CLOVER. 



CLUB MOSS. 



made larger than that described, say six feel 

 wide and five deep, as one of such a size can 

 easily be drawn by a single horse, and would 

 do more work. With the machine as modified 

 by him, Mr. B. says the clover heads may be 

 gathered cleaner and in half the time that 

 would have been required to mow and save 

 the hay. He sums up the advantages of em- 

 ploying the machine as follows: "1st The 

 stalks are all left on the ground to benefit the 

 land. 2d. The heads are immediately taken 

 to the barn, ready for the hulling machine, 

 without the delay and labour of separating the 

 heads from the stalks by flails or tramping. 

 3d. A man with a horse can strip double the 

 quantity in a day that he could cut. 4th. The 

 seed is better, inasmuch as the heads are taken 

 to the barn and secured from, the weather, the 

 dampness of which frequently causes them to 

 sprout when exposed to the usual rotting pro- 

 cess, as it is termed. For the use of this ma- 

 chine the clover ought to be permitted to get 

 fully ri;#, and if the spaces between the teeth 

 become clogged, they can quickly be freed by 

 a sharp spade or shovel, which the operator 

 has with him in shovelling the heads to the 

 back of the box." 



In getting the seed from the heads, it has 

 been common to employ the flail, and to clear 

 it from the husk and chaff recourse has been 

 had to a clover-mill, worked either by water, 

 steam, or horse-power. A clover-mill adapted 

 to horse-power, with the advantage of being 

 portable, has been patented by Rittenhouse & 

 Co., and is much used in the Northern and 

 Eastern States, where the average product of 

 seed per acre is four or five bushels. The 

 cost of the mill is about $60. 



The old method of thrashing out clover seed by 

 the flail or by the trampingof horses has been ge- 

 nerally regarded as very tedious and disagreea- 

 ble, so much so, indeed, as to have discouraged 

 most farmers from attempting to gather the seed 

 at all. Those who were within the vicinity of 

 clover-mills conveyed the seed in the hull to 

 them to have it separated and cleaned. This 

 was costly and troublesome, and the refuse 

 was lost to the farmer. Of latter time the in- 

 troduction of thrashing machines has obviated 

 all difficulty of this kind, and farmers can now 

 thrash out their clover seed with nearly the 

 same expedition that they thrash their grain. 

 The dried clover stalks and heads are put 

 through the machine in the same manner as 

 wheat ; a proper sifter separates the stems from 

 the heads, when, by introducing an additional 

 set of teeth into the machine to work closer, 

 the heads or chaff are again put through the 

 machine, by which process the seed is shelled 

 from the hull with great expedition and very 

 effectually, when it is cleaned by the fan in the 

 usual manner. Many of the thrashing ma- 

 chines now in use have been constructed with 

 the additional set of teeth for this purpose, and 

 if they were all thus supplied, it would be a 

 means of encouraging the cultivation of clo- 

 ver for seed on a much more extended scale, 

 cheapen the article, and promote the sowing 

 of it more extensively and thicker than is often 

 done, by which fewer bald places would be 

 seen in the fields, and the stalks would not be 



o gross and succulent, and the hay and pas- 

 ure would be sweeter and better and in greater 

 abundance than when it stands thin on the 

 ground. (Sinclair's Hort. Gram.; Quart. Journ. 

 yf Jigr. vol. xi. p. 249 ; "On turning the second 

 crop of Clover;" Com. to Board of jjgr. vol. iv. 

 p. 197 ; Davy.) 



CLOVER, BOKARA. See MELLILOTUS ALBA. 

 CLOVER BOX. A contrivance for sowing 

 clover seed, of very simple construction, easily 

 made and at trifling expense, was invented by 

 he late Mr. Bordley, of Maryland. It is called 

 he Clover box, and in some sections of the 

 country it is in general use. It not only scat- 

 ers the seed over the ground with entire cer- 

 ainty and equality, but makes a much less 

 quantity answer than is usually required in the 

 old process of sowing broadcast. It is stated 

 that, " by the use of this box, one bushel has 

 seeded fifteen acres, the clover well set, the 

 plants in sufficient numbers, and the whole 

 field evenly seeded. 



* The box is eight or ten feet in length, about 

 four inches in breadth, divided into partitions 

 of six inches long. In the bottom of each 

 partition is an opening of about three inches 

 square, in which is inserted a piece of tin, 

 parchment, or stiff paper, perforated with a 

 number of holes of sufficient size for the clo- 

 ver seed to pass freely through. 



'The seed is placed in each partition. To 

 the box is affixed a strap, which is passed over 

 the shoulders of the sower, and, carrying the 

 box before him, he walks over the field, agitat- 

 ing the box by his hand if it requires more 

 movement than it receives from his walk. In 

 this manner the seed is equally distributed over 

 all the ground. 



" A very thin piece of board may be hooked 

 at the bottom of the box, to prevent the seed 

 dropping out before the sowing commences. 

 The box may be made of light cedar, and not 

 weigh more than six or eight pounds without 

 the seed." See Am. Farmer, vol. ii. p. 60. 



CLOVER, STONE (Trifoliumarvense), Welsh 

 clover, Rabbit-foot. This is frequent in Penn- 

 sylvania and other Middle States, on sandy, 

 barren fields. Though supposed to be a native 

 of America, it is found on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. It is a worthless plant, and indicative 

 of careless farming. (Flor. Cestrir.) 



CLUB GRASS (Corynephorns). An unin- 

 teresting species of grass, requiring only to be 

 sown in common soil. The last articulation 

 of the jointed beard is club-shaped, whence its 

 name. 



CLUB MOSS (Lycopodium, from *wto? a 

 wolf, and vovf a foot, because of the resem- 

 blance of the roots). This moss grows abun- 

 dantly on mountainous heaths or stony moors; 

 some of the species, which are numerous, reach 

 to a foot high, in watery, healthy, mountainous 

 situations. The seeds are often highly inflam- 

 mable, like powdered sulphur. The hardy 

 species of club moss require to be cultivated 

 in peat soil, in a moist situation ; some of them 

 succeed in pots of water. They are readily in- 

 creased by suckers. 



The planed or flatted lycopodium grows in 

 the United States, in woods and thickets. It is 

 the well-known trailing vaViety so often col- 

 2 F 2 341 . 



