826 
land in England, and on all kinds of wheat-hear- 
ing land in Scotland, it is frequently sown in 
spring among the rising crop of winter-wheat ; 
on all kinds of land in Norfolk, and on light lands 
in some other British districts, it is always sown 
among barley; in Belgium, it is sown among 
rye; in the southern and midland counties of 
England, it is sown among barley, oats, or any 
other convenient crop, and considered the best 
preparation, except clean fallow, for wheat ; and 
on any rich land, it may advantageously be sown 
among flax which is intended to be pulled green. 
A chief advantage of sowing it among a rising 
crop of wheat, or any other winter crop, is to 
prevent injury to that crop from premature lux- 
uriance in the clover; and a disadvantage of 
such sowing, especially if the rising crop be thick, 
is the risk of the clover-seeds or young clover- 
plants not obtaining sufficient circulation of air 
for their vegetating. 
The proper quantity of seed, on strong clayey 
| lands, with wheat or oats, varies from 12 to 18 
pounds per acre; and, on light porous soils, with 
barley, from 10 to 14 pounds. When the weather 
is favourable, and a range of proper time is in 
the farmer’s option, clover ought to be sown as 
early in the spring as possible, in order that it 
| may escape the possible mischiefs of drought and 
of insect devastation. When unmixed with grass- 
seeds, it is always sown broadcast; and, except 
in the hands of a singularly expert sower, it 
ought, for the sake of securing the utmost pos- 
sible equality of distribution, to be sown one-half 
lengthwise and one-half across. 
finely pulverized soil, and a very thin covering; 
and the sowing of it should be immediately pre- 
ceded by finely-tined harrowing, and immedi- 
ately followed by bush-harrowing, and, on light 
| soils, by rolling. On heavy soils, among oats, it 
| is usually sown in March; among rising wheat, 
either while the wheat-plants are low and slender, 
or after they have been eaten down by sheep; 
and on light soils, among barley, after turnips, 
in the course of April, or even so late as the be- 
ginning of May. Under bad management, as to 
either insufficient tillage or unskilful sowing, or 
in unfavourable seasons, from the effects of 
drought or of frost, the clover crop may partially 
fail or may come up in mere patches; and in all 
such instances, tare-seeds ought to be either dib- 
bled in, or sown and harrowed in upon all the 
vacant spaces. 
A small proportion of the seeds of rye-grass, 
| Lolium perenne, usually about a peck per acre, is, 
in multitudes of instances, mixed with the clover 
seeds in sowing. This intermixture of rye-grass 
is supposed to assist in preventing clover-sick- 
ness, to nurse and shelter the young clover plants, 
to augment the profitable bulk of the clover crop, 
and to serve as a corrective of the heating pro- 
perties of clover hay, and otherwise improve its 
good qualities as provender. So long as the in- 
termixed rye-grass of the crop is young and suc- 
CLOVER. 
It requires a 
culent, clover-hay which contains it is at least as 
good as pure clover-hay, and perhaps a little 
better; but when the rye-grass becomes old and 
hard, it unquestionably deteriorates the crop. 
Unmixed clover-hay always or almost always ob- 
tains, around London, a superior price to mixed 
clover hay; but in many, perhaps most instances, 
it owes its higher market value to mere prejudice. 
When clover is intended to be strictly biennial, 
it probably acquires little advantage, and may 
occasionally suffer detriment from an intermix- 
ture of rye-grass; and when it is intended to 
stand to a third or a fourth year, it not only is 
benefitted by the presence of the rye-grass, but 
requires a selection of its own perennial varie- 
ties, and may very profitably have from two to 
four pounds per acre of its red clover seeds at 
sowing substituted by the same quantity of seeds 
of white clover. “If the grass is to continue in 
the ground only one year,” says Mr. Stephens, in 
reference to the practices of Scottish farming, 
“a larger proportion of red clover is used than 
when it 1s to continue for two or more years. It 
is considered that 12 lb. of clover seeds and one 
bushel of rye-grass, is sufficient for an imperial 
acre. If the grass is to continue one year, the 
rye-grass should be the annual, and so called be- 
cause it only affords a crop for one year, though 
by that time it has been two years in the ground, 
—one with the crop in which it was sown, and 
one with the clover seeds,—and though there is 
no botanical distinction between it and the true 
perennial rye-grass. This seed weighs 30 lb. per 
bushel, gives 1,712 grains to one drachm weight, 
and costs, by the quotations of 1843, from 20s. 
to 28s. per quarter. For the same duration of 
the grass crop, 10 lb. of red clover and 2 lb. of 
white should be sown on the acre. The red 
clover weighs 64 lb. per bushel, and gives 2,000 
grains to one drachm, and the cost is from 56s. to 
75s. per cwt. The white clover weighs 65 lb. 
per bushel; and, though so heavy a seed, it is so 
small that it takes 4,000 grains to weigh one 
drachm; and its usual cost is from 56s. to 75s. 
per cwt. When the grass is to remain more than 
one year, 6 lb. of red and 6 lb. of white, and one 
bushel of true perennial rye-grass, are considered 
good proportions. The perennial rye-grass weighs 
18 Ib. per bushel, gives 2,000 grains to one 
drachm, and its cost usually is from 24s. to 48s. 
per quarter.” The mixture of other hay and 
pasture plants besides rye-grass with clover— 
particularly Loliwm Italicum, Phleum pratense, 
Dactylis glomerata, Plantago lanceolata, and Pe- 
troseinum sativum—has of late years been re- 
commended; but any such mixture belongs rather 
to the systematic cultivation of the grasses, than 
to the clover-fallow of regular arable rotations. 
See the article Grass. Whenever a farmer pur- 
chases clover seeds from any party in whom he 
has not perfect confidence, he ought to satisfy 
himself that they are not “ doctored.” 
See the 
article SEEDS. 
