LEGUMINOUS PASTURE PLANTS 



37 



samples. Plantain seed can only be sieved out before the clover is shelled. 

 Adulteration is seldom attempted ; but fraudulent substitution, such as 

 the describing of American seed as English, is by no means uncommon. 

 The nationality of Red clover is of great importance, as the various types 

 cultivated in different countries possess widely varying characteristics. 

 English strains produce tall, succulent and enduring plants, and should be 

 preferred to all of foreign growth ; Swiss, Styrian and Silesian are hardy, 

 enduring and of luxuriant habit ; French and Italian are not hardy, productive 

 or lasting ; and American are undesirable, as they are very susceptible to cold, 

 and do not yield so abundantly as do those of Europe. Good commercial 

 seed should have 98 per cent, of purity and germination, about 16 '4 lbs. being 

 usually sown per acre during March or April, preferably with a thin crop of 

 oats, which will be cut green. It is suitable only for alternate husbandry ; and 

 if hay be desired, should be sown with a mixture of grasses. As a general 

 rule, mixtures in which Red clover predominates give better results than 

 pure Clover. In conjunction with Timothy and Italian rye-grass, it is 

 specially adapted for rapidly covering bare patches in deficient leys ; and it is 

 often associated with Trefoil, Italian rye-grass. Sainfoin and Lucerne. Nitro- 

 genous manures are undesirable, gypsum, basic slag and wood-ashes giving the 

 best results of all fertilizers. 



" Clover-sickness," the name given to the disease which causes the well- 

 known weakly and dwindling growth of clovers, is directly attributable to the 

 crop recurring too frequently, and without alternation, on the same land. 

 No remedy exists, excepting that of allowing from 8 to 12 years to elapse 

 before again sowing clover. Mr. ^Vorthington 

 Smith says that " as the fungus hibernates in 

 decayed clover plants, it is obvious that the 

 best mode of preventing attacks is, where 

 possible, to destroy all clover refuse with fire." 



§ Hi 



Seeds of Red Clover, Trefoil, Dutch Clover 

 AND Clover Dodder. 

 (Five times natural size.) 



Germinating- Clover and Dodder 

 Seeds. 

 (Twice natural size.) 



Clover dodder {Cuscvta Trifolii) is unfortunately too well known to 

 need description ; the seeds are dull brown in colour, and, when seen under 

 a strong lens, minutely granular or pitted on the outside. Careful sifting of 

 all clover seeds, and the sowing only of those of English production, are the 

 best preventives of attack. At the first signs of the yellow patches in fields, 

 all clover plants should be removed for a width of 18 inches round the 

 infested area, the Dodder being at the same time carefully raked together 

 and burned. The resulting bare patches can be sown with strong-growing 

 grasses. 



Broom, or Clover, rape (Orobanche minor) is a less frequent parasite, the 



