74 HOW TO GROW GOOD GRASSES. 



important. These, as meadow plants, will usually 

 be found under the following circumstances : — 



No. 1. Plentiful in good, rich, sound meadows. 

 „ 2. Prequent in meadows on light sandy soils. 

 „ 3. On thin but good soil, upland meadows. 



The clovers, and indeed the clover allies, Papi- 

 lionacece, as a whole, are partial to lime, — so much 

 so, that a dressing of this mineral to some fields in 

 which clovers are scarcely represented will very 

 quickly cause an accelerated growth of them ; hence 

 road dirt, when made from calcareous stones, as 

 are the oolitic and mountain limestones, affords 

 a good vehicle for the admixture of manures or 

 ameliorators, such as guano, burnt ashes, soot, nitrate 

 of soda, &c. 



The following remarks upon these three clovers 

 are from a paper by the author in the Bath and West 

 of England Agricultural Journal, vol. x., part 2 : — ■ 



1. Trifolium pratense — Meadow or Broad-leaved Clover — in its 

 wild state is too well known to need any lengthened description. 

 A careful examination of field specimens will show that even in the 

 wild state this plant is liable to run into numberless variations; thus, 

 we may have the leaflets of one plant broad and almost obcordate at 

 the extremity, whilst others will be more or less ovate and lancet- 

 shaped. In some we may see dense heads of purple flowers, varying 

 in shade uutil almost white, whilst less dense heads of flowers and 

 general variations in height, size, and luxuriance of the whole plant, 

 are all circumstances in the natural history of this species in the 

 wild state, which will prepare us duly to understand the nature of 

 the many forms of the plant which are found in cultivation. Of 

 these we have, besides others, English, French, American, and Dutch 

 sorts, which differ in such minor details as a greater or less hairiness, 

 or variations in the colour and size of the flowers, leaves, &c. The 

 most important point connected with the broad-leaved clover is its 

 permanency ; some sorts scarcely maintaining a plant for two years, 

 whilst others are said to be more or less perennial. This, however, 

 is a matter which we conceive depends more upon the soil and the 



