BED CLOVEB. 123 



there is rain enough, a second crop will spring up from the 

 roots. This second crop is the most valuable for seed, the 

 seed maturing about the last of August, and sooner, if there 

 be copious rains. To make the most abundant yield of clo- 

 ver for grazing, it should be allowed to grow all it will, 

 but never let it make seed, always grazing it down when in 

 full bloom. "When grazed down, take off the stock until it 

 blooms again. Several successive crops may thus be made 

 during the summer. The crop of August is unfit for graz- 

 ing, the large quantity of seed having the effect of salivat- 

 ing stock to such a degree as to cause them to lose flesh. 



It is a fact, well attested by English writers, and by ob- 

 servant farmers of this country, that when clover has been 

 frequently sown upon the same land, it not only fails to 

 produce a heavy crop, but fails to appear at all. The land 

 is then said to be " clover sick." The remedy for this is 

 by extending the number of crops in the scale of rotation, 

 so that clover will not come so often upon the same land. 

 By Liebig, clover- sick land is supposed to be caused by the 

 roots of clover impoverishing the subsoil. 



Mr. Keene, of England, ascribes the failure of crimson 

 clover in that country to the fact that only clean seed is sown. 

 He thinks the seed should be sown in the pellicle, which 

 acts as a protection to the young plant. The hint is worthy 

 of a trial. Many farmers believe that fewer failures to get 

 a catch occur when the seed is sown in the chaff. 



Clover has no superior as a grazing plant. "When in full 

 vigor and bloom, it will carry more cattle and sheep per 

 acre than blue grass, herds grass or orchard grass. After 

 it has been grazed to the earth, a few showery days with 

 warm suns will cause it to spring up into renewed vitality, 

 ready again to furnish its succulent herbage to domestic an- 

 imals. Though very nutritious and highly relished by cattle^ 

 it often produces a dangerous swelling called hovenj from 

 which many cows die. "When first turned upon clover, cat- 

 tle should only be allowed to graze lor an hour or two, and 



