526 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



only in the south of England that wheat suc- 

 ceeds after clover. In the north of England 

 it fails. In Yorkshire, Durham, and all north- 

 ern counties, the farmer takes oats after clo- 

 ver. Svr James Graham many years ago tried 

 to introduce the south of England plan on his 

 Cumberland estates. He offered great induce- 

 ments to his tenants. They sowed their win- 

 ter wheat on their clover leys, and were half 

 ruined by the unfortunate results. 



As I have said, under some circumstances 

 wheat after clover fails, and even in the south 

 it i only 0:1 the light sandy soils that clover 

 beats farm-yard dung. If that dung were 

 rotten and solid it would beat the clover on 

 the light lands too. To grow wheat at all on 

 those lands it is absolutely necessary to make 

 the land compact. A heavy, bevelled iron 

 wheel follows the plough and compresses the 

 furrow, forming a hard-bottomed drill for the 

 seed. If farm-yard dung, in the condition it 

 is in when generally used by farmers, were 

 ploughed into the light land, the "presser," 

 as it is called, would have little effect, and the 

 crop would be lost. On land of a moderate 

 consistency, good heavy loam, the farm-yard 

 dung would produce a much better crop than 

 clover. And then all good farmers in the 

 south of England top-dress their wheat. Some 

 use guano, some soot — any ammoniacal dress- 

 ing. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 

 This new variety of clover is attracting 

 much attention from the West and in Canada, 

 and bids fair to be a valuable addition to our 

 forage plants. We hope it will be tested by 

 some of our enterprising farmers on the soil of 

 New England. We copy the following ac- 

 count of the clover from the Prairie Far- 



About two miles from St. Charles, is a field 

 of some seven acres of Alsike or Swedish clo- 

 ver, trifolium hyhridum. This variety of 

 clover was disseminated throughout the West, 

 in a small way by the Patent Office, some 

 years ago ; but it is believed that but little or 

 nothing remains of the product of the seeds 

 that were then distributed. The seed with 

 which this field was sowed, was imported 

 by Mr. M. M. Baldridge, last year. His 

 principal design in introducing this new vari- 

 ety of clover, was to furnish a material for 

 bee food, that would be plentiful at a time 

 when other flowers were scarce. He has since 

 become convinced, that the new plant has 

 other claims than that of a producer of honey ; 

 that it will furnish abundant forage for cattle 

 as well as food for bees. 



This clover, as its name implies, is a hybrid 

 of the ordinary red and white clover ; and 

 while it partakes somewhat of the nature of 

 both of these, it has some peculiarities that 



belong to neither of them. Its roots are fi- 

 brous, and of unusual length, which would 

 seem to insure its hardiness and its ability to 

 withstand drought. This abundance of root 

 growth would also show that it will prove a 

 very valuable fertilizer for worn-out fields, 

 and that it will be a desirable crop to precede 

 wheat. The stalks are much smaller than 

 those of red clover, and do not turn dark to 

 the same extent when the plant has matured. 

 The foliage is also much more abundant, and 

 the same is true of the blossoms. The flow- 

 ers are very beautiful, of larger size than 

 those of the white clover, of pinkish color, 

 and are very fragrant; they also continue 

 longer than those of either variety of the clo- 

 ver that is common with us. In England, they 

 are at pains to have a sufficient amount of fra- 

 grant plants in the hay. to impart to it an 

 agreeable scent. A small proportion of this 

 clover grown among Timothy and red top 

 would on this account, we think, be very de- 

 sirable. 



It is said to be more abundant in seeds than 

 either of the other varieties of clover, and, 

 unlike red clover, matures its seeds from the 

 first set of blossoms. When we visited the 

 field it was past the season of full blossoming, 

 but the leaves were still green and the stalks 

 showed no signs of blackening. Only four 

 pounds of seed were sown to the acre, but the 

 stalks were sufficiently thick, and we should 

 judge the yield of hay would be from one and 

 a half to two tons to the acre. This clover 

 has proved to be very valuable for furnishing 

 honey ; the bees coming to it in great swarms 

 from St. Charles, throughout the period the 

 clover remained in blossom. Mr. Baldridge 

 has been so well pleased with this new clover, 

 that this year he has sown over fifty acres of it. 



Remarks. — We notice in the Prairie Far- 

 mer that Mr. H. M. Thomas of Brookline 

 County, sent to the office of that paper a stalk 

 of Alsike clover seven feet and one inch high, 

 and says he could send a ton as nice and as 

 large. 



Feeding "Whet to Milch Cows. — ^After hav- 

 ing had considerable experience in feeding whey 

 to milch cows, Mr. X. A. Willard says ia the Ru- 

 ral New Yorker that he regards it as very objec- 

 tionattle. In the first place the nutritive value of 

 whey, of which over ninety-three parts in a hun- 

 dred are water, is less than is generally supposed. 

 It is very liable to make them scour. Like dis- 

 tillers' slops it increases the quantity of milk, but 

 decreases its quality. In hot weather the milk 

 from cows fed with whey soon sours ; and some- 

 times will show a decidedly acid condition as soon 

 as drawn, if tested with litmus paper. Such miik 

 soon becomes perceptibly sour to the taste and 

 passes rapidly into putrefactive fermentation. 



