Red clover

“ The ZIG-ZAG CLOVER, COW or MARL-GRASS (T. Medium) , a native of Europe and Asia, now naturalized in the eastern half of the United States and Canada, may scarcely be told from the common red clover, except by its crooked, angular stems - often provokingly straight - by its unspotted leaves, and the short peduncle in which its heads are elevated above the calyx.
Farmers here are beginning to learn the value of the beautiful CRIMSON, CARNATION or ITALIAN CLOVER or NAPOLEONS (T. incarnatum) , and happily there are many fields and waste places in the East already harboring the brilliant runaways. ”

“ Usually it is considered unwise to pasture medium red clover the same season in which it has been sown when sown with a nurse crop. It has been noticed that when so pastured, it does not winter so well, and that the later and more close the pasturing and the colder the winter following, the greater is the hazard from pasturing the clover. ”

“ A stand of medium red clover is sometimes secured by what may be termed self-sowing. For instance, where clover has been cut for hay and then allowed to mature even but a portion of the seed before being plowed under the same autumn, the seed thus buried remains in the ground without sprouting. When the land is again plowed to the same depth and sown with some kind of grain, the clover seed thus brought to the surface will germinate. ”

“ Mammoth Red Clover, also called sapling clover and pea-vine clover, closely resembles the red clover, but is ranker in growth and matures two or three weeks later. It is better adapted to wet land than the red clover. ”

“ As a soil improver, medium red clover is probably without a rival, unless it be in mammoth clover, and in one respect it exceeds the mammoth variety; that is, in the more prolonged season, during which it may be plowed under as a green manure. ”

“ Each plant contains several heads, and frequently a large number when the growth is not too crowded. When in full flower these are of a beautiful purple crimson, hence, a field of luxuriant red clover is beautiful to look upon. The stems of the plants are slightly hairy, and ordinarily they stand at least fairly erect and reach the height of about one foot or more; but when the growth is rank, they will grow much [Pg 58] higher, even as high as 4 feet in some instances, but when they grow much higher than the average given, the crop usually lodges. ”

“ When crimson clover is planted in fall the leaves develop from the crown and form a rosette, which enlarges whenever weather conditions are favorable. In spring, flower stems develop rapidly and end their growth with long pointed flower heads. Seed forms and the plant dies with the coming of hot summer weather. The seed is yellow and is about twice as large as red clover seed and more rounded. ”

“ Red and white clover are less tolerant of drought than alfalfa, which, being a deep-rooting plant, is especially commended in dry-farming undertakings. Red clover will grow better on low wet lands than will alfalfa, but the land must not dry out or the red clover will die during the dry season. None of the plants will stand much alkali. ”

“ It is afforded by the common red clover. Obviously the clovers, with their three leaflets in each leaf, stand in the midst of the great family of papilionaceous plants, the leaves of which are generally pinnate. Systematic affinity suggests that the "three leaved" forms must have been derived from pinnate ancestors, evidently by the reduction of the number of the leaflets. In some species of clover the middle of the three is more or less stalked, as is ordinarily the case in pinnate leaves; in others it is as sessile as are its neighbors. ”

“ In the same way a field that has been much poached by sheep while consuming turnips upon it, and which has afterwards been ploughed up in an unkindly state, will have the clover prosper upon it, when it fails in other cases where the soil appears in far better condition. If red clover can be again made a safe crop, it will be a boon indeed to agriculture. Its seeds are usually sown along with a grain crop, any time from the 1st of February to May, at the rate of 12 ℔ to 20 ℔ per acre when not combined with other clovers or grasses. ”

“ COMMON RED or BROAD CLOVER (Trifolium pratense) is a well-known field plant, much cultivated in this country. Clover is chiefly grown in firm and good soils, either as green food for horses and cattle, or to be cut for hay. On grass farms it is sometimes sown in conjunction with spring corn, and sometimes with ray-grass (51) ; and its utility in the fattening of cattle is well known. This species of clover grows wild, in meadows and pastures of most parts of Europe; and, in some countries, during a scarcity of provisions, the flowers have been made into a kind of bread. ”

“ Red Clover is an artificial grass of the leguminous family, and one of the most valuable cultivated plants for feeding to dairy cows. It flourishes best on tenacious soils and stiff loams. Its growth is rapid, and a few months after sowing are sufficient to supply an abundant sweet and nutritious food. In the climate of New England, clover should be sown in the spring of the year, while most of the natural grasses do far better when sown in the fall. ”

“ While it is an excellent pasture plant for stock, they do not relish it so highly as some other pasture plants; when forming seed, it is least valuable for horses, owing to the extent to which it salivates them. Its diminutive habit of growth unfits it for making meadows, unless in conjunction with other hay plants. In nutritive properties, it is placed ahead of medium red clover. Some growers have spoken highly of it as a pasture plant for swine.
Being a legume, it has the power of enriching soils with nitrogen, but probably not to so great an extent as the larger varieties of clover. ”

“ On the open prairies between Ontario and the Rocky Mountains, not much success has attended the attempts to grow any kind of clover, owing probably to present uncongeniality in soils and more especially in climatic conditions. However, there are good reasons for believing that with the introduction of hardy varieties and through the use of Northern grown seed, an inoculated soil, where inoculation may be necessary, that medium red clover will yet be grown over wide areas in all the provinces of Northwestern Canada, south of and including the Saskatchewan valley. ”

“ Goodrich and McNeal are both very unwell with the pox which they contracted last winter with the Chinnook women this forms my inducement principally for taking them to the falls of the Missouri where during an intervail of rest they can use the murcury freely. I found two speceis of native clover here, the one with a very narrow small leaf and a pale red flower, the other nearly as luxouriant as our red clover with a white flower the leaf and blume of the latter are proportionably large. ”

