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annual or perennial herbs with trifoliate (rarely 5- or 7-foliate) leaves, with stipules adnate to the leaf-stalk, and heads or dense spikes of small red, See also:

PURPLE

purple, See also:

white, or rarely yellow See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers; the small, few-seeded pods are enclosed in the calyx. Eighteen species are native in See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain, and several are extensively cultivated as See also:

FODDER

fodder-plants. T. pratense, red or purple clover, is the most widely cultivated. This plant, either sown alone or in mixture with See also:

rye-grass, has for a See also:

long See also:

time formed the See also:

STAPLE

staple See also:

CROP (a word common. in various forms, such as Germ. Kropf, to many Teutonic languages for a swelling, excrescence, round head or top of anything; it appears also in Romanic languages derived from Teutonic, in Fr. as troupe, whence the English " crupper "

crop for soiling; and so long as it See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew freely, its See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power of See also:

SHOOTING

shooting up again after repeated mowings, the bulk of crop thus obtained, its palatableness to stock and feeding qualities, the See also:

GREAT

great range of soils and See also:

CLIMATE

climate in which it grows, and its fitness either for pasturage or soiling, well entitled it to this preference. Except on certain See also:

rich calcareous See also:

clay soils, it has now, however, become an exceedingly See also:

PRECARIOUS

precarious crop. The See also:

SEED (from the root seen in Lat. serere, to sow)

seed, when genuine, which unfortunately is very often not the See also:

case, germinates as freely as ever, and no greater difficulty than heretofore is experienced in having a full plant during autumn and the greater See also:

PART

part of See also:

winter; but over most part of the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country, the See also:

FARMER, RICHARD (1735–1787)

farmer, after having his hopes raised by seeing a thick See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover of vigorous-looking clover plants over his See also:

field, finds to his dismay, by See also:

March or See also:

APRIL

April, that they have either entirely disappeared, or are found only in capricious patches here and there over the field. No satisfactory explanation of this " clover-sickness " has yet been given, nor any certain remedy, of a See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind to be applied to the See also:

SOIL

soil, discovered. One important fact is, however, now well established, viz. that when the cropping of the See also:

LAND

land is so managed that clover does not recut at shorter intervals than eight years, it grows with much of its pristine vigour. The knowledge of this fact now determines many farmers in varying their rotation so as to secure this important end. At one time there was a somewhat prevalent belief that the introduction of beans into the rotation had a specific See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of a beneficial kind on the clover when it came next to be sown; but the true explanation seems to be that the beans operate favourably only by the incidental circumstance of almost necessarily lengthening the See also:

INTERVAL

interval betwixt the recurrences of clover.

When the four-course rotation is followed, no better See also:

plan of managing this See also:

PROCESS

process has been yet suggested than to sow beans, See also:

PEASE, EDWARD (1767–1858)

pease, potatoes or tares, instead of clover, for one See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round, making the rotation one of eight years instead of four. The See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of the soil seems to have something to do with the success or failure of the clover crop. We have' often noticed that headlands, or the converging See also:

LINE

line of See also:

wheel-tracks near a gateway at which the preceding See also:

root crop had been carted from a field, have had a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good take of clover, when on the field generally it had failed. In the same way a field that has been much poached by See also:

sheep while consuming turnips upon it, and which has afterwards been ploughed up in an unkindly See also:

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 See also:

agriculture. Its seeds are usually sown along with a See also:

GRAIN (derived through the French from Lat. granum, seed, from an Aryan root meaning " to wear down," which also appears in the common Teutonic word " corn ")

grain crop, any time from the 1st of See also:

FEBRUARY

February to May, at the See also:

RATE

rate of 121b to 201b per See also:

acre when not combined with other clovers or See also:

GRASSES

grasses. See also:

ITALIAN

Italian rye-grass and red clover are now frequently sown in mixture for soiling, and succeed admirably. It is, however, a wiser course to sow them separately, as by substituting the Italian rye-grass for clover, for a single rotation, the farmer not only gets a crop of See also:

FORAGE

forage as valuable in all respects, but is enabled, if he choose, to prolong the interval betwixt the sowings of clover to twelve years, by See also:

SOWING (from "to sow," O. Eng. shwan, cf. Du. zaaijen, Ger. saen, &c.; the root is seen in Lat. severe, cf. "seed")

sowing, as already recommended, See also:

PULSE

pulse the first round, Italian rye-grass the second, and clover the third. These two crops, then, are those on which the arable-land farmer mainly relies for See also:

green forage. To have them good, he must be prepared to make a liberal application of manure. Good See also:

FARM

farm-yard dung may be applied with See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage either in autumn or See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring, taking care to See also:

CART (A.S. crcet, Gaelic cairt; connected with " car ")

cart it upon the land only when it is dry enough to admit of this being done without injury. It must also be spread very evenly so soon as emptied from thecarts.

