Chapter III: Medium Red Clover (2)

When sown in grass or clover mixtures, the amount of the seed required will vary with the other factors of the mixture, and the amount of each that is sown; that is, with the character of the hay or pasture that is sought. The seed is much more frequently sown with timothy than with any other kind of grass, and the average amount of each of these to sow per acre may be put at 8 pounds of clover and 6 pounds of timothy. When other clovers are added, as the mammoth or the alsike, for every pound of the seed of the former added, the seed of the medium red may be reduced by one pound, and for every pound of the alsike added it may be reduced by 1-1/2 pounds. In mixtures for permanent pastures, 6 pounds may be fixed upon as the maximum quantity of medium red clover seed to sow, and 3 pounds as the average quantity. When sown to provide green manure, maximum quantities of seed are used when it is desired to improve the soil quickly. Usually not less than 12 pounds per acre are sown, and quite frequently more. But when the gradual improvement of the land is sought, by sowing the seed on all land devoted to the small cereal grains, not more than 6 pounds per acre are used, and frequently even less than 4 pounds. The greater the hazard to the plants in sowing the seed thus, the less the quantities of the seed that are usually sown, with a view to reduce the loss in case of failure to secure a stand of the clover.

A stand of medium red clover is sometimes secured by what may be termed self-sowing. For instance, where clover has been cut for hay and then allowed to mature even but a portion of the seed before being plowed under the same autumn, the seed thus buried remains in the ground without sprouting. When the land is again plowed to the same depth and sown with some kind of grain, the clover seed thus brought to the surface will germinate. If the plowing last referred to is done in the autumn, it ought to be done late rather than early, lest the seed should sprout in the autumn and perish in the winter, or be destroyed by the cultivation given in sowing the grain crop that follows. The same result may be obtained from clover pastured after the first cutting for the season, when the pasturing is not close.

When medium red clover is much grown for seed, many of the ripe heads are not cut by the mower, since they lie near the ground, and many break off in the curing process. The seed thus becomes so distributed in the ground, that many plants come up and grow amid the grain every season. These may, of course, be grazed or plowed under for the enrichment of the land, as desired. Seed thus buried is, therefore, not lost by any means. The plants which grow will render much assistance in keeping the land in a good condition of tilth, as well as in enhancing its fertility.

When clover seed is much grown, therefore, on any piece of land, the quantity of seed sown may be reduced materially. In fact, it may be so much reduced that it has been found possible to grow clover in rotation for many years without adding seed. The first growth of the clover was taken as hay, and the second growth as seed. The ground was then plowed and a crop of corn was taken. The corn land was then plowed and sown with some cereal, such as wheat, oats or barley.

=Pasturing.=--Medium red clover will furnish grazing very suitable for any kind of live stock kept upon the farm. All farm animals relish it, but not so highly as blue grass, when the latter is tender and succulent. No plant is equally suitable in providing pasture for swine, unless it be alfalfa; hence, for that class of stock, it has come to be the staple pasture outside of areas where alfalfa may be readily grown. When desired, the grazing may begin even at a reasonably early stage in the growth of the plants, and it may continue to the end of the pasturing season.

Usually it is considered unwise to pasture medium red clover the same season in which it has been sown when sown with a nurse crop. It has been noticed that when so pastured, it does not winter so well, and that the later and more close the pasturing and the colder the winter following, the greater is the hazard from pasturing the clover. This hazard arises chiefly from the exposure of the roots to the sweep of the cold winds. It should be the rule, therefore, not only to refrain from pasturing clover thus, but also to leave the stubbles high when pasturing the grain. Where the snowfall is light and the cold is intense, to leave the stubbles thus high is important, since they aid in holding the snow. But there may be instances when the clover plants grow so vigorously that in places of heavy snowfall, smothering may result unless the mass of vegetation is in some way removed. In such instances, pasturing may be in order; but when practised, the grazing should be with cattle rather than sheep or horses, and it should cease before the covering is removed. There may also be locations where much benefit follows in several ways close, or reasonably close, cutting of the stubbles quite soon after the nurse crop has been harvested.