“ Other such common names as German clover and scarlet clover are frequently used. In general the leaves and stems resemble those of red clover, but are distinguished by the rounded tips of the leaves and more hair on both leaves and stems. ”

“ Farmers often use a mixture of 5 pounds of red clover and 10 pounds of crimson clover per acre with excellent results. The first growth of the mixture may be grazed or harvested for hay or for crimson clover seed, while the second crop is wholly red clover. ”

“ Where the clovers grow well they make excellent cover crops as well as green manure crops. The chief difficulty with them is that of obtaining a good stand in a dry midsummer. The mammoth red and the medium red clovers are probably the best of their genus on the heavier soils, while crimson clover is best on sandy soils and where it will grow, on the lighter gravel loams. ”

“ After a field of sweet clover has become well established, it may be pastured throughout the summer and fall. Close grazing should be avoided during the summer, or the plants may be killed, but they may be pastured fairly close to the ground in the autumn, as it does not appear as necessary to provide a winter covering as is the case with red clover. Close pasturing or clipping late in the fall has had a marked effect on the growth of the plants the following spring on some fields and no apparent effect on the stand and growth of the plants on other fields. ”

“ When clovers, except the crimson variety, are sown for the exclusive purpose of adding to the fertility of the land, they are usually sown along with some other crop that is to be harvested, the clover being plowed under the following autumn or the next spring. These are usually sown without being mixed with other varieties, and the two kinds most frequently sown primarily to enrich the land are the medium red and crimson varieties. ”

“ Even perennials may be greatly weakened, [Pg 44] and in some instances virtually smothered by such growth of clover. To insure a sufficient growth of clover it may be advantageous to top dress the crop with farmyard manure sufficiently decayed, and in the case of medium red clover to dress the second cutting with land plaster. If the second growth is plowed under, subsequent cultivation of the surface will further aid in completing the work of destruction. ”

“ But few pasture crops grown will furnish as much grazing in one season as medium red clover. It will probably furnish the most grazing if allowed to grow up before it is grazed until the stage of bloom is approached or reached, but since it is seldom practicable to graze it down quickly enough after that stage has been reached, and since there is frequently waste from tramping, grazing usually begins, and properly so, at an earlier period. ”

“ Where forests are found comprising one or more varieties of these trees anywhere on this continent, and especially comprising several of them, the conclusion is safe that medium red clover will grow, or, at least, can be grown, on such soils. ”

“ It is from the second cutting that seed is usually saved. Four quarts of seed is a common quantity to sow per acre. Red clover makes excellent hay, except for horses. Its seed, like that of alfalfa, weighs sixty pounds per bushel, and its yield is from one to five bushels per acre.
White Clover (Trifolium repens) is a very useful pasture and honey plant, but is not used for hay. It spreads rapidly, and is widely used for sowing with other pasture grasses. ”

“ Sweet clover thrives in the more humid parts of the country, as well as in the semiarid regions where the rainfall is but three-fifths of that required for the normal growth of such crops as red clover and timothy. In the semiarid regions of the West sweet clover has proved to be somewhat more drought resistant than alfalfa. ”

“ Not only do they make the best of forage and hay, but they also help to fertilise and aerate the soil, and should be a factor in every crop rotation. Clovers and other legumes have upon their roots nodules filled with bacteria, which are underground partners of the plant. These bacteria fix the free nitrogen of the air and leave it in the soil available for plant food. Red clover is not so great a source of honey as are the other clovers, since its corolla tubes are so long that usually it is only worked by bumblebees. ”

“ Hammond grows Clover in some of his fields every year. Those of you who have been at Willow Farm before, and have walked about the farmer's fields, know this, for we saw the bailiff sowing Clover broadcast. Besides the fields of Clover, however, there is always plenty of it growing among the meadow grass. We find some directly we go through the gate into Ashmead. It is a plant with a bright purplish-red blossom. ”

“ Some varieties, as alfalfa, crimson and sweet clover, are upright in their habit of growth. Others, as the small white and the burr, are recumbent. Others again, as the medium red, alsike and mammoth, are spreading and upright. The alfalfa and medium red varieties grow most persistently through the whole season. The sweet, small white and alsike varieties can best endure cold, and the sweet, Japan [Pg 4] and burr varieties can best endure heat. The small white, Japan, burr and sweet clovers stand highest in ability to maintain a hold upon the soil. ”

“ In many fields where there has been no clover seed 272 sown for many years at least, it is more abundant than the red, and the heads are nearly as large. Also pastures which are close cropped, and where I think there was little or no clover last year, are spotted white with a humbler growth. And everywhere, by roadsides, garden borders, etc., even where the sward is trodden hard, the small white heads on short stems are sprinkled everywhere. As this is the season for the swarming of bees, and this clover is very attractive to them, it is probably the more difficult to secure them ”

“ While it will grow readily in any part of the South, it renders better service in the Gulf States than in those farther north, owing to the longer season for growth. North of the Ohio River it is not likely to be cultivated, since in the Northern States it is not needed, because of the abundance of the red clovers and also the small white. ”

“ Ordinarily, the work can best be done by clover hullers, the same as are used in threshing medium red and mammoth clover, but grain separators, with certain attachments, will now do this work in good form. Much care should be exercised in winnowing the seed. It ought to be so cleaned that it will grade as No. ”

“ As the individual flowers fade—and the lowest fade first—they become brown and scale-like and turn downwards, and the dry brown corolla remaining attached to the seed forms an important aid in its dispersal by the wind. The Brown Clover is widely distributed in the mountain regions of Central Europe. It will be readily recognised by its globular flower-heads of yellow flowers and bright green leaves made up of three leaflets, which are arranged opposite to one another on the upper part of the stem. ”