by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author's program note. For all that it's just 4:17 a.m. (I looked) I bounded out of bed.You see, I had a particular purpose this day, to make amends to a friend, someone I'd taken for granted, the ultimate insult in any relationship. But this friend, in addition to a host of sterling qualities you'll learn about here, is also of a forgiving nature, able to pardon the millions who have seen it... but not perceived it. And so, with long overdue fence mending to do, I didn't linger in my cool sheets but let the bird song, welcome outside my window, accompany the tune in my head, the tune I want to share with you right now... for it's a bona fide mood enhancement for sure: "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover".
This is the song your grandmother sang as she dandled you on her knee. It made you smile... it made her smile. It was bright! Cheerful! uplifting... and easy to sing... with zesty lyrics worth a million grins!
It was written in 1927 by Mort Dixon with Harry M. Woods and was sung by a host of recording artists great and aspiring including Al Jolson, Arthur Godfrey, Nick Lucas, even Bugs Bunny (in the 1952 cartoon "Operation Rabbit."). Art Mooney was the person who probably did the most to popularize it. Personally, I prefer the original version by Jean Goldkette (1927). It's got that authentic 1920s big band sound that I like so much; the sound that makes you want to get up, dance your most famous moves and make a complete fool of yourself, putting a smile in every word you say for days to come. Go find it now in any search engine and sing out. You're about to experience the undeniable power of clover... and with their luck pulling for you you'll never overlook them again.
About Clover (Trifolium).
Clover (Trifolium) or trefoil is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. It is, as its encyclopedia entry felicitously states, of a "cosmopolitan distribution." That is to say, you can find it in all temperate climates. Now think for a minute what that means and what it says about this hardy, chipper plant which one fine day set out to carpet the world and did so... right up to and including the clover you can see this very minute in your own front yard. This is, therefore, not a plant to be under estimated, and wise folk never do; plucking a sprig on their way to work, to wear the whole day long, as a request for this beneficent plant to give what it has to spare -- grit and tenacity, to be inhaled with its subtle scent.
On the domestic uses and beauty of clover.
One day long ago I visited a Persian aristocrat at his opulent home in Teheran in the waning days of the last shah. I found him in his lavish garden where he had prominently posted these words, "One is nearest God in a garden." The very first thing he showed me was a pot of clover, plants which because of the hot climate needed careful care. He gave it himself though he had a squad of gardeners to attend. Clover entranced him, as it entrances all sensitive people.
To be honest, I did not always feel that way about clover. When I was a teen-ager during the hot, humid, sultry Illinois days I cringed when my father or grandfather asked me to mow the lawn. You see, these were the days before power mowers and thus it was very difficult to mow the clover so close to the ground.
Worse, because clover retains water after just a few pushes the blades were clogged, the entire operation at an end until they were cleaned, the moist, fragrant clover removed... a task to be done over and over again under the sweltering sun, still oppressive in my memory. And while Grammie never forgot to bring something cool against the heat, her eagle eye also never failed to spot the place you missed, a place where there was more clover still. Thus, push by push, we came to an understanding, clover and I. They would proliferate. I would keep their riotous potency under control. But there was never any doubt about whose power was the greater or whose contribution more important, to the nation or the lawn.
Clover and your lawn.
Ever since there have been lawns, grass, and clover there has been a raging debate amongst gardeners about which course of action is best, what should be done, at what time and how. It is now time for me to add my two-cents. I have utterly no hope or expectation that this will settle the matter...
The case for adding clover to the lawn seems compelling. It adds greenness to the lawn, staying green because of its retained moisture during even sustained dry spells. Clover in the lawn also cuts the work and cost of watering and fertilizing. Clover also enables its habitat to support more wildlife, both plant and animal. For instance, clover nectar keeps the bees around giving them the time and inclination to pollinate fruit trees and vegetables. It also attracts such good things as parasitic wasps, aphids, scales and whiteflies. Urban dwellers like me might be dubious about such "benefits" but true gardeners rejoice and cultivate clover accordingly. The only "drawback" is this: if you walk through clover barefoot, you may well be stung by a bee. As a true son of the soil, I say this: if you're walking barefoot through the clover, you deserve what you get, tender foot take note! Clover in the service of the world.
The cattle which feed upon the endless salad around them need no such warning. They are intent instead upon their feed which is delicious and which we in turn feed upon. And so clover nourishes the beasts which nourish us.This is where the saying "To be in clover" originates; it refers to the cattle fattening thereon and the bounty to us. Do not, however, let them over feed upon this richness, for then the cattle may sicken and die, proving again that too much of any good thing can be lethal.
Three poets and clover.
To finish this article, I descended to the Cambridge Common where the clover this year is thick and fragrant. I wanted to see what three great poets saw before they wrote their tributes to clover, Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), and Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888).
Whitman in "There Was a Child Went Forth" wrote about how children become what they see, urging us to show them the important things in life, including "grass, and white and red morning glories and white and red clover, and the song of the phebe-bird." He was sensitive to them all, and they all loved this man so made for such unstinting affection.
Dickinson, in "Purple Clover" wrote
"There is a flower that bees prefer, And butterflies desire."
Her first lines were limpid, her later lines characteristically impenetrable to all, perhaps even herself. But she loved the purple clover, that much is indisputable, and so we honor -- even if we do not understand -- her.
Alcott
This poet of Concord, Massachusetts, just up the road a piece from where I write, sketched the idyllic scene where clover finds its urgent destiny, providing comfort to our human kind. In "Clover-Blossom" she wrote
"In a quiet, pleasant meadow/ Beneath a summer sky Where green old trees their branches waved/And wind went singing by".
There, there in that place we all wish to rest a while, touched by sun, caressed by summer's breeze, made welcome and comfortable by clover, the clover we know better now and which we shall never overlook again. For as Whitman wrote,
"These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day."
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com
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