When clover is sown without a nurse crop, it may be not only proper, but advantageous, to pasture it. The grazing should not, however, be continued so late that the plants will not have time to make a sufficiency of growth to protect them in winter. Such grazing is better adapted to areas in which the season of growth is long, rather than short; where weed growth is abundant, as on certain of the soils of the prairie, it may be necessary to call in the aid of the mower once or even twice during the season of growth.

When a crop of medium red clover is desired, the surest way to obtain it in good form is to pasture the field during the early part of the season, and closely enough to have the clover eaten down on every part of the field. When it is not so eaten, the mower should be so used that the growth and maturing of the seed crop may be even and uniform. The season for removing the live stock will depend upon latitude and altitude, but it will be correct to say that it ought to be from two to three weeks earlier than the proper season for cutting clover for hay.

When clover is not grazed the year that it is sown, in some seasons the stronger plants will bear seed, if allowed. To such an extent does this follow under certain conditions and in certain areas, that a considerable crop of seed could be obtained if this were desired, even as many as 4 or 5 bushels per acre in some instances. But it has been noticed that if thus allowed to produce seed, the effect upon the growth of the crop the next season is decidedly injurious. To prevent such a result the mower should be run over the field as soon as much hazard is certainly apparent, and the earlier in the season that this can be done the better, for the reason that all weeds growing are clipped off, and the clover has also a better chance to provide protection for the winter by growth subsequently made. When there is an over-luxuriant growth in the plants, it may be well to thus mow the field, even though seed should not be produced. The growth made by the plants and the mulch provided by the portion cut make an excellent preparation for entering the cold season.

But few pasture crops grown will furnish as much grazing in one season as medium red clover. It will probably furnish the most grazing if allowed to grow up before it is grazed until the stage of bloom is approached or reached, but since it is seldom practicable to graze it down quickly enough after that stage has been reached, and since there is frequently waste from tramping, grazing usually begins, and properly so, at an earlier period.

When cattle and sheep graze upon young clover, there is some danger that hoven or bloating may result to the extent of proving quickly fatal if not promptly relieved. The danger is greater if the animals are hungry when turned in upon the clover, and when it is wet with dew or rain, or in a more than ordinarily succulent condition. Such danger may be lessened, if not, indeed, entirely eliminated, by giving the animals access to other food, as dry clover hay, for instance, before turning them in on the pasture, and the danger is always less in proportion as grasses are abundant in the pasture.

Should bloating occur, relief must usually be prompt to be effective. In mild cases, certain medicines may bring relief. One of the most potent is the following: Give spirits of turpentine in doses of 1 to 5 tablespoonfuls, according to the size of the animal. Dilute with milk before administering. In bad cases, the paunch should be at once punctured. The best instruments are the trocar and canula, but in the absence of these a pocket knife and goose quill may be made to answer. The puncture is made on the left side, at a point midway between the last rib and hook point, and but a few inches from the backbone. The thrusting instrument should point downward and slightly inward going into the paunch. With much promptness the canula or the quill should be pushed down into the paunch and held there till the gas escapes. Before the tube is withdrawn the contents of the paunch that have risen in the same should be first pushed down.

=Harvesting for Hay.=--Medium red clover is at its best for cutting for hay when in full bloom, and when a few of the heads which first bloomed are beginning to turn brown; that is to say, in the later rather than in the earlier stage of full bloom. If cut sooner, the curing of the crop is tedious. If cut later the stalks lose in palatability. But when the weather is showery it may be better to defer cutting even for several days after the clover has reached the proper stage for harvesting, as the injury from rain while the crop is being cured may be greater than the injury from overmaturity in the same before it is mown.

When curing the crop, the aim should be to preserve to the greatest extent practicable the loss of the leaves. To accomplish such a result, the clover ought to be protected as far as possible from exposure to dew or rain, and also from excessive exposure to sunshine. Dew injures more or less the color of the hay and detracts from its palatability. Rain intensifies such injury in proportion as the crop being harvested is exposed to it. It also washes out certain substances, which, when present, affect favorably its aroma.

