Clovers and How to Grow Them
by Thomas Shaw · English · Gutenberg #19905 · 554,127 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Clovers and How to Grow Them
Author: Thomas Shaw
Release date: November 23, 2006 [eBook #19905]
Language: English
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[Illustration: Alsike Clover in Northern Wisconsin]
CLOVERS
AND
HOW TO GROW THEM
BY
THOMAS SHAW
Author of "Forage Crops Other than Grasses,"
"The Study of Breeds," "Soiling Crops and
the Silo," "Animal Breeding," "Grasses
and How to Grow Them," etc.
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
1906
COPYRIGHT, 1906
By ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
TO ALL PERSONS
WHO ARE OR MAY BE INTERESTED
IN THE
GROWING OF CLOVERS
THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR
_St. Anthony Park, Minn._
_1906_
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In preparing this work, the chief sources of information beyond the
author's experience and observation have been the bulletins issued by
the various experiment stations in the United States and discussions in
the Agricultural Press.
For the illustrations the author is indebted to Professor A. M. Soule of
the experiment station of Tennessee, Professor H. H. Hume of the
experiment station of Louisiana and Mr. W. T. Shaw of the experiment
station of Oregon.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Some books have been written on Clover in the United States, and as far
as they go they serve a good purpose. Many references and discussions
have also appeared in various bulletins and reports issued by the
experiment stations. These have proved helpful not only in the States in
which they have been issued, but also in other States where the
conditions are similar. But no book or bulletin has yet appeared which
discusses the growth of clovers as applicable to all parts of the United
States and Canada. Nor has any been issued which takes up the subject in
orderly and consecutive sequence. It is evident, therefore, that there
is not only room for a book which will cover the ground with at least
measureable fulness, but also in concise and orderly succession, but
there is great need for it. It has been the aim of the author to write
such a book.
Only those varieties of clover are discussed at length which are
possessed of economic value. The treatment of the subjects is virtually
the same as was adopted in writing the book on "Grasses and How to Grow
Them." Some references are made to the history, characteristics and
distribution of each variety. These are followed by discussions with
reference to soil adaptation; place in the rotation; preparing the
soil; sowing; pasturing; harvesting for hay; securing seed; and renewing
the stand.
The book is intended, in some measure at least, to meet the needs of the
students of agriculture, with reference to the plants discussed and also
of all who are concerned in the tilling of the soil.
_St. Anthony Park, Minn._
_1906_
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. PAGE.
Introductory 1
CHAPTER II.
General Principles for Growing Clovers 6
CHAPTER III.
Medium Red Clover 57
CHAPTER IV.
Alfalfa 114
CHAPTER V.
Alsike Clover 194
CHAPTER VI.
Mammoth Clover 218
CHAPTER VII.
Crimson Clover 238
CHAPTER VIII.
White Clover 258
CHAPTER IX.
Japan Clover 279
CHAPTER X.
Burr Clover 291
CHAPTER XI.
Sweet Clover 300
CHAPTER XII.
Miscellaneous Clovers 316
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE.
1 Alsike Clover--_Frontispiece_.
2 Medium Red 61
3 Alfalfa 115
4 Field of Alfalfa 171
5 Alsike 195
6 Crimson 239
7 White 259
8 Japan 281
9 Sweet 301
10 Sainfoin 318
11 Beggar Weed (Flower and Seed Stems) 339
12 Beggar Weed (Root System) 341
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
In this book all the varieties of clover will be discussed that have
hitherto been found of any considerable value to the agriculture of
America. Varieties that are of but little value to the farmer will be
discussed briefly, if discussed at all. The discussions will be
conducted from the standpoint of the practical agriculturist rather than
from that of the botanist. It is proposed to point out the varieties of
clover worthy of cultivation, where and how they ought to be cultivated,
and for what uses.
=Definition of Clover.=--According to Johnson's Encyclopaedia, clover or
trefoil is a plant of the genus _Trifolium_ and the family _Leguminosae_.
The Standard Dictionary defines it as any one of several species of
plants of the genus _Trifolium_ of the bean family _Leguminosae_. Viewed
from the standpoint of the American farmer it may be defined in the
collective sense as a family of plants leguminous in character, which
are unexcelled in furnishing forage and fodder to domestic animals, and
unequaled in the renovating influences which they exert upon land. The
term _Trefoil_ is given because the leaves are divided into three
leaflets. It is also applied to plants not included in the genus, but
belonging to the same order.
