BED CLOVER. 



51ft 



CHAPTER XI. 



RED CLOVER (Trifolium pratense.} 



The stems are ascending, somewhat hairy, leaflets oval or somewhat 

 subovate, often notched at the end and marked with pale spots on the 

 upper side, heads ovate and set directly on the end of the stalk, instead 

 of being on the branches. 



This valuable forage plant 

 was first introduced into 

 England in 1 645, during the 

 stormy times of Charles I, 

 and rapidly met with favor 

 throughout the kingdom. It 

 properly belongs to the legu- 

 minous family, which in- 

 cludes a considerable num- 

 ber of other forage plants 

 that are called artificial 

 grasses, to distinguish them 

 from the true or natural 

 grasses called graminece. The 

 botanic name trifolium comes 

 from two latin words, tres, 

 three, and folium, a leaf, and in England it is olten called 

 Trefoil. It may always be known by having three leaves 

 in a bunch, and the flowers in dense, oblong globular heads. 

 There is no grass, natural or artificial, that is more useful 

 to the farmer or stock-grower, than Red Clover. It has 

 been styled, with some show of reason, the corner-stone of 

 agriculture, and this not only on account of its vigorous 

 vitality, but because it adapts itself to a great variety of 

 soils. It is widely diffused, and abounds in every part of 

 Europe, in North America, and even in Siberia. It fur- 

 nishes an immense amount of grazing, yields an abundanae 