The injury from such exposure increases with the interval between cutting and storing the crop. Exposure to successive showers may so seriously injure the hay as to render it almost valueless for feeding. After the mown clover has been exposed in the swath to the sunlight beyond a certain time, it turns brown, and if exposed thus long enough the aroma will be lost. The aim should be, therefore, to cure the clover to the greatest extent practicable by the aid of the wind rather than by that of the sun.

The method of procedure to be followed is in outline as given below: Mow as far as possible when the meadow is not wet with rain or dew. Mow in the afternoon rather than the forenoon, as the injury from dew the night following will be less. Stir with the tedder as soon as the clover has wilted somewhat. The tedder should be used once, twice or oftener as the circumstances may require. The heavier the crop and the less drying the weather, the more the tedding that should be given. Sometimes tedding once, and in nearly all instances twice, will be sufficient. The hay should then be raked. It is ready for being raked as soon as the work can be done easily and in an efficient manner. When clover is not dry enough for being raked, the draught on the rake will be unnecessarily heavy, the dumping of the hay will be laborious, and it does not rake as clean as it would if the hay were in a fit condition for being raked.

The aim should be to have the crop put up in heaps, usually called "cocks," but sometimes called "coils," before the second night arrives after the mowing of the clover; and in order to accomplish this, it may be necessary to work on until the shades of evening are drawing near.

When there is a reasonable certainty that the weather shall continue dry, it is quite practicable to cure clover in the winrow, but in showery weather to attempt to do so would mean ruin to the clover. In no form does it take injury so quickly from rain as in the winrow, and when rain saturates it, much labor is involved in spreading it out again. Nor is it possible to make hay quite so good in quantity when clover is cured in the winrow, as the surface exposed to the sunshine is much greater than when it is mixed with timothy or some other grass that purpose, nevertheless, to cure it thus, especially when it is mixed with timothy or some other grass that cures more easily and readily than clover. It may also be taken up with the hay-loader when cured thus, which very much facilitates easy storing. But when it is to be lifted with the hay-loader, the winrows should be made small rather than large.

When the clover is to be put up into cocks, these should be small rather than large, if quick curing is desired. In making these, skilled labor counts for much. The cocks are simply little miniature stacks. The part next to the ground has less diameter than the center of the cock. As each forkful is put on after the first, the fork is turned over so that the hay spreads out over the surface of the heap as it is being deposited. Smaller forkfuls are put on as the top is being reached. The center is kept highest when making the cock. Each one may be made to contain about 100 pounds and upward of cured hay, but in some instances they should not contain more than half the amount to facilitate drying. When the heap has become large enough, the inverted fork should be made to draw down on every side the loose portions, which in turn are put upon the top of the cock. Such trimming is an important aid to the shedding of rain. An expert hand will put up one of these cocks of hay in less time than it takes to read about how it is done.

A light rain will not very much injure a crop of clover after it has been put up into cocks, but a soaking rain will probably penetrate them to the bottom. To guard against this, in localities where the rainfall may be considerable in harvest time, hay caps are frequently used. These may be made from a good quality of unbleached muslin or strong cotton, or they may be obtained from some of those who deal in tent awnings and stack covers. When of good quality and well cared for they should last for 10 to 20 years. Care should be taken in putting them on lest the wind which frequently precedes a thunder storm should blow them away. The pins used at the corners of the caps should be carefully and firmly inserted in the hay or the ground, or the caps should have sufficiently heavy weights attached to them at the corners to prevent their lifting with the wind. In putting up the hay the size of the cocks should be adjusted to the size of the covers used. One person should apply the covers as quickly as two will put up the hay.

When clover hay is put up into cocks, it undergoes what is termed the "heating" process; that is, it becomes warm in the center of the heaps up to a certain point, after which the heat gradually leaves it. The heat thus generated is proportionate to the size of the cocks and the amount of moisture in the clover. The sweating process usually covers two or three days, after which the hay is ready for being stored. When clover is cured in the winrow, it does not go through the sweating process to the same extent as when cured in the cock; hence, it is liable to sweat in the mow, and to such an extent as to induce mold, if it has been stored away with moisture in it beyond a certain degree. If a wisp of clover is taken from the least cured portion of the winrow or cock, and twisted between the hands, it is considered ready for being stored if no liquid is discernible. If overcured, when thus twisted it will break asunder. A skilled workman can also judge fairly well of the degree of the curing by the weight when lifted with the fork.