The true clovers have their flowers collected into roundish or oblong
heads and in some instances into cone-shaped spikes. The flowers are
small and of several colors in the different varieties, as crimson,
scarlet, pink, blue, yellow and white, according to the variety, and
some are variously tinted. The stems are herbaceous and not twining. The
seeds are inclosed in pods or seed sacks, each of which contains one,
two and sometimes, but not often, three or four seeds. The plants have
tap roots, and in some varieties these go far down into the subsoil. The
roots are also in some varieties considerably branched.
=Varieties.=--At least twenty varieties, native or naturalized, are
found in Great Britain; more than twelve varieties belong to the United
States. The more valuable varieties found in this country have been
introduced from Europe, unless it be the small white clover (_Trifolium
repens_). Viewed from the standpoint of the agriculturist the varieties
that are most generally useful include medium red clover (_Trifolium
pratense_), alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), alsike (_Trifolium hybridum_),
mammoth (_Trifolium magnum_), crimson (_Trifolium incarnatum_) and small
white (_Trifolium repens_). The varieties which flourish only in the
South include the Japan (_Lespedeza striata_) and the burr clover
(_Medicago denticulata_). Sweet clover (_Melilotus alba_), sometimes
called Bokhara, which will grow equally well North and South, is worthy
of attention because of its power to grow under hard conditions, in
order to provide honey for bees and to renovate soils. Other varieties
may render some service to agriculture, but their value will not compare
with that of the varieties named.
The most valuable of the varieties named in providing pasture, include
the medium red, the mammoth, the alsike and the small white. The most
valuable in providing hay are the medium red, alfalfa and alsike. The
most valuable, viewed from the standpoint only of soil renovation, are
the medium red, mammoth, alsike, crimson, Japan and sweet. The most
valuable in producing honey accessible to tame bees, are the small
white, alsike and sweet.
=Distinguishing Characteristics.=--Clovers differ from one another in
duration, habit of growth, persistence in growth, their power to endure
low or warm temperatures, and ability to maintain a hold upon the soil.
Of the varieties named, alfalfa, the small white and alsike varieties
are perennial. That most intensely so is the first variety named. The
medium red and mammoth varieties are biennial, but sometimes they assume
the perennial quality. Sweet clover is biennial. The crimson, Japan and
burr varieties are annual.
Some varieties, as alfalfa, crimson and sweet clover, are upright in
their habit of growth. Others, as the small white and the burr, are
recumbent. Others again, as the medium red, alsike and mammoth, are
spreading and upright. The alfalfa and medium red varieties grow most
persistently through the whole season. The sweet, small white and alsike
varieties can best endure cold, and the sweet, Japan and burr varieties
can best endure heat. The small white, Japan, burr and sweet clovers
stand highest in ability to maintain a hold upon the soil.
The minor points of difference are such as relate to the shape and color
of the leaves, the tints of shade that characterize the leaflets, the
shape and size of the heads and the distinguishing shades of color in
the blossoms.
The characteristics which they possess in common are the high protein
content found in them, the marked palatability of the pasture and hay,
unless in the sweet and burr varieties, the power which they have to
enrich and otherwise improve soils, and the honey which they furnish.
=Plan of Discussion.=--Chapter I., that is, the present chapter, as
already indicated, is introductory, and outlines the nature, scope and
plan of the work. Chapter II. deals with the general principles and
facts which relate to the growing of clovers. A close study of these
will, in the judgment of the author, prove helpful to those who engage
in growing any of the varieties of clover discussed in the book.
Chapters III. to XI. inclusive treat of individual varieties, a chapter
being devoted to each variety. It has been the aim of the author to
discuss them in the order of the relative importance which they bear to
the whole country and to devote space to them accordingly.
The following varieties are discussed and in the order named: Medium Red
clover, Alfalfa, Alsike, Mammoth, Crimson, Small White, Japan, Burr and
Sweet. All of these varieties will be found worthy of more or less
attention on the part of the husbandmen in the various parts of this
continent.
