Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-07-18
aariruItnral Reading.
From the New England Farmer.
THE CLOVER.

almost everywhere covered with that
rich, beautiful and fragrant plant, clover,
of one kind or another. 1t covers broad
fields, waiting for the scythe, and mean
while scattering its fragrance over towns
and villages; in springs in wide pas
lures, dots the hills where sheep roam,
checkers the valleys where cattle Craze
and perfumes them with its sweet breath.
From it bees are busy laying up stores OF
honey which may yet come to our tables
The dusty way-side and the crevices IN
the dry rocks are redolent of the clover
blossoms, and the bleak bank and deep
excavation of the railroad track are
cheered with its beauty and fragrance too.
1t is not a new setting of gems in the sweet
grass, but a multiplication of them, with
. fresh briIliants added. 1t comes to us
daily, not only on our senses, but to our
physical nature, in the golden butter, ten
der sirloins or lamb; in the cream for
our fruit and ices, and grateful milk dur
ing the fervid heat
1.-THE clover is everywhere" people
: saw, "and how came it there?" Fields
at hand are now so thickly covered with
it that it can no longer stand. But those
fields were not seeded by man. Last year
some of them were sowed with oats that
are now dense with clover alone and so
it is with pastures, and even some low
grounds where clover has rarely, if ever,
been seen before. 1t is everywhere
Grows in the garden and corn field
Here, holds up its modest head in the hot
highway, and there, looks clean and prim
by the spring, or laves its blossoms in
the cool brook as the impid waters pass
along.
I Well, welcome, welcome, to the clover
a for it sheds innumerable blessings on US,
for, with the other grasses it forms the
: basis of agriculture. No wonder the
Flemings said, that without clover no
man in Flanders would pretend to call
himself farmer The introduction Of
clovers, and the cultivated grasses, is one
a of the greatest improvements in modern
n husbandry. The commencement of i'm.
IS provements in the different species Of
n live stock, in the mode of cultivation, and
n in the superior quality, as well as guam
: tity, of the crops of grain, may be dated
e from the period when the sowing of clio
n vers and grass seeds were generally in
:. troduced.
But where have the clovers come from
q now, appearing so suddenly and SO uni
versal in extent? We cannot tell-car
N you ?-but our theory is, that their pre-
70 sent appearance in such quantity, max
h ing the earth rich and lovely, is the et
i feet of the drouths of 1854 and '55. Du
O. ring these seasons, not only the surface
N of the earth became as dry as puff ball
# but in digging some eight or ten fee
] scarcely handful of moist earth coulC
~ be found. 1t was then that the secre
stores of the earth were called on to sup
10 ply the enormous evaporation from tn,
= surface. The moisture from below cam
no up, bringing with it minerals in its way
10 and among them something erhap
he the sulphate of lime-having an affinit
III for clover seeds and put them into ac
ut tive condition; they terminated and gre,
Re. and covered the earth with their foliag,
en- fragrance and flowers.
NJ IF this theory be a plausible one-or
it is not-drouths have their office I
perform as well as winds and shower
=. and storms. Indeed, we have no dout
.oo of the fact and though they wasted on
fields, and the water-courses were dr.
,+o and cattle went weary and thirsty I
Of their parched valleys, and returned I
~ their heated stalls hollow and thin, V,
IF they were carrying on the operations
.bo that wise and Omnipotent Power who a
IL ways knows what is best.
el- IT is our theory that the same cause
md that is, the introduction of mineral sui
90 stance from below-that ruined so man
90 wells after those drouths, and that COZ
ut taminated the Cochituate water. whereof
tens of thousands were deprived of IL
pure beverage, bring this abundance
clover, and may feed innumerable 9th,
inc plants for years to come, for the benef
tho of both man and beast.
tb We cannot now pursue the sugge
nd tons that crowd upon us, but some of OF
learned and observing correspondent
may do the agricultural world, at leas
e a favor by giving the subject some il
'"u vestigation.
'ot-