CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 257 



The inevitable result is that some of the seeds are covered 

 very deeply while others are hardly covered at all. 



Some, of course, will be covered to a proper depth, 

 and these may be expected to grow normally. Not so, 

 however, with the others. The seeds which are on or 

 very near the surface usually fail to germinate because 

 of lack of moisture, while those which are too deeply 

 covered fail to reach the surface because of an insufficient 

 store of food in the small seeds. 



194. How Drouth may aSect Young Clovers. Just 

 how hardy the normal, healthy young clover plant really 

 is as regards its abiUty to endure drouth and the heat 

 of the sun in midsummer, — or even the severe freezing 

 of winter — is an important question that has not been 

 satisfactorily settled. Many regard the little clover 

 plants as exceptionally weak and deUcate, and hence 

 unable to withstand such adverse conditions as those 

 named. Others maintain, and with a show of reason, 

 that the young clover is in truth sufficiently hardy to 

 survive and estabhsh itself under these severe conditions 

 if other conditions are right; i.e., if the seed has been 

 'properly sown in a soil which is not acid, which contains 

 enough humus and enough phosphorus to permit healthy 

 growth, and which contains the particular kind of bacteria 

 that are necessary to the development of the plant. 



While we can not say that the loss of young clover 

 from drouth or other unfavorable weather condition is 

 actually preventable simply by making other conditions 

 right, it is unquestionably true that such losses may be 

 largely prevented in this way, especially in those sections 

 where drouths are of comparatively short duration. 



Losses may be ascribed to unfavorable weather con- 

 ditions only after all other conditions have been made favorable. 



