412 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



490. Agricultural history. White clover seems to 

 have been first cultivated in Holland, where it forms an 

 important element in the pasture lands. The harvesting 

 of the seed for sowing began about 1759 in Holstein and 

 in 1764 in England, but was apparently still earlier in 

 Holland. 



Jared Eliot mentions it in Massachusetts in 1747, 

 and Kalm in his American travels a few years later found 

 it common. Strickland, who traveled in the United 

 States in 1794, writes as follows : 



"In every part of America, from New Hampshire to Carolina, 

 from the sea to the mountains, the land, whether calcareous or 

 argillaceous, whether wet or dry, whether worn out or retaining 

 its original fertility, from the summit of the Alleghany ridge to 

 the sandy plains of Virginia, is spontaneously covered with white 

 clover, growing frequently with a luxuriance and perfection 

 that art can rarely equal in Europe. 



"I am told it is never met with far back in the woods, but 

 immediately on their being cleared away, eitner by fire or other- 

 wise, it takes possession of the ground ; whioH should prove that 

 it was natural to it ; that the seed lies there, but cannot vegetate 

 till the ground is cleared ; but again I have been told, that by 

 some tribes of Indians it is called 'white man's foot grass,' from 

 an idea that wherever he has trodden, it grows; which should 

 prove at least, that it had not been known in the country longer 

 than the white man." 



491. Adaptations. White clover is adapted to moist 

 soils in nearly the whole temperate zone. In America its 

 range is quite as wide as that of redtop, occurring north- 

 ward to the limits of agriculture, and southward nearly 

 to the Gulf of Mexico. It thrives best in regions of cool, 

 moist climates. In the South, it persists through the hot 

 weather of summer and becomes an important element 

 of the pastures in winter. 



