70 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



TRIFOLIUM PRATENSE 

 {Red, or Broad Clover). 



Red Clover is said to be indigenous in every country in 

 Europe except Greece. In a wild state its presence is an 

 indication of the fertility of the soil. Although a strong-land 

 plant, it wiU grow on almost any soil, and contains so much 

 moisture that only one-fifth of the weight of the green crop is 

 found in the haystack. 



Winter and spring frosts are very injurious to Red Clover, 

 and to save the plant a top-dressing of long manure is some- 

 times necessary, for which, however, there is a return in due 

 time. 



A considerable diversity can be discerned in the various 

 strains of Red Clover. Seed is imported from all parts of 

 Europe, and large quantities from North and South America. 

 Each country has one or two well-defined types of this plant, 

 and although growers may be careful to avoid buying any 

 but so-called English seed, the fact that the stock may only 

 have been imported two years previously will account for the 

 differences which are every year visible in crops of Red Clover. 

 The prejudice existing against foreign seed, especially that from 

 America and France, is well founded. Experience has proved 

 that seed from either country produces a smaller crop than 

 can be obtained from a stock which has been acclimatised in 

 England for many years, and there is also the great danger of 

 Dodder to be considered. The most virulent form of this 

 parasite is found in the Red Clover imported from Chili. 

 Seed from that country is infested with Cnscuta chilensis, a 

 species of Dodder so large in the grain as to render it most 

 difficult to eliminate from the clover seed. So far as European 

 seed is concerned, there can be no doubt that the Broad Clover 

 grown in Styria and in some districts of North Germany is 

 as robust and hardy as English stocks. 



