98 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



dew or rain be permitted to fall upon it unless in cocks. It 

 is better after partially drying, to expose it for three or 

 four days in this way, and as soon as properly cured place it 

 under cover. It is a good practice to salt hay when put up, 

 as it is thus secured against damage from occasional green- 

 ness ; and there is no waste of the salt as it serves the double 

 object after curing the hay, of furnishing salt to the cattle and 

 the manure*heap. 



THE CLOVERS, 



Sometimes improperly called grasses, are botanically ar- 

 ranged in the order, leguminosce, under the same head with 

 the bean, pea, locust, vetches, &c. More than 160 species 

 of clover have been detected by naturalists. Their properties 

 and characteristics are totally unlike the grasses, with which 

 they agree only in their contributing in a similar manner to 

 the support of farm stock. There are many varieties culti- 

 vated abroad, but the attention of farmers in this country has 

 been limited to a very few. 



THE COMMON RED OR NORTHERN CLOVER, (Trifolium 

 pratense,) a biennial, and occasionally on calcareous soils, a 

 triennial, is the species most generally in use in the United 

 States. This is a hardy, easily cultivated variety, growing 

 luxuriantly on every properly drained soil of sufficient strength 

 to afford it nutriment. It has nurrierous strong well devel- 

 oped stems, branching outwardly and vertically from a single 

 seed, and bearing broad thick leaves which are surmounted 

 by a large reddish purple flower. By the analysis of Da^y 

 the whole plant yields an amount of nutritive matter fully 

 equal to any other of the clovers. 



Mode of Cultivation. Clover may be sown broadcast either 

 in August or September, or early in the spring, with most of 

 the cereal grains or the cultivated grasses ; or it may pro- 

 fitably constitute a crop by itself. The quantity of seed 

 required per acre depends on the kind of soil. On well pre- 

 pared loams 10 or 12 Ibs. of good seed will frequently give 

 a full covering to the land, while on clay 12 to 16 Ibs. are 

 necessary per acre. When sown with the grasses, 4 to 6 Ibs. 

 on the first, and 8 to 12 Ibs. on the last soil will suffice. An 

 additional amount of seed, as with the grasses, will give a 

 finer quality of hay in consequence of multiplying the number 

 of stalks ; and for this purpose, as well as to insure it on every 

 spot of the field, it should always be liberally sown. The 

 covering, like that of grass seeds, should be of the slightest 



