74 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEARY PASTURES. 



Agricultural Clovers 

 {Leguminos^). 



TEIFOLIUM EEPENS PEEENNE 

 {perennial White Clover). 



This plant was first cultivated in the Netherlands ; hence the 

 familiar name, Dutch Clover. It is said not to have been sown 

 in England until the beginning of the eighteenth century, although 

 it is indigenous all over the country. The seed will lie dormant 

 for a long time and at a great depth, and be ready to spring 

 into life when brought to the surface. The habit of the plant is 

 creeping, and when once established it soon covers the ground. 

 Sometimes its luxuriance is excessive, and the abundance of 

 flower heads, which cattle dislike, becomes a nuisance. The land 

 might then be more profitably occupied, so that in sowing White 

 Clover judgment should be exercised. In warm, rainy seasons it 

 spreads rapidly, but makes little or no progress during cold, dry 

 weather. Besides the mass of fibrous surface roots there is a 

 long tap-root which goes deep into the subsoil, sustaining the 

 plant during drought when only the parent- stem grows, the 

 lateral and creeping shoots remaining dormant. 



The character of the plant differs materially, according to the 

 soil on which it is grown. Sinclair remarks that 'it maintains 

 itself in soils of opposite natures,' because of its peculiarity in 

 having two distinct forms of root. It prospers on mellow land 

 containing lime, and on all soils rich in humus, from marl to gravel, 

 or gravelly clay. In poor land it does better, and is less sensitive 



