MANURES AND HUMUS IN SOIL,. 165 



serve carefully the scattered alfalfa plants that 

 grew in the crimson clover to see if they were in- 

 oculated, so as to know whether to do anything 

 further toward inoculation of the land before sowr 

 ing to alfalfa alone. 



Nodules on the Roots. — If he finds the alfalfa 

 plants vigorous, of thrifty growth and dark green 

 color, he may make a good guess that they are safely 

 inoculated. If they are feeble, pale, spindling, yel- 

 low, he may well doubt the inoculation having 

 "taken." To make sure let him very carefully dig 

 up alfalfa plants and wash off- the earth from their 

 finer root hairs. The nodules are easily seen when 

 present, though one can seldom get them by pulling 

 up a plant, since they are so easily stripped off, 

 their attachment to the roots being delicate. They 

 are of light color, about the size of alfalfa seeds or 

 a little smaller and are sometimes, when conditions 

 are good and lime is plentiful in the soil, set on 

 like bunches of grapes, though usually they are 

 found singly on the little root hairs. 



• Crimson Clover in Conclusion. — Crimson clover 

 is a plant better adapted to cool weather than to hot, 

 to England and France, where it thrives, than to 

 regions where grows the royal maize plant. In Eng- 

 land it is termed trifolium and is highly esteemed 

 for soiling in May. It thrives best in sandy soils 

 along the Atlantic seaboard and will probably never 

 be of much importance west of the Allegheny Moun- 

 tains or north of the Ohio Eiver. But in Virginia 

 it is a great aid in getting alfalfa set on old fields 



