366 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



429. Agricultural varieties. Red clover is a very 

 variable species, and in any field numerous forms may 

 easily be selected. Many of these different forms are 

 particularly prominent in the spring before the flower- 

 ing branches appear. In speaking of varieties and strains, 

 it must, therefore, be borne in mind that such are defined, 

 not by the individuals being all alike, but only by possess- 

 ing one or more characters in common. Two so-called 

 varieties of red clover are distinguished in American 

 agriculture : ordinary or medium, and mammoth or 

 sapling. Other so-called varieties are usually named 

 after the region in which they are produced and are better 

 considered regional strains; such as, Chilean red clover, 

 French red clover, etc., though in a few cases the plants 

 are readily recognizable. 



Ordinary or medium red clover, as grown in America, 

 is distinguished by the fact that over most of the clover 

 region it will produce both a hay crop and a seed crop the 

 same season. If sown by itself, it produces satisfactory 

 crops for only one season, but in grass mixtures, a good 

 many of the plants live two years and some of them 

 longer. Various characters to distinguish medium from 

 mammoth red clover have been stated by authors, but 

 none of them hold perfectly true. In the order of their 

 trustworthiness, these characters may thus be contrasted : 



MEDIUM RED CLOVER MAMMOTH RED CLOVER 



Blooms two weeks earlier than Blooms with timothy. 



timothy. 



Stems hollow. Stems solid. 



Plants live two years. Plants live three years or more. 



Tap root branches little. Tap root branches much. 



Heads often in pairs. Heads seldom in pairs. 



Pedicels short, straight. Pedicels longer, bent. 