But it is usually more expedient to use either See also:

GUANO (a Spanish word from the Peruvian huanu, dung)

guano, nitrate of soda, or See also:

SOOT (0. Eng. sot, cf. Icel. sot, Dan. sod; possibly from root sed, to sit)

soot for this purpose, at the rates respectively of g, cwt., x cwt. and 20 bushels. If two or more of these sub-stances are used, the quantities of each will be altered in See also:

pro-portion. They are best also to be applied in two or three portions at intervals of fourteen to twenty days, beginning towards the end of See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December, and only when See also:

RAIN (O.E. regn; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Regen, Swed. and Dan. regn; it has been connected with Lat. rigare, to wet, Gr. 13pixeav)

rain seems imminent or has just fallen. When manure is broadcast over a See also:

young clover field, and presently after washed in by rain, the effect is identical with that of first dissolving it in See also:

WATER

water, and then distributing the dilution over the See also:

SURFACE

surface, with this difference, namely, that the first plan See also:

COSTS

costs only the See also:

price of the guano, &c., and is avail-able at any time and to every one, whereas the latter implies the construction of tanks and costly machinery. T. incarnatum, See also:

CRIMSON

crimson or Italian clover, though not See also:

hardy enough to withstand the climate of See also:

Scotland in See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary winters, is a most valuable forage crop in See also:

England. It is sown as quickly as possible after the removal of a grain crop at the rate of 18 lb to 20 lb per acre. It is found to succeed better when only the surface of the soil is stirred by the scarifier and See also:

HARROW

harrow than when a ploughing is given. It grows rapidly in spring, and yields an abundant crop of green See also:

food, peculiarly palatable to live stock. It is also suitable for making into See also:

hay. Only one cutting, however, can be obtained, as it does not shoot again after being mown. T. re pens, white or Dutch clover, is a perennial abundant in meadows and good pastures. The flowers are white or pinkish, becoming See also:

brown and deflexed as the corolla fades.

T. hybridum, Alsike or See also:

SWEDISH

Swedish clover, is a perennial which was introduced See also:

early in the 19th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century and has now become naturalized in Britain. The flowers are white or rosy, and resemble those of the last species. T. See also:

MEDIUM

medium, meadow or zigzag clover, a perennial with straggling flexuous stems and See also:

rose-purple flowers, is of little agricultural value. Other See also:

BRITISH

British species are: T. arvense, See also:

hare's-See also:

FOOT

foot trefoil; found in See also:

FIELDS, JAMES THOMAS (1817-1881)

fields and dry pastures, a soft hairy plant with See also:

minute white or See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale See also:

PINK

pink flowers and feathery sepals; T. fragiferum, See also:

STRAWBERRY (Fragaria)

strawberry clover, with densely-flowered, globose, rose-purple heads and swollen calyxes; T. procumbens, See also:

HOP (Ger. Hopfen, Fr. houblon)

hop trefoil, on dry pastures and roadsides, the heads of pale yellow flowers suggesting See also:

MINIATURE

miniature hops; and the somewhat similar T. minus, See also:

COMMON

common in pastures and road-sides, with smaller heads and small yellow flowers turning dark brown. The last named is the true shamrock. Specimens of shamrock and other clovers are not infrequently found with four leaflets, and, like other rarities, are considered lucky. See also:

CALVARY

Calvary clover is a member of the closely allied genus Medicago—M. See also:

ECHINUS (Gr. for " hedge-hog " or " sea-urchin ")

Echinus, so called from the curled spiny pod; it has small heads of yellow clover-like flowers, and is a native of the See also:

south of See also:

France.

End of Article: CLOVER

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