Chapter XII. is devoted to a brief discussion of miscellaneous varieties
which have as yet been but little grown in this country, or of varieties
of but local interest. The former are Sainfoin (_Onobrychis sativa_),
Egyptian clover (_Trifolium Alexandrianum_), yellow clover (_Medicago
lupulina_), Sand Lucerne (_Medicago media_), and a newly introduced
variety of Japanese clover (_Lespedeza bicolor_). These may prove more
or less valuable to the agriculture of the United States when they have
been duly tested, a work which as yet has been done only in the most
limited way. The latter include Florida clover (_Desmodium tortuosum_),
more frequently called Beggar Weed, Buffalo clover (_Trifolium
reflexum_), and Seaside clover (_Trifolium invulneratum_). These may be
worthy of some attention in limited areas where the conditions are
favorable, but it is not likely that they will ever be very generally
grown. They are dwelt upon rather to show their small economic
importance and with a view to prevent needless experimentation with
plants possessed of so little real merit.
CHAPTER II
SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES WHICH APPLY TO THE GROWING OF CLOVERS
In growing clovers, as in growing other crops of the same species, which
embrace several varieties, certain features of management will apply
more or less to all of these in common. It will be the aim to point out
the chief of these in the present chapter.
=Adaptation in Clovers.=--Adaptation in the varieties of clover
considered will be more fully given when discussing these individually,
but enough will be said here to facilitate comparisons. Clover in one or
the other of its varieties can be grown in almost all parts of the
United States and Canada. Speaking in a general way, the medium and
mammoth varieties can be grown at their best between parallels 37 deg. and
49 deg. north latitude. Alfalfa has special adaptation for mountain valleys
of the entire West, but it will also grow in good form in parts of all,
or nearly all, the other States. Alsike clover grows in about the same
areas as the common and mammoth varieties, but it may also be grown
further North, owing to its greater hardihood. Crimson clover has
highest adaptation to the States east of the Allegheny Mountains and
west of the Cascades, but will also grow in the more Central States
south, in which moisture is abundant. Small white clover will grow in
any part of the United States or Canada in which moisture is
sufficiently present. Japan and burr clover grow best south of parallel
37 deg. and east of longitude 98 deg.. Sweet clover will grow in all the States
and provinces of the United States and Canada, but has highest
adaptation for the Central and Southern States.
With reference to adaptation to soils, medium and mammoth clover grow
best on upland clay loam soils, such as have sustained a growth of
hardwood timber, and on the volcanic ash soils of the Western mountain
valley. Alfalfa flourishes best on those mountain valley soils when
irrigated, or when these are so underlaid with water as to furnish the
plants with moisture. Alsike clover has much the same adaptation to
soils as the medium and mammoth varieties, but will grow better than
these on low-lying soils well stored with humus. Crimson clover has
highest adaptation for sandy loam soils into which the roots can
penetrate easily. Small, white clover has adaptation for soils very
similar to that of alsike clover. Japan clover and burr clover will grow
on almost any kind of soil, but on good soils the growth will, of
course, be much more vigorous than on poor soils. Sweet clover seems to
grow about equally well on sandy loams and clay loams, but it has also
much power to grow in stiff clays and even in infertile sands.
=Place in the Rotation.=--All the varieties of clover discussed in this
volume may be grown in certain rotations. Their adaptation for this use,
however, differs much. This increases as the natural period of the life
of the plant lessens and _vice versa_. Consequently, the medium red
variety, the mammoth, the crimson, the Japan and the burr varieties
stand high in such adaptation. The alsike, living longer, is lower in
its adaptation, and alfalfa, because of its long life, stands lowest in
this respect. The small, white variety is almost invariably grown or
found growing spontaneously along with grasses, hence no definite place
has been or can be assigned to it in the rotation. Sweet clover being
regarded by many as a weed has not had any place assigned to it in a
regular rotation, although in certain localities it may yet be grown for
purposes of soil renovation. (See page 306.)
All these crops are leguminous without any exception. This fact is of
great significance where crops can be rotated. They have power to gather
nitrogen from the air and store it in the soil in tubercles which form
on their roots, in all soils in which they produce a vigorous growth.
This fact indicates where they should come in the rotation. They should
be grown with a view to gather food for other crops made to follow them,
which have not the same power. They should, therefore, be made to
precede such crops as the small cereals, corn, the sorghums, the millets
and cotton. But since these clover plants have the power to bring
nitrogen from the air, it must not be supposed that they will grow with
sufficient vigor in soils destitute of this element. They must be able
to appropriate enough from the seed soil to give them a good start
before they can draw nitrogen from the air, hence, though they may be
made to follow almost any kind of crop, it may sometimes be necessary to
apply some nitrogenous fertilizer before they will make a vigorous
growth.
