360 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
there is an abundance of clover in the mowing-fields of the fertile 
region not far from Portsmouth, N. H., lying back of Rye Beach 
and other smaller beaches, whence the farmers procure an abun- 
dance of kelp and rock-weed and various other sea-plants that are 
useful as manures. Thanks to the saline constituents of the sea- 
manure, the soil of that region still receives, as it has for genera- 
tions, an abundance of potash compounds; and one result of the 
application is — what is very remarkable in this part of New Eng- 
land — that red clover grows freely and, so’ to say, continuously. 
Far from ‘‘ running out” in the course of three or four years after 
sowing, the clover there tends to persist and to permanently occupy 
a considerable share of space in the mowing-fields. Similar results 
may be seen in other parts of New England that are similarly fa- 
various. But perhaps chief among them is the comparative difficulty of har- 
vesting clover-hay with the machines which are now so universally used in 
New England for mowing, tedding and raking grass, and which were in- 
vented and adapted for that particular purpose and no other. In order to 
cure clover-hay in first-rate condition the process of drying must not be hur- 
ried; nice manipulation is in some sort essential lest the leaves be lost by 
crumbling before the stalks are dry. In case a standing crop of clover should 
lodge it would not be easy to cut it with the mowing-machine, while the cost 
of mowing it by hand would be so large as to preclude perhaps all chance of 
profit. In other words, the fact that clover does not admit of being harvested 
with that rapidity which has become habitual in this locality in respect to 
grass tends to make our farmers impatient of delays such as the curing of 
clover-hay would naturally occasion. Another point to be noticed is that — 
together with the machines—horses have been procured by the farmers in 
order to work the machines. These animals have in fact been substituted for 
oxen on numberless farms in recent years ; and since clean, bright, dustless hay 
is thought to be specially desirable for horses there is a very decided tendency 
not to sow clover in fields which are devoted to the growing of hay for horses. 
The same remark will apply to the enormous quantities of hay that is grown 
to be sold for the use of horses in towns and cities. Not but that hay which 
contains a just proportion of clover may be excellent food for horses when it 
has been cured perfectly, but that there is a general risk in using clover-hay 
because of its liability to suffer more or less from fermentations, 7. e. from 
the action of fungi with results which are injurious to the health of the ani- 
mals. As the practical horseman puts it: ‘‘ Clover is liable to ‘ get touched’ 
in the making; then the hay is ‘dusty,’ and it makes horses cough.” It is 
presumable that neat cattle are less sensitive to mouldy hay than horses any- 
way, and certain that their capacious organs of digestion are somewhat better 
fitted than those of horses to deal with the bulky and comparatively-speaking 
indigestible fibre of the clover-stalks. As a friend once said to me, if by any 
chance the practice of soiling cows should ever become general in New Eng- 
land, clover will probably be grown again hereabouts as it was in the days that 
have gone by. 
