SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
m 
Mr. Summer’s experiment was made on the clay land 
of Pomaria, in Newberry District. By the aid of Gypsum 
and cotton seed' composted in the mule stables, bountiful- 
ly applied, he cut from six acres of land in a single sea- 
son, sixty-two thousand pounds of Clover and Crab Grass 
Hay, for which the South Carolina Institute awarded him 
the Society’s medal. The cost of fertilizers, preparation 
of the soil, &c., &c., was $72 for the six acres. It was 
seeded in barley and clover, and the portion of the barley 
left to mature yielded seventy-two and a half bushels. 
These six acres continue to be the most productive on the 
premises. For an expenditure of seventy-two dollars, 
which was more than reimbursed by the crop of barley, 
there was besides secured a crop of hay worth $155 per 
acre and a permanent fertility of the previously improved 
land. A striking exemplification of the value of Science, 
and not less, of Red Clover. 
Whether these successful and satisfactory experiments 
have been followed up, or whether Clover is at the pre- 
sent time grown to any extent, in the red land belt of this 
State or in any other portion of it, we are unable to say. 
To come still farther South, we will take the liberty of 
saying, that we have been cultivating Clover for the last 
ten years in the cane break or lime land of Marengo coun- 
ty, Alabama, a few minutes north of 32 degrees, with 
every success which could be reasonably desired. 
It has afforded an abundant supply of grazing for stock 
of every kind, fattening hogs, sheep, mares and colts, 
horses not at work, beef cattle, calves and goats, from 
March to November, and a good deal of grazing during 
the other months. Hay could be made if desired. It is 
grazed regularly from February to November, and irregu- 
larly at odier times. During the period of regular graz- 
ing, stock of every kind will keep fat without any 
other food and nothing is given to them, except a little 
corn to the hogs to keep them gentle and obedient to the 
call of the herdsman. The land as yet has shown no dis- 
position to Clover-sickness, nor was the crop ever much 
finer than during the past summer, although there was 
no rain on it from the 1st April to the 1st July, except, 
perhaps, one or two very slight showers. Although it 
cannot be doubted that moist summers are most favorable 
to its perfect developement, yet when it has become well 
rooted in a deep rich subsoil, it is less affected by the in- 
fluence ofsunand air, tnan many other of our most valu- 
able plants. It has often attained to the height of four 
feet. 
We cannot give a better idea of its estimated value, than 
by stating that there are on the premises about one hun- 
dred acres in Clover; that the land would, with a favor-, 
able season, yield fifty bushels of Corn, or fifteen hundred 
pounds of Cotton to the acre, which it often has done, 
and that, not\yithstandins it is believed to be more profit- 
able in Clover pasture than in either of these crops, to say 
nothing of the saving in labor and the amelioration of the 
land. As proof, we will kill 30,000 pounds of pork, not 
inferior to the best Kentucky, which kept fat on it fi-om 
February to first November, when they were taken off, 
not to fatten, but to make their flesh hard by a corn diet 
of six weeks before being killed. One-half of these hogs 
were December pigs, and will weigh 200 lbs. neat. There 
are now gra^ingon it seventy head of sheep, twenty head 
of mares and colts, and horses not worked ; several beef 
cattle, which are all fat, and eat nothing but Clover, nor 
have they had any other food since February last. Be- 
sides, some 30 head of mules run on it for some two 
months after the crop was laid by, having been taken off 
to .put to work about the first of September. One- half of 
this Clover was sown last .vinter, the remaining half is of 
some ten years standing. Of the old Clover, enough dried 
up in June, on the maturing of the first crop, to give a 
pretty fair oover to the surface, from the inability of the 
stock to consume it. When at the premises, some ten 
days ago, we asked the overseer if he had not better re- 
move the stock to an open field, from which the corn and 
cotton had recently been gathered, and his reply was, I 
see no necessity for it, as they are all fat and the Clover 
is gaining on them every day. Our own inspection after- 
wards, verified the truth of his statement. 
We have often expressed the opinion, and still main- 
tain it, that when Clover is successfully grown, it is a far 
more valuable crop at the South than at the North. The 
reasons are, that being a biennial plant, it requires renew- 
ing every third year. This renewing is often, if not al- 
ways, necessary in a Northern climate; but never at the 
South, so far as our experience goes. The volunteer 
plants preserve a good stand. Again ; during some six 
months of the year, the Northern soils are frozen up, or 
covered with snow, while at the South, during much the 
largest portion of this time Clover grows finely. 
We know of other planters in the same county, who 
have engaged in the Clover culture, and who are pleased 
with their success and prospects. 
More might be said in its behalf, and more proof ad- 
duced, but we believe iRat sufficieut proof has been pre- 
sented to show, not only the inappreciable value of Clover 
to Southern husbandry, but besides, its adaptation to a 
Southern climate, and that its growth, in truth, is not 
so much dependent on climate as on the mechanical and 
chemical characters of the soil. 
We assume, then, that by the use of manures, lime and 
gypsum. Red Clover may be profitably grown on all stiff 
lands, or sandy lands lying upon clay sub-soils. John- 
ston says of the plant, even in Great' Britain, that being a 
deep-rooted plant, it is found to grow best in a stiff soil. 
This is an ultimate fact— a habit of the plant, for which 
science can as yet give ho reason, and which, so far as we 
know, HO mechanical or chemical constitution of the soil 
can alter. 
In the Southern States, there is a large quantity of sandy, 
acid lands, resting upon deep sub-soils of the same charac- 
ter. These cannot be recommended for the cultivation of 
Clover. If lime were supplied to these, so much might 
percolate through the porous soil, beyond the reach of the 
roots of the plant, as to leave it an insufficient supply of 
calcareous food; and gypsum applied to such soils disap- 
pears, when they are not calcareous, probably in the way 
suggested by Mr. Ruffin, The gypsum is decomposed 
by the strong attraction of humic acid abounding in such 
soils ; the lime combines witli it, forming humate of lime, 
and the sulphuric acid forms with the iron or alumen of 
the soil, sulphate of iron, or sulphate of alumina, both of 
which are noxious to growing plants. 
We do not wish, however, to disparage these lands, for 
they are easily cultivated, and well adapted to some of 
our most valuable crops, aaid may be rapidly improved by 
the field pea, which has aptly been called “Southern Clo- 
ver.” The only objection to tht name is, that it is calcu- 
latedffo foster the erroneous opinion, that the real “simon 
pure” will not succeed at the South. 
To show that we have not exaggerated the merits of 
Clover, we will offer a quotation made by Johnston from 
Von Thaer, two of the very highest names known to agri- 
cultural learning. He says: 
^‘When Clover was first introduced into Germany to fill 
up the year of naked fallow, in the triennial course of 
cropping, its effects appeared so extraordinary, that it was 
pronounced to be the limit of the art of culture. It gave 
fodder for cattle during the formerly naked year, it gave 
a better crop in the following year, and it was supposed 
to chokd the weeds which infested the fields of grain.” 
We trust we shall be pardoned for having occupied so 
much time on the subject of this plant, in view of its im- 
portance in every prosperous system of husbandry in this 
