Improvement of the Plants of the Farm. 
105 
Dr. Masters adds : — 
" I understand that what is wanted in a clover is a deep fleshy-rooted 
jierennial variety capable of spreading far and wide below ground, and thus 
of collecting and storing food from a large area, with a tendency to branch at 
the crown (to tiller, I should say, were it wheat), and I do not suppose there 
would be much difficulty in selecting and improving such a variety." 
Linnaeus thought the Alsike clover was a hybrid, and it cer- 
tainly looks like a cross between T. repens and T. pratense. If 
it be so, improvers may find in this robust and useful plant an 
example of the results of hybridising clover. At present I 
believe neither hybridising nor crossing has been attempted in 
the case of the clover tribe, nor has any improver apparently 
made it his special task to search the fields for natural crosses, 
which has been so largely done in the case of wheat, nor even to 
practise the methods which Dr. Masters recommends for the 
improvement of the plant. There are many distinct peculiari- 
ties in the foliage and habit of red clover grown in different 
countries and localities, which improvers may avail themselves 
of. M. Henry Vilmorin mentions two kinds of red clover in 
cultivation in his district, the common and the Brittany, the 
latter being the stronger of the two, but not quite so hardy as 
the other. M. Rimpau informs me that Dr. Stebler, of the 
Seed Trial Establishment at Zurich, states that in Switzerland 
the seed of the perennial red clover of the permanent pastures, 
called " wild clover," is preferred for sowing to that of the cul- 
tivated variety. In England this form of clover would not be 
considered sufficiently productive to be worth sowing in alter- 
nate husbandry, and it is not regarded as a pasture plant of the 
best quality. 
Clover, lucerne, and other plants used for soiling may be 
improved for the time, and perhaps permanently altered by 
cutting them as early and, within bounds, as often as possible, 
which will check the formation of dry, fibry stem, and tend to 
the repeated production of succulent foliage. Weak liquid 
manure will assist, and potash manures should follow. 
Perhaps it will not be quitting my subject to mention that the 
inferiority of many a field of clover arises from the purchase of 
low-priced foreign seed. All the seed required for home use 
might be grown in England, and there ought to be no demand 
for the cheap seed of America or some parts of France, whose 
wretched produce would surprise the purchasers if they would only 
be at the pains of making a comparison at home, or of visiting 
the trial-grounds of those seedsmen who would willingly afford 
tliem the opportunity of informing themselves. 
During the past season, and at the same markets on the same 
day, the prices of red clover-seed varied from 705. to 1305. 
