428 Transactions of the American Institute. 



tory to seeding the ground in wheat or rye. When the purpose is 

 to use the crop as a fertilizer, it is deemed best to pasture rather 

 than harvest it, and to plow the clover under in a greener condi- 

 tion than when mown for winter use as hay. This precaution pre- 

 serves the succulence of the plant, and with it more of the fertilizing 

 qualities of the leaves and upper stems, and more or less also of 

 the blossoms, which escape the carping of the cattle to some 

 degree. Three successive annual crops of a full average yield of 

 the cereals may be relied on as a return for a single crop of red 

 clover which has been turned under green in this way, provided 

 the land is in fair condition when clovered — a fact which ought to 

 be sufficient to convince the most skeptical of the great value of 

 this grass as a fertilizer. 



If the farmer desires to have clover reproduce itself for any con- 

 siderable number of seasons, he must let the seed ripen in the sec- 

 ond year's growth, and fall uninterrupted by either mowers or 

 cattle. Then he may anticipate what is called a volunteer crop as 

 recurring for an almost incredible series of years. As an example 

 of this result, my correspondent, Mr. Levi Henshaw, already 

 alluded to, writes me as follows: " I have a field that I planted ten 

 years ago, and I have put no seed on it since, and yet I have the 

 prospect of a good crop of clover at this time (January 20th, 1868). 

 Since I sowed it down, I have raised on the field three crops of corn 

 two of wheat, and one of oats." 



Ml'. Henshaw's rotation of crops in securing these remarkable 

 results from a single seeding of this fertilizer — for they will be 

 remarkable even to some persons who are more or less conversant 

 with the history of this grass — was as follows: " I plowed in the 

 clover (in the early fall, of course, while the plant was still juicy), 

 and planted the following spring in corn. So soon as I cut off 

 the corn, I seeded with wheat. When cutting my wheat, the fol- 

 lowing harvest, I found the field so well set in young clover that 

 I let it lay in clover the succeeding year. After it had laid in 

 clover one year, I plowed it in the spring, and again planted it in 

 corn. I then sowed the corn ground in wheat (without rest), as 

 before." Thus, Mr. Henshaw continued to keep this field in culti- 

 vation for two successive seasons, letting it lay in clover the third 

 year, and repeating that routine until the present time — making 

 ten years in all, with the prospect, as we have already learned, of 

 a good yield of clover this season, to be turned under and planted 

 in corn, rotated with cereals, for several years longer. It is true, 



