CULTIVATED FORAGE PLANTS OTHER THAN GRASSES. 



Order LEGUMINOS^E. 

 The CLOVER FAMILY. 



This order is characterized by having alternate, usually compound, leaves, with 

 stipules ; flowers polypetalous, the calyx mostly five-lobed, the corolla generally with 

 five irregular petals, usually ten stamens, sometimes five, or many, usually united by 

 the filaments, or nine united and one free, or sometimes all distinct ; the ovary a one- 

 celled carpel, becoming a legume or pod with few or many seeds, the pod sometimes 

 marked into joints called laments. 



The order embraces an immense number of plants of varying char, 

 acter, some small and insignificant, some trees of large size. Many 

 of the most useful vegetable products are obtained from it. 



TRIPOLIUM. 



(THE CLOVERS.) 



This genus is one of the most useful of the order and embraces a large 

 number of species, several of which are well known in cultivation. 



The genus is characterized by having the leaves mostly trifoliate ; that is, made up 

 of three leaflets at the end of the leaf-stalk ; some species have five or more leaflets, 

 either close together at the end of the leaf-stalk or somewhat scattered in opposite 

 pairs. The flowers are collected in roundish or oblong heads, with or without a gen- 

 eral involucre. The calyx is five-toothed, the petals five,* irregular, persistent ; nine 

 stamens united and one free ; the pod small, mostly inclosed in the calyx, and one to 

 four- seeded. f 



Trifolium pratense (Red Clover ; Common Clover). 



Eed clover is so well known to the agricultural community that it 

 requires very little description. It is usually a perennial of a few years 

 duration, a native of Europe and Asia, but early introduced into this 

 country. Its cultivation is said to have begun in England about two 

 hundred and fifty years ago. It is one of the most important of culti- 

 vated crops, both for feed for animals and as an improver of the soil. 



A writer in the Country Gentleman says : 



No matter how mismanaged, clover is a benefit, and whatever else he may do, the 

 farmer who grows clover is making his farm better. It does not need cultivating ; the 

 long deep-reaching roots mellow and pulverize the soil as nothing else can. If it 

 grows thriftily the top acts as a mulch, seeding the ground and keeping it moist. A 

 crop of 2 tons or more of clover plowed under or cut for hay can hardly fail 

 leave the ground better than it was before. It should be the farmer's aim to grow 

 the largest possible crop of clover. 



