THK GK-YSSES, MEADOWS, ETC. 103 



very hardy and prolific. It bears a yellow flower and black 

 seeds. It is one of those unostentatious plants, which though 

 never sown and little heeded, help to make up that useful 

 ;v which gives value and permanence to our best 

 pasture lands. 



MANY OTHER OF THE MINUTE CLOVERS AND LEGUMINOSJE, 

 THE WILD PEA, &c., abound in our untilled lands and add 

 much to the value of the forage, although their merits and 

 cvtMi their existence are scarcely known. 



CRIMSON OR SCARLET CLOVER (Trifolium incarnatum) is 

 a unlive of Italy and much cultivated in France. It bears 

 a bng head of bright scarlet flowers, and in southern Europe 

 is a profitable crop. Although it was introduced into this 

 country many years since it hns not hitherto commended 

 itself to particular attention as an object of agriculture. 



LCJCERN (Medicago saliva) is one of the most productive 

 plants for foraga ever cultivated. It was extensively cultiva- 

 ted by the Greeks, and other nations of antiquity for many cen- 

 turies, and it has been a prominent object of attention in Ita- 

 ly, Spain, France, Holland and Flanders. Its relative value 

 as compared with clover (T. pralense,) is decidedly inferior, 

 while its absolutle value per acre, is much greater. It was 

 early introduced into this country. Chancellor Livingston 

 published his experiments with it in 1791 to '94, by which he 

 estimates that he cut in one season, at the rate of 6 1-5 tons 

 ppr acre in five cuttings, yielding a profit of over 835 an acre. 

 It bears from three to live crops per annum, containing from 

 three to eight tons of hay. Those who have cultivated it pro- 

 nounce it hardy and as capnble of successful growth in this 

 country as clover, but to reach the highest product, it requires 

 a richness of soil and carefulness of cultivation, which would 

 give an enormous produce to its more humble rival. 



Manner of Cultivation. It must have a deep, dry, loamy 

 'si I, free from weeds, and well filled with manure. A suita- 

 ble crop to precede it. is corn or potatoes, heavily manured 

 and kept clean. Plow in the fall, and add 40 bushels crush- 

 ed bones per acre ; and early in April, harrow throughly, and 

 sow in drills from one to two and a half feet apart at the 

 rate of 8 or 10 Ibs. seed per acre. Stir tho ground and ex- 

 tirpate the weeds with the cultivator or horse and hand hoe. 

 It may be lightly cropped the first year, and more freely the 

 second, but it does not attain full maturity till the third. The 

 root? strike deep into the ground, and being a perennial, it 

 requires no renewal, except from the loss of the plants by 



