124 THE GRASSES OF TENNESSEE. 



then be driven off for the remainder of the day, gradually 

 increasing the time of grazing, until they become less vora- 

 cious in tlieir appetites, never permitting them to run upon 

 clover when wet. Clover made wet by a rain at mid- 

 day is more likely to produce hoven than when wet by dew* 

 This is because when wet by rain at midday or after the 

 stalks and leaves are heated by the sun, when taken 

 into the stomach of a cow, this heat generates fer- 

 mentation much sooner than when the herbage is cool, 

 though wet with the morning dew. Cattle are more easily 

 affected by clover than horses, because being ruminants, 

 they take in the clover rapidly, filling the stomach at once, 

 without chewing. Digestion is for the time checked and a 

 rapid fermentation sets in. The remedy found most effect- 

 ive for hoven is to stick a sharp pointed knife about six 

 inches in front of the hip, to the left side of the backbone, 

 and far enough from it to miss the spinal protuberances, and 

 in the thinnest part of the flank. A cow should never be 

 run when affected with hoven, as this treatment only inten- 

 sifies the pain without affording relief. 



Stock should never be turned upon clover until it blooms 

 The practice of many of our farmers, to turn all the stock 

 npon a clover field early in April, is very destructive. The 

 crown of the clover is eaten out, causing it to perish. The 

 tread of heavy cattle has the same effect. 



As a soiling crop Red Clover is excelled by no crop grown 

 within the State. The practice of soiling in thickly set- 

 tled communities is one much commended by agricultural 

 writers. An half-acre of clover will supply one cow through- 

 out the months of June, July and August, if cut off and 

 fed in a stall, while twice the amount in pasture, according 

 to some English experimenters, will barely subsist a cow 

 during the same period, and this will depend, of course, 

 upon the luxuriance of the growth. Soiling (that is cut- 

 ting the grass and feeding it green) is a very desirable prac- 

 tice, near small towns, where many persons own small 