The clovers, unless in the case of some of the smaller varieties, are
more commonly sown to provide hay than pasture in the first crops
obtained from them. The value of the hay is increased or lessened in
proportion as weeds are present. To insure cleanliness in the hay crop,
therefore, the system which aims to sow clover seed on land to which
clean cultivation has been given while growing on them a cultivated
crop, as corn or field roots, meets with much favor. The mechanical
condition of the soil immediately after growing these crops also favors
the vigorous growth of the young clover plants, more especially when
they are sown upon the surface of the land after some form of surface
cultivation, rather than upon a surface made by plowing the land after
cultivation has been given to it, but to this there may be some
exceptions.
Clover in some of its varieties is frequently grown from year to year in
orchards and for the two-fold purpose of gathering food for the trees
and providing for them a cover crop in winter. The medium red and
crimson varieties are preferred for such a use. The latter is the more
suitable of the two, since it does not draw on soil moisture needed by
the trees, owing to the season at which it is grown. Enough of the seed
of these crops may be allowed to mature to re-seed the land from year to
year, and thus keep it producing. The clover plants not only gather
nitrogen for the fruit trees, but in their decay they increase the power
of the soil to retain moisture for the benefit of the trees.
Some varieties of clover may be grown as catch crops, that is, as crops
which are grown in addition to some other crop produced the same season.
When thus grown, it is usually for purposes of soil improvement rather
than to furnish food. The varieties best adapted for this purpose in the
Northern States and Canada are the medium red and the crimson, the
latter being much more circumscribed in the area where it will grow
successfully than the former. When medium red clover is thus grown, it
is commonly sown along with one of the small cereal grains, and is
buried in the autumn or in the following spring. (See page 75.) The
extent of the advantage is dependent chiefly on the amount of the growth
made, and this in turn is influenced by the character of the soil, the
season, and the nurse crop. In certain areas favorable to the growth of
clover some good farmers sow clover along with all the small cereal
grains which they grow. Crimson clover is usually sown in the late
summer after some crop has been reaped and it is plowed under the
following spring. (See page 250.)
In the Southern States Japan clover and burr clover will serve the
purpose of catch crops better than the other varieties. The former will
follow a winter crop (see page 284), and the latter a summer crop. (See
page 294.)
Although alfalfa is not usually looked upon as a rotation crop in the
Rocky Mountain valleys, it may be made such a crop. In these it grows
so vigorously as to fill the soil with its roots in one or two seasons,
hence it may be made to rotate profitably with other crops. (See page
135.) In such instances, however, medium red clover would probably
answer the purpose quite as well, and possibly better, since the labor
of burying it with the plow would be less difficult.
While some varieties of clover may be grown in various rotations and
with profit, one of the best of these, where the conditions are
favorable, is a three years' rotation. The first year some small cereal
grain is grown and clover is sown along with it or, at least, on the
same land. The next year the clover is grown for hay or pasture. The
third year a crop of corn, potatoes or vegetables is grown, and the
following year small cereal grain and clover. The clover may thus be
made to furnish nitrogen indefinitely for the other crops, but in some
instances it may be necessary to add phosphoric acid and potash.
=Preparing the Soil.=--Clovers are usually sown with a nurse crop. The
exceptions are crimson clover, and in many instances alfalfa. When thus
grown, the preparation of soil for the nurse crop will usually suffice
for the clovers also. But there may be instances in which it would be
proper to give more attention to cleaning and pulverizing the soil to
properly fit it for receiving the clover seed. The leading essentials in
a seed-bed for clover are fineness, cleanness, moistness and firmness.
Ordinarily black loam soils, sandy loam soils, sandy soils, humus soils
and the volcanic ash soils of the West are made sufficiently fine
without great labor. Clay soils may call for the free use of the harrow
and roller used in some sort of alternation before they are sufficiently
pulverized. Excessive fineness in pulverization of these soils is also
to be guarded against in rainy climates, lest they run together, but
this condition is present far less frequently than the opposite.
Cleanness can usually be secured when clovers follow cultivated crops by
the labor given to these when the land is not plowed in preparing it for
the clovers. In other instances the longer the land is plowed before
putting in the seed and the more frequently the surface is stirred
during the growing part of the season, the cleaner will the seed-bed be.
