240 TwEKTY-FlEST BiBNNIAI, EePOET 



But it attains a very great excellence of growth here, and 

 was introduced so early that we have been led to regard 

 it as our own. 



To express the value of the forage grown in Ken- 

 • tucky, it may be said that putting all our other crops to- 

 gether and omitting our stock, which is absolutely de- 

 pendent on forage, yet they will not equal the value of 

 our com and forage. I am not forgetting that the to- 

 bacco crop of Kentucky for 1910 was valued at 

 $33,149,088. 



Clovers and Theib Allies. 



I have been dealing thus far with the true grasses, 

 with jointed stems. But any treatment of this subject, 

 however slight, would be very imperfect if the second 

 group of forage plants were omitted. Every farmer 

 worthy of the name, recognizes the value of clover. It 

 has been the dependence of many of them for years. 



Clover is no grass. We sometimes call plants of 

 its family legumes, because of the peculiar pods in which 

 many of them produce their seeds. The family, includ- 

 ing clovers of various sorts, is a large one; with many 

 other plants, it is made up of red clover, alsike clover, 

 white clover, crimson clover, Japan clover, the sweet 

 clovers, alfalfa, the soy bean, garden bean, cow pea, 

 garden pea, vetches, the peanut, and even some trees 

 well known to you, such as the red bud, black and honey 

 locust, the yellow-wood, and the Kentucky coffee tree. 



The stems of these plants are not jointed; the 

 flowers are often brightly colored and large; the leaves 

 are divided into smaller divisions known as leaflets, 

 three in the case of clovers and beans, many in the black 

 locust. They are all but dependent on insects for carry- 

 ing their pollen, and to encourage these creatures, nature 

 has supplied many of the flowers with a honey-like se- 

 cretion, the nectar, and apparently to make doubly sure 

 that insects did not overlook this bait, has supplied most 

 of them with a very pleasant fragrance. You will 'un- 

 derstand better what I mean when you recall the activity 

 of the honey bee about the blossoms of black-locust, of 

 white clover, alfalfa, and sweet clover. Even the soy 



