feet in some instances, but when they grow much higher than the average
given, the crop usually lodges. The leaves are numerous, and many of
them have very frequently, if not, indeed, always, a whitish mark in the
center, resembling a horseshoe. The tap roots go down deeply into the
soil. Usually they penetrate the same to about 2 feet, but in some
instances, as when subsoils are open and well stored with accessible
food, they go down to the depth of 5 or 6 feet. The tap roots are
numerously branched, and the branches extend in all directions. When
they are short, as they must needs be in very stiff subsoils and on thin
land underlaid with hard soil, the branches become about as large as the
tap roots. It has been computed that the weight of the roots in the soil
is about equal to the weight of the stem and leaves.

Medium red clover is ordinarily biennial in its habit of growth, but
under some conditions it is perennial. Usually in much of the
Mississippi basin it is biennial, especially on prairie soils. On the
clay loam soils of Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and some
other States, it is essentially biennial, but many of the plants will
survive for a longer period. In the mountain valleys in the Northwestern
States, and on the Pacific slope west of the Cascade Mountains, it is
perennial. Medium red clover meadows in these have been cut for several
successive years without re-seeding the crop. The duration of this plant
is also more or less influenced by pasturing as compared with cutting
for seed. Grazing the plants has the effect of prolonging the period of
their growth, while maturing seed from them has the opposite effect.

Medium red clover is characterized by a rapid growth. Seed sown in the
spring has in certain climates produced a crop of hay in 120 days from
the date of sowing. It is also most persistent in its growth from spring
until fall when sufficient moisture is present. In this property it far
outranks any of the other varieties of clover. It comes into bloom in
the South during the latter half of May and in the North during the
month of June, early or later, according to location, and in about sixty
days from the time that it is cut for hay. Ordinarily, a second cutting
of hay may be taken from it and still later some pasture.

It furnishes excellent pasture, soiling food and hay for nearly all
classes of live stock. While it is much relished by the stock, it is
probably not exceeded in