RED OR PURPLE CLOVER 421 



Clovers (Genus Trifoliuni). 



8. Red or Purple Clover {Trifolium pratense L.). — Red clover 

 is the most extensively cultivated species of Trifolium, and 

 ranks first among fodder plants for excellence of yield, nutritive 

 value, and adaptability to various soils and climates. It is 

 grown alone or in mixture with grasses for leys of short duration. 

 Soils upon which a crop has been raised refuse to grow a 

 second crop of remunerative size until a certain period has 

 elapsed, usually not less than four years, often much more. 

 Such soils are said to be 'clover-sick,' and although there is 

 no doubt that the dying away of clover sown on ground ex- 

 hibiting this peculiarity is due to several different causes, none 

 of the latter are yet very clearly understood. 



Seed and Germination. — The seeds absorb about their own 

 weight of water, and germinate in two or three days. The 

 seedling possesses a well-developed primary root and hypocotyl ; 

 the two elliptical cotyledons come above ground. The first 

 foliage-leaf of all the clovers is different from the succeeding 

 ones in being simple and rounded instead of compound and 

 ternate as in those which arise later upon the plant. 



Root and Stem. — The primary root of red clover develops 

 into a strong tap root with three lines of secondary roots which 

 spread extensively through the soil. ' Nodules ' are abundant 

 upon the roots. When sown in spring with a cereal, the epicotyl 

 of the young plant develops very little, but a great many 

 buds and short branches arise in the axils of the closely-packed 

 leaves, and by the contraction of the root the short stem and 

 its buds and leaves are pulled down so that they lie close to 

 the ground in the form of a rosette during autumn and winter. 

 Usually in the following spring but sometimes in the autumn 

 of the year in which the seed is sown, the buds grow out into 

 ascending branches, each from r to 2 feet high, bearing leaves 

 and terminating in dense fiower-heads. 



