RED MEADOW CLOVER. 139 



passage : " It has been long under culture in Flanders 

 and other countries, and has at length surmounted inveterate 

 prejudice in most parts of these kingdoms. Though it was 

 strongly recommended, and shown experimentally to be ex- 

 cellent in the sixteenth century, yet at the end of the 

 seventeenth it was asked what could be the reason why the 

 great advantage got in Staffordshire and Worcestershire by 

 sowing of clover, can scarce prevail with any in Cheshire 

 and Lancashire to sow an handful upon the same kind of 

 land." The red clover is by some agricultural writers 

 called "marl grass." It thrives upon almost any kind of soil, 

 but best upon clay and loam. It is often sown with corn 

 in spring, and allowed to grow on after the cereal is reaped, 

 and may very profitably occupy the ground alone the fol- 

 lowing year. Twenty pounds of soed an acre will yield 

 about ten tons of green food, or two to three tons of ex- 

 cellent hay. As a green crop it needs to be sparingly em- 

 ployed, as stock will almost too readily consume it, to their 

 subsequent injury, and its succulent nature necessitates 

 careful drying before stacking as hay, or it will heat and 

 presently ignite. Ray and some of our earlier botanists 

 distinguished the clover of cultivation as a different species 

 from that of the road-side ; but there is no inherent dis- 

 tinction j and any slight difference of appearance or extra 

 luxuriance springs from the results of culture, such as the 

 careful selection of seed, richer soil, and such like influences. 

 Bysomeold writers the plant is called "meadow honeysuckle/' 

 not from its resemblance to the well-known plant of that 

 name, but from the same reason that caused the true honey- 

 suckle to receive its name, as any of our readers who will 

 take the trouble to pluck a flower off either plant and 

 taste it will readily perceive. Country children often pick 