Under some conditions, it may be advisable to "open out" the cocks two or three hours before drawing them, that the hot sunshine may remove undue moisture. When this is done, if the cocks are taken down in distinct forkfuls, as it were, each being given a place distinct from the others, the lifting of these will be much easier than if the clover in each cock had been strewn carelessly over the ground. The lowest forkful in the cock should be turned over, since the hay in it will have imbibed more or less of dampness from the ground. But in some instances the weather for harvesting is so favorable that the precaution is unnecessary of thus opening out the cocks or even of making them at all.

=Storing.=--Storing clover under cover is far preferable to putting it up in stacks, except in rainless climates. With the aid of the hay-loader in lifting it from winrows in the field, and of the hay fork in unloading, the hand labor in storing is greatly reduced, but when it is unloaded with the horse fork, the aim should be to dump the hay from the fork on different parts of the mow or stack, lest it should become too solidly pressed together under the dump, and heat and mold in consequence.

When the hay is stacked, especially in climates of considerable rainfall, a bottom should be prepared on which to stack it. This may be made of poles or rails. A few of these should first be laid one way on the ground and parallel, and others across them. Where such material cannot be had, old straw or hay of but little value should be spread over the stack bottom to a considerable depth. Where these precautions are not taken, the hay in the bottom of the stack will be spoiled for some distance upward by moisture ascending from the ground. In building the stack, the center should be kept considerably higher than the outer edges, that rain may be shed, and the width of the same should increase up to at least two-thirds of the height, the better to protect the hay underneath. The tramping should be even, or the hay in settling will draw to one side, and the topping out should be gradual rather than abrupt.

In topping out a clover stack some hay should be used not easily penetrated by rain, as, for instance, blue grass obtained from fence corners, or slough hay obtained from marshes. The last-named is better put on green. If the clover is not thus protected, a considerable quantity will spoil on the top of the stacks. It is not a good hay to turn rain. The shape of the stack should in a considerable degree be determined by its size. It is probably preferable to make small stacks round, since they are more easily kept in shape, but large stacks should be long rather than round, as large, round stacks call for undue height in bringing them to a top. Because of the ease with which rain penetrates clover, it is very desirable to have it put under a roof. Where it cannot be protected by the roof of a barn or stable, the aim should be to store it in a hay shed; that is to say, a frame structure, open on all sides and covered with a roof. Such sheds may be constructed in a timber country without great cost.

Should the clover hay be stored a little undercured, some growers favor sowing salt, say, from 4 to 8 quarts over each load when spread over the mow. They do so under the conviction that its preservative qualities will be to some extent efficacious in preventing the hay from molding, and that it adds to the palatability of the hay. While it may render some service in both of these respects, it would seem probable that the benefits claimed have been overrated.

The more frequently clover hay is handled, the more is its feeding value impaired, because of the loss of heads and leaves which attend each handling of the crop. Because of this, it is not so good a crop for baling as timothy, and also for other reasons. It should be the aim when storing it for home feeding to place it where it can be fed as far as possible directly from the place of storage. In the location of hay sheds, therefore, due attention should be given to this matter.

In climates that are moist, some growers store clover in a mow when it has only reached the wilting stage in the curing process. When thus stored it is preserved on the principle which preserves silage. The aim is when storing to exclude the air as far as possible by impacting the mass of green clover through its own weight, aided by tramping. It should be more or less wilted before being stored, according to the succulence in it, and it is considered highly important that it shall also be free from external moisture. When thus stored it should be in large mows, and it should be well tramped, otherwise the impaction may not be sufficient. To this method of storage there are the following objections: 1. The hay has to be handled while it is yet green and wet. 2. There is hazard that much of the hay will be spoiled in unskilled hands. 3. Under the most favorable conditions more or less of the clover is pretty certain to mold near the edges of the mass. Where clover can be made into hay in the ordinary way without incurring much hazard of spoiling, the practice of storing it away in the green form, except in a silo, would seem of questionable propriety. The making of clover into ensilage is discussed in the book "Soiling Crops and the Silo" by the author.

