76 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



TEIFOLIUM PEATENSE 

 {Bed or Broad Glover). 



Eed Clover is said to be indigenous in every country in 

 Europe except Greece. In a vpild state its presence is a fair 

 indication of the fertility of the soil. Although a strong-land 

 plant it will grow on almost any soil, and contains so much 

 moisture that only one- fifth of the weight of the green crop is 

 found in the haystack. 



Winter and spring frosts are very injurious to Eed Clover, 

 and to save the plant a top-dressing of long manure is some- 

 times necessary, for which, however, there is a return in due time. 



A considerable diversity can be discerned in the various 

 strains of Eed Clover. Seed is imported from all parts of Europe, 

 and large quantities from North America. Each country has 

 one or two well-defined types of this plant, and although growers 

 may be careful to avoid buying any but so-called English seed, 

 the fact that the stock may only have been imported two years 

 previously will account for the difierences which are every year 

 displayed in crops of Eed Clover. The prejudice existing 

 against foreign seed, especially that from America and Erance, 

 is well founded. Experience has proved that both produce a 

 smaller crop than seed saved from a stock which has been 

 acclimatised in England for many years, and there is also the 

 great danger of Dodder to be considered. The seed grown in 

 Styria and in some districts of North Germany, however, is as 

 robust and hardy as the English. 



Trifolium pratense is quite unsuited for permanent pastures, 

 but should form a large proportion of an alternate mixture. The 

 great root-growth made during its two years' existence is the 

 best possible preparation for the following wheat crop. 



This Clover is incapable of self-fertilisation, and the Humble 

 Bee is almost exclusively the medium by which pollen is conveyed 

 from anther to stigma. In Australia and New Zealand, where 



