No. 4.] CLOVERS. 425 



The Kinds op Clover, 

 Crimson Clover {Tri folium, Incarnatum). 

 Crimson clover is an annual or a winter annual/ Whenever crimson 

 clover can be grown as a winter annual it is of much value, but the 

 peculiarities of our winters and especially of our springs are such that 

 crimson clover is not generally successful as a winter annual. In 

 localities where it is hardy, its special value is due principally to the 

 fact that it starts into growth the following season much earlier than 

 the other clovers. Crimson clover may be grown in Massachusetts as 

 a spring-sown crop, but if it must be sown in the spring it will not be 

 earlier than the other clovers, and is not likely to yield so heavily as 

 they. It does not appear likely, therefore, that crimson clover will 

 prove of much value in our agriculture. 



Medium or Common Red Clover, and Mammoth Red Clover. 

 These two kinds of clover are best described together, as the pecul- 

 iarities of each are best brought out when studied in contrast with 

 those of the other. These two kinds of clover resemble each other very 

 closely. Typical specimens of the two show well-defined differences, 

 but these two types of clover seem to run together, and there are many 

 forms intermediate between the types. The product of commercial 

 samples of seed sold under the two names is often indistinguishable, 

 even by experts. Typical specimens show the following differences: 

 the leaflet of the red clover is nearly round, comparativel}*' smooth, 

 with a whitish approximately crescent-shaped mark on the upper 

 surface; the mammoth clover has a leaflet relatively narrow, eUip- 

 tical, more hairy than that of the common red clover and without the 

 whitish mark. The more important practical differences are that the 

 mammoth clover is somewhat coarser and taller than the common, 

 and a little later. It is, therefore, somewhat better suited for sowing 

 in mixture with timothy and redtop than the common red clover, for 

 the latter is usually overripe before the timothy and redtop are suffi- 

 ciently mature to cut. Both of these clovers are rather short-lived 

 perennials; but it is nevertheless possible, as has been indicated, to 

 produce hay for a long series of years in permanent mowings in which 

 these clovers will be fairly prominent. This is possible even without 

 sowing the seed, for when the rowen crop is usually harvested a por- 

 tion of the heads are commonly ripe. The seeds are scattered from 

 these heads, and from these seeds each year come new plants. Ac- 

 cordingly, though the older plants die, their place in the mowing is 

 taken by the plants which grow from these accidentally scattered 

 seeds. 



' Those plants are designated winter annuals which, when sown in late summer or 

 fall, make a moderate growth, but do not blossom that season; but which will pass 

 through the winter successfully, blossom and form seed the following spring, and tlien 

 die. Winter rye is an example. 



