370 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



ground. It is very sweet, and it is often eaten by the Indians, 

 who like it both raw and boiled. Cattle are also extremely 

 fond of it. 



Another species of clover has a round bloom, about a third 

 of an inch in diameter, composed of violet-tinged flowers. 



Another clover has a bloom from a sixth to a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter, the flowers of which are subdued green, 

 tipped with pink at the end. 



The MelUotes officinalis, commonly called a clover, though 

 not strictly entitled to that name, likes a very moist soil, and 

 then grows luxuriantly, crowding out nearly everything else. 

 Its bloom consists of a drooping head, about an inch long and 

 a sixth of an inch thick, hung with little yellow flowers. 

 Cattle are not fond of this herb in any shape ; but they like it 

 better in hay than when green. 



Of nutritious grasses there are a number ; but they do not, 

 unless where the soil is exceptionally moist, form a sod. The 

 drought of summer and fall seems to kill the roots. 



295. Flowers. Of wild flowers there are a great variety 

 and abundance in California, and they have their different sea- 

 sons for blooming ; and in canons where the soil is always 

 moist, flowers may be seen in every month of the year. In 

 the spring-time the hills are frequently covered with them, 

 and their red, blue, 01* yellow petals hide everything else. 

 Each month has its flowers : In March the grass of a valley 

 may be hiden under red, in April under blue, and in May 

 under yellow blossoms. 



Grace Greenwood, writing in May, said : " The grand Cali- 

 fornia flower-show is at its height. Anything more gorgeously 

 beautiful than the display in meadows and wild pasture lands, 

 on hill-side and river-side, it were impossible for any one but a 

 mad florist to imagine. Along the railroads on either hand 

 runs continuously the rich, radiant bloom. Your sight be- 

 comes pained, your very brain bewildered, by watching the 

 galloping rainbow. There are great fields, in which flowers 