=Securing Seed.=--As a rule, seed is not produced from the first cutting for the season of medium red clover. It is claimed that this is due to lack of pollenization in the blossoms, and because they are in advance of the active period of working in bumble bees, the medium through which fertilization is chiefly effected. This would seem to be a sufficient explanation as to why medium red clover plants will frequently bear seed the first year, if allowed to, though the first cutting from older plants will have little or no seed. But it is claimed that the ordinary honey bee may be and is the medium for fertilizing alsike and small white clover, but not that through which the mammoth variety is fertilized.

Experience has shown, further, that, as a rule, better crops of clover seed may be obtained from clover that has been pastured off than from that which has been mown for hay, although to this rule there are some exceptions. This arises, in part, from the fact that the energies of the plant have been less drawn upon in producing growth, and, therefore, can produce superior seed heads and seed, and in part from the further fact that there is usually more moisture in the soil at the season when the plants which have been pastured off are growing. There would seem to be some relation between the growing of good crops of clover seed and pasturing the same with sheep. It has been claimed that so great is the increase of seed in some instances from pasturing with sheep till about June 1st, say, in the latitude of Ohio, that the farmer who has no sheep could afford to give the grazing to one who has, because of the extra return in seed resulting. The best crops of seed are obtained when the growth is what may be termed medium or normal. Summers, therefore, that are unusually wet or dry are not favorable to the production of clover seed.

If weeds are growing amid the clover plants that are likely to mature seed, they should, where practicable, be removed. The Canada thistle, ragweed, plantain and burdock are among the weeds that may thus ripen seeds in medium clover. When not too numerous they can be cut with the spud. When too numerous to be thus cut, where practicable, they should be kept from seeding with the aid of the scythe. To prevent them from maturing is important, as the seeds of certain weeds cannot be separated from those of clover with the fanning mill, they are so alike in size.

The crop is ready for being cut when the heads have all turned brown, except a few of the smaller and later ones. It may be cut by the mower as ordinarily used, by the mower, with a board or zinc platform attachment to the cutter bar, by the self-rake reaper, or by the grain binder. The objection to the first method is that the seed has to be raked and that the raking results in the loss of much seed; to the second, that it calls for an additional man to rake off the clover; and to the third, that the binder is heavier than the self-rake reaper. The latter lays the clover off in loose sheaves. These may be made large or small, as desired, and if care is taken to lay them off in rows, the lifting of the crop is rendered much easier.

When the clover is cut with the mower, it should be raked into winrows while it is a little damp, as, for instance, in the evening. If raked in the heat of the day many of the heads will break off and will thus be lost. From the winrows it is lifted with large forks. When the crop is laid off in sheaves it may be necessary to turn them once, even in the absence of rain, but frequently this is not necessary. In the turning process gentle handling is important, lest much of the seed should be lost. The seed heads of a mature crop break off very easily in the hours of bright sunshine. Rather than turn the sheaves over, it may be better, in many instances, just to lift them with a fork with many tines, and set them down easily again on ground which is not damp under them, like unto that from which they have been removed.

Clover seed may be stored in the barn or stack, or it may be threshed directly in the field or from the same. The labor involved in handling the crop is less when it is threshed at once than by any other method, but frequently at such a busy season it is not easily possible to secure the labor required for this work. It is usually ready for being threshed in two or three days after the crop has been cut, but when the weather is fair it may remain in the field for as many weeks after being harvested without any serious damage to the seed. If, however, the straw, or "haulm," as it is more commonly called, is to be fed to live stock, the more quickly that the threshing is done after harvesting, the more valuable will the haulm be for such a use.

When stored in the barn or stack, it is common to defer threshing until the advent of frosty weather, for the reason, first, that the seed is then more easily separated from the chaff which encases it; and second, that farm work is not then so pressing. When threshed in or directly from the field, bright weather ought to be chosen for doing the work, otherwise more or less of the seed will remain in the chaff.

