OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 13 



Mr. Collier does not name the species analyzed. He calls spe- 

 cial attention to this analysis, adding: "By reference to the anal- 

 ysis it will be at once seen how large an amount of albuminoids 

 is present; and for the purpose of comparison the analysis of red 

 clover is placed below with that of this plant. 



Desmodium, per c. Red clover, per c. 



Carbohydrates, 45.83 41 .00 



Albuminoids, 21.22 16.01 



Cellulose, 25.39 35.01 



Ash, 7.50 7.08 



100.00 100.00 



"For convenience of comparison, the carbohydrates are group- 

 ed together. It will be seen that the albuminoids of the Desmo- 

 dium are to those in red clover as 132 to 100, while the amount 

 of ash varies but slightly in the two plants. The immense value 

 of clover as a crop preparatory to other crops, especially wheat, 

 is well known, and there is perhaps no way by which exhausted 

 lands may be more readily restored to fertility, and maintained 

 in such condition, than by the use of clover; certainly there is 

 no method which compares with it in expense. Now, although 

 clover requires an amount of plant food, both mineral and at- 

 mospheric, far in excess of a wheat crop, nevertheless it is a fact- 

 very' well established that the former crop may be successfully 

 grown upon a rield where wheat would invariably fail of a crop. 



"The reasons for this are to be seen in a comparison of the two 

 plants; and, although it is a 'thice-told' tale, the subject especial- 

 ly in connection with this plant under consideration, is such that 

 every farmer should practically understand the matter. 



"Clover and wheat, then, belong to two families of plants, 

 which in nearly every respect are in the strongest contrast. 



"Clover is one of the dicotyledonous, or those of which the seed 

 is divided into halves, as with -the pea, bean etc. These plants 

 are characterized also by a strong tap-root, which, descending in- 

 to the subsoil, enables the plant to secure nourishment from be- 

 yond the reach of plants of the other sort. 



"Wheat, on the contrary, belongs to the monocotyledonous 

 plants, the seeds of which are not so divided in halves, as Indian 

 corn for example. The roots of this family of plants are surface 

 or crown roots, and are destitute of the tap-root already spoken of. 



"Again, if we consider the habits of growth of the two plants, 

 we have in clover a plant of continuous growth through out the 

 season until cut down by frost or the scythe of the mower, and 

 an enormous leaf development, as compared with wheat with its 

 scant leafage and its short life. We have, then, in clover a 

 plant with a tap-root and an enormous root development, ena- 

 bling it to seek out and assimilate mineral food, with a great ex- 

 tent of leaf surface, fitting it to take in and assimilate atmospher- 