In the spring the land is usually sufficiently moist for receiving the
seed. In the autumn moisture is frequently deficient. Stirring the
surface of the soil occasionally with the harrow will materially
increase the moisture content in the soil near the surface, even in the
absence of rain. As crimson clover is usually sown in the late summer
and alfalfa is frequently sown in the autumn, it may sometimes be
necessary to give much attention to securing sufficient moisture to
insure germination in the seed.
When clovers are sown in the spring on land which is also growing a
winter crop, no preparation is necessary in preparing the land for
receiving the seed. On some soils the ground becomes sufficiently
honeycombed through the agency of water and frost to put it in a fine
condition for receiving the seed. When this condition is not present,
the seed will usually grow if sown amid the grain and covered with the
harrow.
When clovers are sown on sod land for the purpose of renewing pastures,
disking them will prepare them for receiving the seed. The extent of the
disking will depend on such conditions as the toughness of the sod and
the nature of the soil. Usually disking once when the frost is out a
little way from the surface, and then disking across at an angle will
suffice, and in some instances disking one way only will be sufficient.
On newly cleared lands the clovers will usually grow without any
stirring of the land before sowing, or any harrowing after sowing.
Clovers that are grown chiefly for pasture, as the small white, the
Japan and the burr, will usually obtain a hold upon the soil if
scattered upon the surface which is not soon to be cultivated.
=Fertilizers.=--On certain soils low in fertility and much deficient in
humus, it may be necessary to apply fertilizers in some form before
clovers will grow vigorously. Such are sandy soils that have been much
worn by cropping, and also stiff clays in which the humus has become
practically exhausted. In such instances green crops that can be grown
on such lands, as rye, for instance, plowed under when the ear begins to
shoot, will be found helpful. If this can be followed on the sandy soil
with some crop to be fed off upon the land, as corn, for instance, and
the clover is sown, successful growth is likely to follow. On clays in
the condition named it may not be necessary to grow a second crop before
sowing clover, since in these soils the lack is more one of humus than
of plant food. The application of farmyard manure will answer the same
purpose, if it can be spared for such a use.
Other soils are so acid that clovers will not grow on them until the
acidity is corrected, notwithstanding that plant food may be present in
sufficient quantities. Such are soils, in some instances at least, that
have been newly drained, also soils that grow such plants as sorrels.
This condition will be improved if not entirely corrected by the
application of lime. On such soils this is most cheaply applied in the
air-slaked form, such as is used in plastering and in quantities to
effect the end sought. These will vary, and can only be ascertained
positively by experiment.
Usually it is not necessary to apply much farmyard manure in order to
induce growth in nearly all varieties of clover, and after free growth
is obtained, it is not usually necessary to supply any subsequently for
the specific purpose named. In some soils, however, alfalfa is an
exception. It may be necessary to enrich these with a liberal dressing
of farmyard manure to insure a sufficiently strong growth in the plants
when they are young. Having passed the first winter, further dressings
are not absolutely essential, though they may prove helpful.
Farmyard manure applied on the surface will always stimulate the growth
of clovers, but it is not common to apply manure thus, as the need for
it is greater in growing the other crops of the farm. When thus applied,
it should be in a form somewhat reduced, otherwise the coarse parts may
rake up in the hay. It is better applied in the autumn or early winter
than in the spring, as then more of the plant food in it has reached the
roots of the clover plants, and they have also received benefit from the
protection which it has furnished them in winter.
In a great majority of instances, soils are sufficiently well supplied
with the more essential elements of fertility to grow reasonably good
crops of clover, hence it has not usually been found necessary to apply
commercial fertilizers to stimulate growth, as in the growing of
grasses. In some instances, however, these are not sufficiently
available, especially is this true of potash. Gypsum or land plaster has
been often used to correct this condition, and frequently with excellent
results. It also aids in fixing volatile and escaping carbonates of
ammonia, and conveys them to the roots of the clover plants. It is
applied in the ground form by sowing it over the land, and more commonly
just when the clover is beginning to grow. The application of 50 to 200
pounds per acre has in many instances greatly increased the growth,
whether as pasture, hay or seed. The following indications almost
certainly point to the need of dressings of land plaster: 1. When the
plants assume a bluish-green tint, rather than a pea-green, while they
are growing. 2. When the plants fail to yield as they once did. 3. When
young plants die after they have begun to grow in the presence of
sufficient moisture. 4. When good crops can only be grown at long
intervals, as, say, 5 to 8 years. It has also been noticed that on some
soils where gypsum has long been used in growing clover the response to
applications of the plaster is a waning one, due doubtless to the too
rapid depletion of the potash in the soil.