In lifting the crop for threshing or for storage, much care should be exercised, as the heads break off easily. The fork used in lifting it, whether with iron or with wooden prongs, should have these long and so numerous that in lifting the tines would go under rather than down through the bunch to be lifted. The wagon rack should also be covered with canvas, if all the seed is to be saved. If stored in stacks much care should be used in making these, as the seed crop in the stack is even more easily injured by rain than the hay crop. The covering of old hay of some kind that will shed rain easily should be most carefully put on.

Years ago the idea prevailed that clover seed could not be successfully threshed until the straw had, in a sense, rotted in the field by lying exposed in the same for several weeks. The introduction of improved machinery has dispelled this idea. The seed is more commonly threshed by a machine made purposely for threshing clover called a "clover huller." The cylinder teeth used in it are much closer than in the ordinary grain separator. The sieves are also different, and the work is less rapidly done than if done by the former. During recent years, however, the seed is successfully threshed with an ordinary grain threshing machine, and the work of threshing is thus more expeditiously done. Certain attachments are necessary, but it is claimed that not more than an hour is necessary to put these in place, or to prepare the machine again for threshing grain.

Since the seed is not deemed sufficiently clean for market as it comes from the machine, it should be carefully winnowed by running it through a fanning mill with the requisite equipment of sieves. It is important that this work should be carefully done if the seed is to grade as No. 1 in the market. If it does not, the price will be discounted in proportion as it falls below the standard. A certain proportion of the seed thus separated will be small and light. This, if sold at all, must be sold at a discount. If mixed with weed seeds it should be ground and fed to some kind of stock.

The haulm, when the seed crop has been well saved, has some feeding value, especially for cattle. If not well saved it is only fit for litter, but even when thus used its fertilizing value is about two-thirds that of clover hay. More or less seed remains in the chaff, and because of this the latter is sometimes drawn and strewn over pastures, or in certain by places where clover plants are wanted. Seed sown in the chaff has much power to grow, owing, it is thought, to the ability of the hull enclosing the seed to hold moisture. The yields in the seed crops of medium red clover vary all the way from 1 to 8 bushels per acre. The average yields under certain conditions are from 3 to 4 bushels per acre. Under conditions less favorable, from 2 to 3 bushels.

Within the past two decades the seed crop has been seriously injured by an insect commonly spoken of as the clover midge (_Cecidomyia leguminicola_) which preys upon the heads so that they fail to produce. A field thus affected will not come properly into bloom. The remedy consists in so grazing or cutting the clover that the bloom will come at that season of the summer when the insects do not work upon the heads. This season can only be determined by actual test. In Northern areas it can usually be accomplished by pushing the period of bloom usual for the second crop two to four weeks forward.

=Renewing.=--When clover is grown for hay, it is not usual to try to renew the crop, because of the short-lived period of the plant. But in some instances it has been found advantageous. On light prairie soils sandy in texture, located in the upper Mississippi basin, it has been found possible to grow timothy meadow for several years in succession with a goodly sprinkling of clover in it without re-seeding. In such instances, the land is not pastured at all, except in seasons quite favorable to growth, and in these the pasturing is not close. The clover plants that grow after the crop has been cut for hay produce seed. The heads in due time break off and are scattered more or less over the soil by the winds. In time they disintegrate, and more or less of the seed germinates, thus forming new plants, some of which, especially in favorable seasons, retain their hold upon the soil. This method may be worthy of imitation in localities where it has been found difficult to get a stand in dry seasons on this class of soils.

When the stand of clover secured is variable, that is to say, partial, as when the clover is abundant in the lower portions of the land and entirely absent on the higher ground, it may be worth while to re-sow the seed on the latter early the following spring. But before doing so, the land should be carefully disked in the fall, and the clover seed harrowed or otherwise covered in the spring. Should the summer following prove favorable, the seed thus sown may produce hay, but not likely in time to be harvested with the other portions of the field. But though it should not produce much hay the seed is likely to be benefited to an extent that will far more than repay the outlay involved in labor and seed.

