26 



PASTURES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



CHAP. 



better adapted for mixing with Lucerne, Trefoil and other plants from which 

 more than one cut is desired. 



Trifolium — Clover 



Red or Broad Clover (Trifolium pratense). — Red clover endures 

 for several years ; is of branching growth ; and comes into flower in May. 

 Perhaps the most important fodder plant in cultivation, it forms an excellent 

 preparation for cereals, especially for wheat ; and requires a good fertile soil, 

 that has not grown clover for some years. It luxuriates in stiff, rich land, 



abounding in humus and free 

 from stagnant water ; is unsuit- 

 able for cold, wet ground and 

 dry, sandy or calcareous soils ; 

 suffers from dry, frosty spring 

 weather ; and is sometimes up- 

 rooted in loose soils by alter- 

 nate freezing and thawing 

 during winter, though tho- 

 rough rolling or an autumn 

 dressing of farm-yard manure 

 obviates this evil. The crop 

 must be cut some time before 

 flowering, since the herbage 

 deteriorates in nutritive value 

 and digestibility with age ; and 

 as grazing or frequent mowing 

 directly decreases the yield, 2 

 cuttings only should be taken 

 in the year. If sown in spring 

 with a cereal, it usually yields 

 a small crop in early autumn. 

 The green produce makes 

 wholesome food for stock, but 

 is not Avell adapted for making 

 into hay, because the very 

 nutritive and brittle leaves 

 readily break off in moving. 

 For this reason hay should be 

 turned as little as possible. 

 Stebler recommends the crop 

 being either made into stooks, 

 after lying for 2 days in swathe, 

 or dried in sheaves. The average yield of hay per acre has been estimated as 

 follows : — Sprengel, 32 to 48 cwts. in proportion as the season is less or more 

 moist ; Werner, 48 cwts. ; Langethal and Krafft, 32 to 80 cwts. according to 

 the character of the land ; and Hani, 56 to 68 cwts. on good soils. The seed, 

 which is most profitably saved from the second cutting, is mature when the 

 flower-heads are changing in colour from brown to black. Very little produce 

 is yielded after the seed crop is cut, as the stems die down. Threshing on 

 the field prevents loss. Dodder is a frequent impurity in foreign Clovers ; and 

 Plantain {Plantago lanceolatd), Docks {Rutnex obtusifolius et R. pratensis). 

 Sheep's sorrel (Rumex acetosella) and other weeds are present in many 



Red oh Broad Clover. 

 (^Trifolium pratense.') 



