Geographical 
Jistribution. 
Habitat. 
Limits of 
altitude, 
Climate. 
Soil, 
Substances 
removed 
from the soil. 
Manure. 
(zrowth. 
Development. 
Harvesting. 
162 
Occurrence, climate, soil, manure. The variety vulgaris is very common. It is- indigenous 
lo Europe, except Lapland and northern Russia; in southern climates it is almost entirely confined to 
the mountainous or Alpine regions. It is also indigenous: to northern Africa (Barbary, Egypt, Abyssinia) 
and to Asia (Caucasus, throughout Asia minor, Ural, Altai, Japan). It has been imtroduced into Australia 
and is wanting in North America. 
The fine-leaved variety, tenuifolius, is found throughout Europe, except Norway, the greater part 
of Sweden, Finland, Northern and Central Russia, Spain and Portugal, It is not found in Asia, Africa or 
America. 
It occurs in a wild state on roadsides, around woods and fields, and in meadows and pastures at 
high elevations. 
In the Swiss Alps, it ascends to 10,000 feet al Zermatt. Upper Engadine 5600 ft., Churwalden 6500 feet. 
Schwefelberg 4500 to 6000 feet, on the moraines of the Eiger Glacier 6500 feet; the Alpine forms, 
alpestris and glacialis, are met with between 6000 and 10,000 feet. In the Bavarian Alps, it is found at 
6000 feet, in the Pyrennees at 9000 feet, in Spain at 10,800 feet, and in the Caucasus at 8060 feet. 
If the land has some fertility, bird’s-foot trefoil can withstand the roughest climates 
and resist excessive drought, but, in either of these circumstances, the growth is stunted. 
‘The most suitable climates are those with a very moist atmosphere, where the wild plants 
abound, as mountains and sea-coasts. | 
It thrives almost on any kind of soil, whether arid or humid, dry or moist, sandy 
or clayey, marly or calcareous, even on moors and land containing salt. Dry land at high 
elevations, though poor, suits it remarkably well, and, on such, it is more productive than 
any other leguminous plant. 
1000 lbs. of hay, according to the Swiss analyses, contain: —- 
Nitrogen 25.1 lbs., ash 79.4 lbs. composed of: — 
Phosphoric Acid 10.9 Ibs. Lime : 20.8 Ibs, 
Potash , Bo ay Sulphuric Acid. AA 3 
Soda 0.9 -., Silica : 150 hen 
Magnesia . B.2 4, 
Like trefoil, it loves a rich surface soil, although it requires less from it than from 
the subsoil. It possesses, in a very high degree, the power of converting dormant matter 
into available nutriment. On it, as on other trefoliate leguminous plants, gypsum exercises 
very favourable influence. 
Growth, yield, nutritive value. ‘he stems of this plant are hard, and, as in trefoil, their 
bases extend horizontally without rooting, along the surface of the ground, gradually ascend 
into the air, reaching a height varying between six inches and two feet. This spreading 
habit of growth, allows bird’s-foot trefoil to cover the ground almost completely. but still 
gaps are left between the branches. If the plants are growing thickly, in mixture with 
other of erect habits, bird’s-foot trefoil also becomes straight and tall. The fusiform tap- 
root penetrates the soil to a tolerable depth. 
The plant is at its best, only in the second year of erowth. In spring it shoots at 
the same time as red clover, and by the end of May, or the beginning of June, the flowe- 
ring stage is reached, After the first cutting, the produce is not large, although the plant 
produces a new crop of flowering stems. 
Plants, cut when in full flower, contain the maximum amount of nutriment. The cut 
produce is either made into hay or fed off green (in mixtures). The herbage may also be 
depastured. When the fodder is to be used green, it is advisable to cut the plants before 
