0's. 
CLIBRANS, Seed Merchants and Nurserymen, 
CLO VERS : 
THEIR HABITS 
AND 
REQUIREMENTS. 
ceMOMw 
CLOVERS are, without exception, extremely partial 
to potash in the soil, and at least some of the beneficial 
effects observable after the application of lime or basic 
slag to this crop are undoubtedly due to the liberation of 
potash already contained in the land. Sands and sandy 
loams in the middle and north of England are almost 
invariably poor in potash, and this, apart altogether 
from the question of moisture, is a frequent cause of 
failure with the Clover crop, and in many cases explains 
the disappearance of White Clover from pastures, in 
the seed mixture for which it may have formed an 
important constituent. Alsike, too, would certainly 
find much more favour on light lands if its require- 
ments in this respect received adequate attention. To 
sands and light loams therefore on which it is intended to 
sow Clovers, either pure or in mixture, a top dressing of 
the potash manure or kainit may be used with most 
profitable results at the rate of 3 cwt. to the statute 
acre. Where Clover is sown in the Spring with a cereal 
crop, this dressing of kainit may be applied with excel- 
lent effect early the following year. Clovers also make 
heavy demands upon the phosphates of the soil, and in 
nearly all cases a dressing of some available phosphatic 
manure will be found highly beneficial. Basic slag at 
the rate of 7 cwt. to the acre, or superphosphate of lime 
at the rate of 3 cwt. to the acre, are the two in most 
general use. 
RED CLOVER, though a plant of short duration, is 
undoubtedly the most important fodder plant in culti- 
vation. In fact, if the crop could be depended upon, 
there would scarcely be room for any other species of 
Clover in alternate husbandry. It usually succeeds in 
all classes of soil, from stiff well-worked clay to well- 
conditioned sandy loam, provided they be well drained, 
fairly rich in vegetable matter, and adequately furnished 
with the mineral ingredients already suggested. If 
they contain lime, so much the better. Stagnant water 
is highly injurious, and a subsoil rich in iron makes the 
crop at all times a precarious one. Where lime is de- 
ficient, an application either the Winter before sowing, 
or else to some preceding crop, is always beneficial if the 
soil be otherwise in good condition. Though experts 
are by no means agreed as to the true cause of Clover 
sickness, there is no doubt that defective nutrition in 
mineral foods seriously predisposes the plant to that 
universal disease. 
WHITE CLOVER, as compared with Red, is 
much less sensitive to climate, is more lasting, and 
thrives on soils of poorer quality. It has bulk for 
bulk a higher nutritive value, and does not so readily 
give rise to flatulency. Though most of its roots are 
superficial, its long, descending tap-root enables it to 
withstand drought nearly as well as Red Clover. It 
should form an indispensable ingredient on all low- 
lying pasture land, and may, in fact, be used in almost 
all mixtures for permanent or temporary grass. 
ALSIKE, with its bountiful supply of nutritious 
fodder, does not seem to be at all susceptible to Clover 
sickness, and is quite indifferent to cold. Growing 
well on a great variety of soils, it succeeds best on damp 
moist loams and clays, even when too wet for other 
Clovers, and is the only species really suitable for irri- 
gation. As all its roots are near the surface, and there- 
fore limited for food supplies to a small thickness of 
soil, top dressings of potash and phosphate manures, 
and, when necessary, a previous application of lime, 
produce at times more striking results than with the 
other Clovers. By the careful application of farmyard 
manure and potash, excellent mixed crops, in which 
Alsike predominated, have been obtained from soils too 
light in character to carry any other Clover. 
CRIMSON CLOVER, is the best forage plant 
known for sowing on the stubble of a cereal crop where 
the climate is favourable for its growth. The most 
congenial soil is a warm or gravelly loam, though in 
milder districts it does well on stronger land. It should 
be sown broadcast by the end of August on a clean corn 
stubble that has been harrowed once or twice but not 
ploughed. The seed should then be well harrowed in, 
and the surface rolled with a heavy roller. Its growth 
is more rapid than that of Winter Tares, and the entire 
crop may be cleared off by the month of June. 
TREFOIL, or YELLOW CLOVER, almost in- 
variably forms an ingredient in mixtures for alternate 
husbandry, chiefly because of its earliness and the 
rapidity with which it makes a complete “ bottom 
herbage.” It also succeeds in many places where 
better Clovers fail, and is indeed very accommodating 
in the matter of soil. In common with true Clovers, it is 
very fond of lime, and will grow on practically all 
soils containing this ingredient. 
2 
We carefully prove the Growths 
