83 

 Prof. W. J. Beal, of Michigan Agricultural College, says: 



White clover is a tickle plant, coming and going with the vary ing seasons. It often 

 burns out in hot weather. An old, hard road, once abandoned, is likely to send up 

 white clover in advance of the grasses. It is a well-known and highly prized bee- 

 plant. It is often sown with some of the finer grasses for lawns. 



Trifolium stoloniferum (Running Buffalo Clover). 



This is a native perennial species, growing about a foot high; long runners are sent 

 out from the base, which are procumbent at first, becoming erect. The leaves are all 

 at the base, except one pair at the nppei part of the stem. The root-leaves are long- 

 stalked, and have three thinnish obovato leaflets, which are minutely toothed. The 

 pair of leaves on the stem have the stalk about as long as the leaflets, pointed and 

 entire on the margins, the lower ones nearly an inch long, the upper ones about half 

 as long. There are but one or two heada on each stem at the summit, each on a pedi- 

 cel longer than the leaves. The heads are about an inch in diameter, rather loosely 

 flowered, each flower being on a short, slender pedicel, or stem, which bends back- 

 ward at maturity. P^ach flower has a long-toothed calyx about half as long as the 

 corolla, which is white, tinged with purple. 



*This species is found in rich open woodlands, and in prairies in Ohio, 

 Illinois, Kentucky, and westward. It is of a very vigorous growth, but 

 somewhat smaller in size than the common red clover. It should re- 

 ceive the attention of farmers and its value be ascertained by cultiva- 

 tion and experiment. (Plate 94.) 



ONOBRYCHIS. 



Onobrychis sativa (Sainfoin). 



A perennial, having somewhat the appearance of Lucerne, but of smaller size and 

 different habit. It seldom exceeds 1 feet in height, with a weak stem, rather long, 

 pinnate leaves, and flowers of a pink color in a loose spike, 2 to 4 inches in length, 

 raised on a long, naked peduncle or stalk. The flowers are succeeded by short, single- 

 seeded pods, which are strongly reticulated or marked by raised lines and depressed 

 pits. 



This leguminous forage plant has recently been introduced into this 

 country under the name of "aspercet." Esparsette is the German 

 name; sainfoin is the name used in France and England. 



It is a native of Central and Southern Europe and Western Asia, and 

 in Europe has long been in cultivation. From experiments made by 

 the Duke of Bedford, in England, we learn that it was first introduced 

 to English farmers as a plant for cultivation from Flanders and Franc.-, 

 where it has been long cultivated. It was found to be less productive 

 than the broad-leaved clovers, but on chalky and gravelly soils tlu-re 

 was abundant proof of the superiority of saiufoiu. It produces but 

 little herbage the first year, but improves in quantity for several years. 

 Mr. Martin J. Button, in a recent work on "Permanent and Tempo- 

 rary Pastures," says that it has been cultivated in England for tmr 

 two hundred years. He says that it is essentially a food for sheep, and 

 in pasturing the sheep do it no injury. It is also useful for horses, b 

 produces nothing like the quantity of green fodder that can be obtained 



