fibrous character of
the root growth, the plants do not heave so readily as those of red
clover. In moist situations they are much given to lodge; hence, the
importance of growing this crop, when grown for hay, along with some
kind of grass that will help to keep the stems erect.

[Illustration: Fig. 5. Alsike Clover (_Trifolium hybridum_)
Oregon Experiment Station]

Alsike clover furnishes a large amount of pasture. It is relished, at
least, fairly well. The leaves are slightly bitter, but not enough to
seriously interfere with their palatability. The quality of the hay is
excellent. This arises from its fineness, from the number of the small
branches and leaves on the stems, and from its fragrance when well
cured. While it makes a very suitable hay for horses and cattle, it has
peculiar adaptation for sheep, owing to its fineness.

As a fertilizer it is probably not equal to medium red clover, since the
root growth is not so bulky. Nor does it produce a second cutting
anything like so vigorous as the former. Nevertheless, the roots possess
even stiff soils to such an extent that they not only furnish them with
much plant food, but they also tend to disintegrate them and to render
them more easy to pulverize.

As a honey plant, alsike clover is without a rival among clovers, unless
it be in the small white variety. It is a great favorite with
bee-keepers. Many of them sow it to enable them to furnish pastures for
their bees. The bloom remains for a relatively long period. The honey is
also accessible to the common honey bee, since the branches are numerous
on the stems, and since each branch bears a head, the flower heads are
relatively quite numerous. Since the honey is accessible to the common
bee, pollination in the plants is assured; hence, the failures in the
seed crop are few, and when other conditions are favorable, seed
production is abundant. Because of the many good qualities of this
clover it is deservedly a favorite wherever it can be successfully
grown. When in full bloom, a field of alsike clover is a very beautiful
sight. The flowers are a pale white at first, but gradually they deepen
into a beautiful pink of tinted shades, and their fragrance is fully
equal to their beauty.

=Distribution.=--Alsike clover is found in Europe, Northern Africa and
Western Asia. In these it has been cultivated for a long time, but its
favorite home in the Old World would seem to be in Northern Europe. It
would dou