clover-sickness

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The state of being clover-sick, that is, incapable of producing a crop of clover: said of soils, usually with reference to the common red clover. In England the trouble has been charged to threadworms (nematoids), to fungi, to insufficient nutrition, to acidity, and to enzyms inimical to the organisms symbiotic with the clover, but agreement has not been reached. Many cases can be corrected by an application of lime. The term has also been applied to the condition of the plant.