6. It furnishes more green food for plowing under than the medium red; hence, it is, on the whole, a better improver of the soil.
CHAPTER VII
CRIMSON CLOVER
Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum) is also known by the names French, German, German Mammoth, Italian, Egyptian and Carnation clover. In America it is common in certain areas to speak of it as winter clover, from the greater powers of growth which it possesses at that season as compared with other clovers.
The plants have an erect habit of growth, and yet they are soft and hairy, and they have much power to stool. More than 100 stems have been produced by one plant, but under conditions the most favorable. The leaves are numerous. The heads are oblong, cylindrical, and considerably cone-shaped, and are from 1 to 2 inches long, and much larger than those of medium red clover. The bloom is scarlet or crimson and of the richest dye; hence, a more beautiful sight is seldom seen than that of a vigorous crop of crimson clover in full bloom. The average height of the plants may be put at about 18 inches, but they have been grown to the height of 3 and even 4 feet. The root growth is fully twice that of the stems. The roots are strong, go down straight into the soil, and are to some extent branched.
Crimson clover is an annual, although usually the growth covers a part of two years. Sown in the summer or early autumn, growth is completed by the advent of the following summer. It is, therefore, pre-eminently a catch crop, and because of this, when conditions admit of it, serves a purpose in American agriculture, which can be served by none of the other varieties of clover that are now grown. It has much power to grow in cool weather, when the clovers are practically dormant. It does not cease to grow until the ground has become frozen, and as soon as the frost leaves the soil growth begins at once; hence, the greater relative value this plant has for areas in which the winters are mild.
Fig. 6. Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Tennessee Experiment Station