144 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
grown on small lots specially devoted to their culture, highly 
enriched and deeply plowed. 
Of all the available plants with which we are acquainted, 
none seems to be endowed with the power to recuperate soil 
in the same degree as clover. This plant, when sown with 
some cereal grain to protect it from the scorching rays of 
the sun, is very easily raised ; but the heat of the sun is quite 
dangerous to it during the early stages of its germination and 
development. Plaster has a wonderfully beneficial effect upon 
its growth; which fact has been attributed to the absorption by 
\ 
the plaster of the ammonia of the atmosphere, when the clover 
absorbs it in its turn, whereby it becomes fixed in the plant; 
and to the sulphuric acid which the plaster contains. What¬ 
ever the cause, the effect is undeniable, having been proved 
in thousands of instances. 
Clover is also superior to other grasses in that it sends down 
its roots to a great depth, frequently several feet, and conse¬ 
quently it feeds upon mineral and vegetable elements in the 
soil, by which many other grasses and cereal plants, feeding only 
near the surface, would never be benefited. Clover possesses 
great fattening properties, especially in its green state. It also 
makes excellent fodder, when cut early and cured in the cock, 
without being exposed to rain or dews. It is not considered 
so desirable for feeding to horses, who are apt to eat it to ex¬ 
cess; but fed moderately, mixed with timothy hay or with clean 
straw, it is as good and as wholesome for horses as any other 
fodder. For all ruminants, clover hay is excellent and safe; 
they prefer it to any other hay, when properly cured as above. 
Even hogs devour it. 
Clover thrives in almost all kinds of soils. It is especially 
valuable on sandy land, drawing its nourishment from great 
depths and from the atmosphere, it brings back to the surface 
many soluble elements of fertility that had been washed down 
through the sands by leaching ; yet it makes the heaviest 
growth on the loamy soils of the oak openings, and there best 
resists the effects of freezing and thawing. It is the only grass 
