68 FORAGE CROPS. 



from the commencement of the season of growth 

 until the arrival of autumn frosts of some degree of 

 severity. There is no other kind of clover that will 

 furnish as much pasture in a single season. The 

 high nutritive properties which red clover possesses 

 are made manifest in the chemical analysis which 

 the pasture gives, and in the quick improvement in 

 the condition of the animals that are pastured 

 upon it. 



It is also excellent for milk production, because 

 of its nitrogenous character. Medium red clover 

 will grow from spring until fall, in a moist climate, 

 without any interruption. Of course, in dry cli- 

 mates continuity in growth will be interrupted soon 

 after the arrival of dry weather, in the absence of 

 irrigation. And it may be grown for pasture with 

 much success in combination with such plants as 

 timothy, alsike, small white clover, and orchard 

 grass. The weak point in common red clover as z 

 forage plant lies in its short life as compared with 

 some other pasture plants. Speaking in a general 

 way, it would be called biennial, but in some sec- 

 tions of the republic peculiarly adapted to its growth, 

 as, for instance, the part of Washington state that 

 borders on Puget Sound, it assumes a perennial 

 rather than a biennial character, and the same is 

 true of it in many of the Rocky Mountain valleys. 



Distribution. — Happily, this wonderful plant, 

 too little valued because of its commonness, has a 

 wide distribution. Like blue grass, it is in a sense 

 cosmopolitan in much of the United States and Can- 

 ada. But there are considerable areas, nevertheless, 

 that are too cold, too warm or too dry for its suc- 

 cessful growth, Among the first are the areas west 



