CLOVERS AND ALLIED PLANTS. 



55 



occasional crop of seed can be obtained, it pays to sow four or 

 five pounds of seed with practically all mixtures in the hope 

 of getting so thick a strike as to produce a seed crop. Few 

 crops pay so well as White Clover seed if a yield of anything 

 like a sack to the acre can be secured. 



Seed is harvested in all the agricultural districts, but 

 much is still imported. An average price charged to farmers 

 is Is. 2d. per pound. 



Alsike (Trifolium hybridum). Leaves and stem hair- 

 less, stems ascending, not creeping like those of White Clover, 

 flowers pink. 



Alsike produces an amount of feed midway between the 

 product of Red and White Clovers. In the heaviest and 

 dampest soils ploughed for pasture it is practically permanent 

 or at least seeds itself, and so may always be found in the 

 herbage. Its palatability is high, and in all respects Alsike 

 ranks as one of the most valuable of our clovers. It is, 

 however, quite impatient of medium or dry soils, and does not 

 last more than two years in such 

 situations. Thus it lasts no longer 

 than Red Clover, and does not 

 give so much feed. But in heavy 

 damp land it flourishes, and 

 should always be included in 

 mixtures for such soils. Where 

 Timothy and Foxtail thrive 

 Alsike thrives too. 



The seed is mostly imported, 

 large quantities coming from 

 Canada. It very frequently con- 

 tains Californian Thistle as an 

 impurity. The cost of seed to farmers averages Is. per pound. 



Little Trefoil or Suckling Clover (Trifolium minus.) 

 An annual, with slender trailing stems, not stolons ; leaflets 



Fig. 26. Little Trefoil and pod. 

 (after Fream). 



