CLOVERS AND ALLIED PLANTS. 53 



water. Red Clover starts into growth fairly early in the 

 season, though it does not grow at all during winter. Its 

 chief weak point is that it usually lasts only about two 

 years and then quite dies out. It is stated, however, 

 that when stocked exclusively with cattle, its life is 

 longer, and that there is distinct evidence that if 

 it were sown pure and grazed judiciously it would last 

 for several years even when grazed by sheep. 



Seed is harvested in all the agricultural districts, but 

 the supply is not equal to the New Zealand demand. 

 Much seed comes from Europe, and this is very frequently 

 of a somewhat low grade. The price in normal seasons 

 averages lid. per pound. 



Cow Grass [Trifolium pratense perenne). — Cowgrass differs 

 from ordinary Red Clover only in that it flowers later in 

 the season, produces its bulk of feed later, and so affords, 

 when mown, only one cut in the season, and in that it will 

 last for six years instead of two. The two varieties cannot 

 be distinguished by the hoUowness of the stem or by the 

 number of hairs, as these characters are very variable. True 

 Cow Grass is not obtainable from colonial seed, nor indeed 

 from any one except professional seed growers, because 

 under farming conditions bees cross-fertilize Red Clover and 

 Cow Grass and the result is a hybrid. It follows then that 

 it is not advisable to spend extra money on a sample of seed 

 merely because it is called Cow Grass by the vendor. If, on 

 the other hand, seed were guaranteed to come from a pasture 

 that had been sown say six years that had never been allowed 

 to flower until the season of harvesting, the seed submitted 

 for sale then would be worth much more money than 

 usual, because it would be practically certain to pro- 

 duce a long-lived plant. Such conditions as these are, 

 however, practically never realized. 