If the clover has been sown for pasture, the renewal of the same on higher ground may be made as stated above, but with the difference that the same kind or kinds of grain may also be sown at the same time as the clover is becoming rooted.

In pastures, medium red clover may be renewed whenever the attempt is made to renew the pastures, as by disking them and then sowing upon them the seeds of certain grasses or clovers or both. The disking is usually done in the spring and while the frost is out for only a short distance below the surface. The amount of seed to sow need not be large, usually not more than 2 or 3 pounds per acre, especially when seed of other varieties is sown at the same time. One stroke of the harrow following will provide a sufficient covering for the seed.

=Clover as a Fertilizer.=--It would probably be correct to say that no plant has yet been introduced into American agriculture that has been found so generally useful as clover in fertilizing land and in improving the mechanical condition. Some who have investigated claim that there is more nitrogen in a clover sod after the removal of a good crop of clover than will suffice for four average farm crops, more phosphoric acid than will suffice for two, and more potash than will suffice for six. It begins to draw nitrogen from the air as soon as the tubercles commence to form and continues to add thus to the enrichment of the land during all the succeeding period of active growth. As previously stated, the nitrogen is drawn in great part from the air; consequently, soil from which a bountiful crop of clover has been removed will be considerably richer in nitrogen than before it grew the same, and this will hold true as intimated above, even though the crop should be removed and sold. Under the same conditions it will also be true in available phosphoric acid and potash. But the latter are gathered from the soil and subsoil while the plants were growing. Consequently, if crops of clover are grown in short rotation periods and if no fertilizer is given to the land other than the clover brings to it, while it will be abundantly supplied with nitrogen, a time will come when the supply of phosphoric acid and potash may be so reduced that the soil will not grow even good crops of clover. When this point is reached the soil is spoken of as "clover sick." Happily, however, nearly all soils are so well stored with phosphoric acid and potash that this result is not likely to follow for many years. But lest it should, attention should be given to fertilizing the land occasionally with farmyard manure, or with phosphoric acid and potash applied as commercial fertilizers. Because of this, and also for other reasons, it is usually considered more profitable in the end to feed clover on the farm and return it to the land in the form of manure. But clover may cease to grow on land where once it grew well, because of other reasons, such as changes in the mechanical condition of the soil caused by the depletion of its humus and changes in its chemical condition, such as increased acidity. The remedy is the removal of the cause.

The roots also put large quantities of humus in the soil. Where crops are regularly grown in short rotations they will suffice to keep it amply supplied for ordinary production. Because of this it is usually considered more profitable to cut both the crops which medium red clover produces in one season, or to pasture off one or both, than to plow under either as green manure. But when soils are too stiff or too open in character it may be advantageous to bury clover to restore the equilibrium. It may also be necessary to bury an occasional crop in order to put the land quickly in a condition to produce some desired crop, the growth of which calls for large supplies of humus. When clover is plowed under it will usually be found more profitable to bury the second growth of the season than the first. The crop is in the best condition for being plowed under when the plants are coming into bloom. If left until the stems lose their succulence the slow decay following in conjunction with the bulkiness of the mass plowed under might prove harmful to the crop following the clover. The influence of the roots upon the mechanical condition of the soil is most beneficial. The roots go down deep into the subsoil and also abound in fibrous growth. The tap roots in their decay furnish openings through which the superfluous water may go down into the subsoil. The fibers adhering to the main roots so ramify through the soil that when even stiff land is filled with them it is rendered friable, and is consequently brought into a good mechanical condition.

While all varieties of clover may be utilized in producing food and in enriching land, none is equal to the medium red for the two purposes combined. This arises from the fact that none save the medium red grows two crops in one season under ordinary conditions. Though the first crop should be taken for food, as it generally is, there is still ample time for a second crop to grow for plowing under the same season. This second growth is ready for being plowed under when time is less valuable than it would be when the mammoth or alsike varieties would be in season for being thus covered. And yet the work may be done sufficiently early to admit of sowing fall or winter crops on the land which produced the clover.