PREFACE. The scientific facts pertaining- to agriculture, so far as they have been discovered, are scattered through many books and other publications, comparatively few of them being- ac- cessible to the ordinary farmer the practical experience in the application of these facts, so far as known, is in the possession of the thousands of widely scattered farmers and larg-ely beyond the reach of the public. It has occurred to us that we might do some service to the farmers of the United States, and especially of the West, by collating as many as possible of the facts that are accu- rately and certainly known, and the experience of farmers over as wide a district as possible, on the one subject of Clover Culture, and presenting them to the public in compact form, in language within the comprehension of every farmer and at an expense within the means of every man who grows an acre of clover. We began the investigation of the subject some years ago with the sole purpose of solving the difficulties encountered in obtaining satisfactory stands of clover on sev- eral hundred acres of land in western Iowa. Discussion of various phases of the subject through the HOMESTEAD has brought us hundreds of letters from farmers in many states who were meeting the same or similar difficulties, and the following pages are the condensed results of our study of the subject, of the experience of our correspondents, of our own experience and our observation both at home and abroad. As such we submit it to the thoughtful reader. The book is not written for the instruction of the scien- tist, nor is it intended as an exhaustive discussion of the sub- ject, but to place in the hands of the practical farmer such information, both scientific and practical, as he needs on the subject under consideration. We have therefore, wherever possible, translated scientific terms into every-day English and have aimed to put the fodder in the rack where even the lambs can reach it. Such has been the aim how far we have succeeded the reader must be the judge. HENRY WALLACE. THE CLOVERS AND OTHER GRASSES. CHAPTER I. In the veryoutset ofourinvestigation ofthe subject ofthe clovers, it is important tonotice the distinction between these and the other grasses. While in popular usage we apply the term grasses to all kinds of herbage that is summer food for the lower animals, botanically speaking clover is not a grass. The term grass .. pertains to plants with simple leaves, stems generally jointed and tubular, husks or chaff, technichally called glumes, in pairs and seeds single. A slight observation will show that the clovers do not belong to this class. The true grasses include all our commonly called grasses, the clovers excepted, and besides nearly all our grains, such as wheat, oats, barley and corn and also the sorghums. Clover belongs to the Leguminosce, or Pulse familiy, and to the same family belong peas, beans, and vetches, sanfoin, lupines and many others among what are popularly termed grasses . It includes a large number of weeds such as wild indigo, wild peas, shoestring, etc., also a large number of shrubs such as the Wisteria, Carragana, Robinia, etc., and forest trees of which the locusts are the best known in the temperate zone and logwood and mahogany in the torrid zone. There are 6500 known species of Leguminosz, it being surpassed by but one family, that of the Composite, to which belong the goldenrods, asters and sunflowers, and in the wealth of its products for the supply of human wants the family of the all others. Leguminosce surpasses The Clovers as a rule differ from the other grassesin theii habit of root growth... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.