86 THE CLOVER CKOP. 



and fences, which up to this period was only to be met with 

 in the immediate vicinity of large towns in the southern 

 parts of the kingdom. These two points the introduction 

 of forage plants and inclosure of the land occurring at 

 about the same period, would indicate that up to this 

 time very little had been done towards a systematic culti- 

 vation of food for cattle. It is true that many of the clovers 

 were known as common weeds, and, no doubt, in the 

 natural pastures had furnished food to the wandering 

 herds. Gerarde, in his edition of 1597, describes and 

 figures the Common Red and White clovers, the hop-trefoil, 

 and several others. He makes no mention of either of 

 them being in cultivation, but speaking of the "red clover," 

 he says, " There is also a trefoile of this kinde which is 

 sowne in fields of the Low Countries, in Italy, and divers 

 other places beyonde the seas, that cometh up ranker and 

 higher than that which groweth in medowes, and is an ex- 

 cellent food for cattel, both to fatten them and cause them 

 to give great store of milke." This cultivated trefoil, or 

 red clover, appears to have attracted the attention of Sir 

 Richard Weston, at that time ambassador to the Low 

 Countries, to whom we are indebted for its introduction 

 to this country in the year 1645. Sir Richard gives an 

 account of its cultivation in Flanders, where he says 1 

 he saw it being cut the previous year in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Antwerp, on the 1st of June, being then 

 24 inches high, and very thick on the ground ; that he saw 

 the same field cut the second time, on the 29th June, 

 when the crop was 20 inches high ; and a third time in 

 August, when the growth had again reached 18 inches in 

 height. Its introduction into this country seems to have 

 been attended with great success, as in 1653 we find Blythe 

 speaking in high praise of it, recommending it to general 



1 Discourses on the Husbandry of Brabant and Flanders, 1645. 



