238 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



tion for subsequent crops. 

 Most other crops deplete 

 the soil, but the clovers 

 enrich it, and restore its 

 fertility. 



The clovers also furnish 

 the finest of the honey 

 crop — especially white 

 clover, which fills the land 

 with the fragrance of its 

 nectar in June. Among 

 them are excellent soil- 

 fig. 86.' white clover. (This and other binders for holding togeth- 



drawings bearing the same monogram pre- j/l„ c11r f Q „^ la-wrc nf 



pared by Miss Olive N. Tuttle for this book. er tne SUITaCe layers 01 



eroding hill slopes; excel- 

 lent cover-crops for the orchard in the 

 dry season ; and excellent plants for the 

 lawn and the fence-row. 



And besides all these very practical 

 matters, there is their beauty ! Crimson 

 clover, red clover, white clover — what 

 neatness and elegance of design in the 

 single sprays; what beauty of leaf form; 

 what freshness of flowers ! And in mass, 

 also, they give fine landscape effects — 

 the red outspread over the plain like a 

 carpet of roses; the white sprinkled 

 over the green hills like flakes of 

 fugitive snow. 



All the clovers are deep-rooting herbs 

 that grow in spreading tufts and bear 

 trifoliate leaves, having stipules at the 

 base of the leaf -stalk. They have small 

 flowers in clusters, and short, few-seeded p IG . 8 7. Red clover. 



