with four of these leaflets, the country children will think you very
fortunate, for a four-leaved Clover is said to bring good luck, just
as a four-leaved Shamrock does in Ireland. A four-leaved Clover is,
however, rather rare; I hope you may find one, but I am rather afraid
you will not.

Here is another Clover, not quite so handsome as the Red Clover at
which we have just been looking; the flowers are white, and are rather
smaller. This is White or Dutch Clover. It is a perennial plant, and one
which spreads over a great deal of ground if it is allowed to do so.
We saw, you remember, that the ivy-leaved Toadflax on the wall by the
foldyard steps sent out fresh roots from its stems as it grew. The White
Clover does the same. The stems creep along the ground, send out fresh
roots, and in this way the plant spreads quickly.

Keeping a few stems of both these clovers in our hands we will go a
little further up the lane. There, in a field, we shall see something
that even country people cannot see every day. The Clover which farmers
usually sow is either the Red Clover or the White, or else another kind
called Alsike. This year Mr. Hammond has sown a field with a fourth
kind--Crimson Clover.

Did you ever see a more beautiful sight? The whole field is a blaze of
rich crimson colour. I shall never forget the day I first saw a field
of Crimson Clover. I was so delighted that I asked the farmer--not Mr.
Hammond, but another friend--if he would have a field of it for me to
admire every year! He said he would tell me by and by. At the end of the
year he said he did not find it such a useful food for his animals as
the Red and White Clovers, and he should not sow it again--at least not
very soon. You see pretty things are not always the most useful.