GROWN FOR SEED PRODUCE. Ill 



sheep are penned on the field early in the spring, and 

 may be kept as long as the keep lasts, or until the end of 

 May, the field is then shut up, and about the beginning of 

 August the crop is ready for cutting ; after which, what little 

 keep there is may be disposed of in the usual way. Our 

 climate is certainly far more favourable to the herbaceous 

 growth of clover than to its full maturity and seed produce, 

 and consequently the seed-crop is rarely a satisfactory 

 one. We are limited to about two months for the crop 

 July and August. If it comes to maturity earlier, it never 

 ripens so perfectly ; and if it remains in the field later, it 

 is frequently injured in the after operations of harvesting. 

 It is important that the seed be fully matured at the time 

 of cutting, and that it be left out in the field until it 

 becomes quite dry and hardened ; the same, or indeed more 

 care is required in moving it about than for hay, other- 

 wise a large portion is sure to be lost. The operation of 

 separating the seed from its husk or capsule is a very 

 difficult one. Machines, however, have been introduced 

 for the purpose, and are always used by those who culti- 

 vate the crop regularly for its seed. 



The diseases to which our cultivated plants are liable, are 

 still very imperfectly understood. The effects, however, are 

 well known, and are often discussed. Neither have we any 

 lack of opinions and speculations as to their cause ; but, with 

 the exception of the self-imposed labour and investigations 

 of one or two individuals, no systematic attempt has been 

 made to arrive at the real causes. The crop now before 

 us affords a marked instance of this great deficiency in 

 our agricultural knowledge. Although a moderately hardy 

 plant, and not generally susceptible to disease, the clover 

 plant is frequently greatly injured by a form of disease 

 which, in our ignorance of its true character and mode of 

 attack, we are accustomed to term " clover sickness/' 

 This, in some soils, is accompanied by such destructive 

 effects on the crop, as to have led recently to much discus- 



