HOW TO GROW GOOD GRASSES. 75 



kind of cultivation than upon the sort ; for although all seedsmen 

 supply two sorts, namely, Trifolium pratense and T. pratense perenne, 

 yet they run so much the one into the other, that it is oftentimes 

 exceedingly difficult to distinguish them. If, therefore, a farmer wants 

 a good strain of broad clover, he should purchase his seed from 

 seedsmen possessing judgment and character ; for experience has 

 taught us that a seed which may be all that is required in one 

 district may result in next to a failure in another. Thus, clover- 

 seed from the warmer parts of England does not succeed well when 

 sown in cold, exposed positions ; but that from the latter is improved 

 on transmission to the former, whilst good changes are effected by 

 the occasional use of foreign seed. 



The sort known in the market as T. pratense perenne is probably 

 intermediate between the wild species T. pratense and T. medium. 

 Our own experiments have shown that, on cultivating T. medium, 

 which is a sand-lover, in strong land, in three years it has been very 

 difficult to distinguish it from some of the varieties of T. pratense. 

 We incline, therefore, to the opinion that as the T. medium holds to 

 sandy soils in the wild state, its seed was brought into cultivation 

 with a view to light-soil cropping; and from this source has probably 

 been derived the so-called T pratense perenne, which variety is 

 certainly more perennial in such light soils as would be quite unfit 

 for the true T. pratense. The latter, indeed, seems to be more 

 permanent in soils containing a quantity of lime, while the former, 

 where it can be got of a good sort, is certainly best adapted for 

 sandy soils. 



2. Trifolium medium — Zizgag Trefoil — is distinguished from the 

 T. pratense by its larger, but more lax, head of reddish pink (not 

 purple) flowers, which are solitary, on the apex of a stalk, which at 

 each joint is bent at a considerable angle ; hence its name. Its 

 leaflets are elliptical, and not broader at the upper margin. This 

 plant is a constant denizen of sands and light soils. In fact, its 

 naturally growing in soils unfitted for the broad-leaved clover seems 

 to recommend it for cultivation ; and though, as before pointed out, 

 we more than suspect that the so-called cow-grass clover was 

 originally derived from this source, and that the T. medium is after 

 all but a variety of the T. pratense, it is now quite merged as a 

 farm-plant into the broad-clover forms ; so that, if we are to possess 

 it as a separate plant, it must be again grown from the wild seed ; 

 and then, if it is to be kept pure, it must not be cultivated on clays 

 or limestones, or, if our view be correct, it will soon lose its true 

 distinctive character. 



3. Trifolium repens — White Dutch Clover — has been long in cnlti- 



