194 



PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL BOTANY 



with greenish veins and taper-pointed stipules. They have a slightly 

 bitter taste. The flowers are pedicelled and white to pink. The pods 

 are two- to four-seeded. The seeds lose their vitality rapidly after the 

 second year. The seed is smaller than red clover and is seeded at the 

 rate of four to eight pounds per acre. The plant is hardier than red clover 

 and matures about two weeks earlier, and therefore, should be grown 

 with early maturing grasses, such as, orchard 

 grass and red top. 



Crimson Clover ( Trifolium incarnatum) . 

 The French clover is an erect, pubescent 

 annual growing from six inches to two feet 

 tall. Its leaves have long petioles with 

 purple-margined, broad stipules (Fig. 81). 

 The bright crimson flowers are produced in a 

 spike, which is two or three inches long. 

 The seed is shiny, when fresh, and of a pink 

 color. This clover is a native of Mediter- 

 ranean Europe and has been cultivated in 

 this country since 1822. 



Treatment. It is adapted especially for 

 use as a cover crop, and as a green manure 

 in the Atlantic states. It is seeded in 

 August alone, or in corn. The special advan- 

 tage in its growth lies in the fact that its 

 autumn, winter and early spring develop- 

 ment, is sufficient so that it may be turned 

 under the following spring in time for the 

 planting of another crop, such as corn in the 

 north, or cotton in the south. It is also 



81. Crimson clover 

 (Trifolium incarnatum) . (After 



Bail, Carieton R. : Winter Forage valuable for pasturing, soiling, or for ensilage 



SX,-i" 4 ?'i9o* "P. 3"' Comin S at a time when other g reen fora 8 e is 

 scarce. It should not be fed when the flowers 



have developed, for as previously narrated, crimson clover hair balls may 

 kill horses and other animals by an obstruction of the bowels. Both 

 the hay and seed crops are handled in about the same way as red clover. 

 It is a hard crop to establish for the absence of rains in late summer is 

 responsible for most of the failures to obtain a satisfactory stand. 

 Crimson clover is benefitted by a liming of the soil. Shallow seeding, 



