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 sow- 
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 River. But in Virginia 
it is a great aid in getting alfalfa set on old fields 
