386 PASTURAGE. 



charged with silicia, is of good quality ; but when grown on 

 sandy and gravelly soils abounding in silex, the stalks are 

 hard, wiry, coated with silicates as with glass, and neither 

 horses nor cattle will eat it as well, or thrive as well on it 

 as on hay made of red-top and clover ; as for milch cows, 

 they winter badly on it, and do not give out the milk as when 

 fed on softer and more succulent hay." »• 



" The yield of honey by various plants and trees depends 

 not only on the character of the season, but on the kind of 

 soil in which they grow. Marshy meadows are inferior to 

 those of a dryer soil, for bee-pasturage. White clover grow- 

 ing in the latter will be visited by bees, when that growing 

 in the former is entirely neglected by them. Hence, when 

 white clover is cultivated with a view to bee-pasturage, it is 

 important that this fact be taken into consideration, in the 

 selection of the land." — (Wagner.) 



For years, I attempted in vain to procure a cross between the 

 red and white clover, in order to get something with the rich 

 honey and hay-producing properties of the red, and yet with 

 a short blossom into which the domestic bee might insert its 

 probosis. A variety answering all these desirable ends, has 

 been originated in Sweden, and imported into this country, 

 by Mr. B. C. Rogers, of Philadelphia. It grows as tall as 

 the red clover, bears many blossoms on a stalk, in size re- 

 sembling the white, and is said to be preferred by cattle to 

 almost any other kind of grass, while it answers admirably 

 for bees. It is known by the name of Alsike, or Swedish 

 White Clover. 



I am indebted to Mr. Wagner for the following interesting 

 communication : 



" The views of the value of Swedish White Clover, pre- 

 sented by reports from twelve different agricultural societies 

 in the district of Dresden, are the result of careful experi- 



