102 PRACTICAL NOTES ON GRASSES AND GRASS GROWING. 
he should wait another fortnight, when we would visit the 
field with him, and we assured him he would find more Alsike 
blossoms than he would perhaps wish for. Wet weather 
supervening, he was compelled to postpone his hay cutting, 
and when, in accordance with our promise, we paid our visit to 
the field, he was astonished to find the whole area a mass of 
Alsike blossoms in place of the clover, and he then began to. 
have his doubts concérning the latter crop. The fact of the 
matter was that the Alsike, being the later flowering plant of 
the two, had been entirely hidden by the clover, but as the 
heads of the clover ripened and drooped, the Alsike showed up 
above them, with the result above narrated. 
Alsike is rather peculiar in its nature. On certain lands it 
thrives so very much better than it does on others, and in some 
localities we have known part of a field to prove a great 
success, whilst the remainder has been a miserable failure, and 
for this result there really seems no accounting. Besides, the 
quality of Alsike is most varying, as also is its taste. With 
regard to the latter, we may draw attention to the fact that 
some farmers assert their stock like it immensely, whilst others 
emphatically declare that theirs will not touch it. 
Except for seed, it is not a desirable crop to grow alone, or 
even in a preponderance, because stock are not over partial 
either to the herbage or to the hay, but it makes a grand 
mixture, especially on wet bottomed or cold lands where any 
doubts exist of clover standing. 
It simulates white clover in many respects, but its upgrowing 
nature renders it superior to white clover for hay, and in any 
mixture for permanent pasture it is advisable . add a pound 
or so of Alsike per acre. 
Alsike is perennial, but it will sometimes burn on scaldy 
lands, although on some light lands it is sufficiently vigorous to 
render it valuable, and it is a very hardy plant. At the same 
time it must be remembered that its habitat does not lie in 
light land, but in moist and heavy soil. 
