as I was 

 sure that I had not taken it in the manure. A study of the 

 habits of the plant showed how the seed was disseminated. The 

 white clover, unlike the red, seeds in the first crop, and the seed 

 is not inclosed in a tight hull, but shatters readily. As the head 

 ripens half the spikes or flowerets turn down, and when ripe the 

 stem becomes brittle and the head breaks off, and is nearly as 

 round as a ball, and is rolled along by the wind, scattering its 

 seed as it goes. The seed of white clover possesses great vi- 

 tality, and will remain for many years in the soil, and then grow 

 when the conditions are favorable. By dressing old meadows 

 with ashes, a heavy crop of white clover will often result, 

 although none has grown on the field for a generation. I think 

 that on soils where white clover flourishes it would be profit-able 

 in seeding permanent pastures to use a pound or two of it per 



