RED CLOVER.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 17756, 17 September 1927, Page 15

RED CLOVER.

Red clover (trifolium pretense) takes high rank among fodder plants, nob only on account of the quantity but also on account of the quantity of its produce. It is one of the most common and widely-distributed of the clovers. A largo number of different types of red clover occur. They may he conveniently classified as follows: —(1) Wild or indigenous red clover ; (2) cultivated or commercial rod clover; (a) broad rod clover; (b) late-flowering red clover or single cut cowgrass. Red clover is put on the market under various descriptions, mostly comprising the name of cowgrass. Red clover as a crop is generally treated as a biennial; that is to .say, as lasting for two years. Some strains certainly last not longer, but others persist for quite a number of years. The plant may therefore best- be regarded as a short-lived perennial. On the other hand, but few strains survive the harvesting of two successive crops of the taking of a liav and seed crop in the first year. Most strains have more or less deep-going tap roots and produce a number 'of stems bearing an abundance of leaves, each made cf three broad leaflets, which are usually more or less hairy. The flower heads are general!v fairly numerous and vary, from deep red to delicate shades of pink. Wild or indigenous red clover is of lower growth than the rmnmerctal strains, the leaves are usuallv smaller and the stenrJ tend to be more Ivor 1” : a great number of forms, occur. The majority of the wild clovers flower early in the spring.