Potassic fertilizers give the best results when applied to clovers, but
dressings of phosphoric acid may also be helpful. Applications of
muriate or sulphate of potash or kainit may prove profitable, but on
many soils they are not necessary in growing clover. Wood ashes are also
excellent. They furnish potash finely divided and soluble, especially
when applied in the unleached form. When applied unleached at the rate
of 50 bushels per acre and leached at the rate of 200 bushels, the
results are usually very marked in stimulating growth in clover.
=Seasons for Sowing.=--Clovers are more commonly sown in the springtime
in the Northern States and Canada than at any other season and they are
usually sown early in the spring, rather than late. On land producing a
winter crop, as rye or wheat, they can be sown in a majority of
instances as soon as the snow has melted. That condition of soil known
as honeycombed furnishes a peculiarly opportune time for sowing these
seeds, as it provides a covering for them while the land is moist, and
thus puts them in a position to germinate as soon as growth begins. Such
a condition, caused by alternate freezing and thawing, does not occur on
sandy soils. Where it does not so occur, sowing ought to be deferred
until the surface of the ground has become dry enough to admit of
covering with a harrow. As in sowing the seeds of certain grasses good
results usually follow sowing just after a light fall of snow, which, as
it melts, carries the seed down into the little openings in the soil.
But there are areas, especially in the American and Canadian northwest,
where in some seasons the young clover plants would be injured from
sowing the seed quite early. This, however, does not occur very
frequently. When sown on spring crops, as spring wheat, barley and oats,
the seed cannot, of course, be sown until these crops are sown. The
earlier that these crops are sown the more likely are the clovers sown
to make a stand, as they have more time to become rooted before the dry
weather of summer begins. In a moist season the seed could be safely
sown any time from spring until mid-summer, but since the weather cannot
be forecast, it is considered more or less hazardous to sow clovers in
these northern areas at any other season than that of early spring. If
sown later, the seed will more certainly make a stand without a nurse
crop, since it will get more moisture. If sown later than August, the
young plants are much more liable to perish in the winter.
In the States which lie between parallels 40 deg. and 35 deg. north, and between
the Atlantic and the 100th meridian west, clover seeds may be sown in
one form or another from early spring until the early autumn without
incurring much hazard from winter killing in the young plants, but here
also early spring sowing will prove the most satisfactory. The hazard
from sowing in the summer comes chiefly from want of sufficient moisture
to germinate the seed.
In the Southern States the seed is sown in the early spring or in the
autumn. If sown late, the heat of summer is much against the plants.
Seeds sown in the early autumn as soon as the rains come will make a
good stand before the winter, but there are some soils in the South in
which alternate freezing and thawing in winter, much more frequent than
in the North, would injure and in some instances destroy the plants.
In the Western valleys where irrigation is practiced, clover seeds may
be sown at any time that may be desired, from the early spring until the
early autumn. The ability to apply water when it is needed insures
proper germination in the seed and vigor in the young plants.
=Methods of Sowing.=--Clover seed may be sown by hand, by hand machines,
and by the grain drill, with or without a grass-seed sowing attachment.
These respective methods of sowing will be discussed briefly here, but
since they are practically the same as the methods to be followed in
sowing grass seeds, and since they are discussed more fully in the book
"Grasses and How to Grow Them" by the author, readers who wish to pursue
the subject further are referred to the book just named.
When clovers are sown by hand, usually but one hand is used. Enough seed
is lifted between the thumb and two forefingers of the right hand to
suffice for scattering by one swing of the same. On the return trip
across the field the seed should be made to overlap somewhat the seed
sown when going in the opposite direction. In other words, the seed is
sown in strips or bands, as it were, each strip being finished in one
round. Some sowers, more expert at their work, sow with both hands and
complete the strip each time they walk over the field. When the ground
is plowed in lands of moderate width the furrows will serve to enable
the sower to sow in straight lines. Where the sowing is done on land
sown to grain by the drill, the drill marks may be made to effect the
same result. When sown on light snows, the foot-marks will serve as
guides. In the absence of marks it will be necessary to use stakes to
guide the sower. Four stakes are used, two of which are set at each end
of the field, and these are moved as each cast is made. At each round
made over the field, from 12 feet to 15 feet may be sown by the sower
who sows only with one hand. The sower with two hands will accomplish
twice as much.
A comparatively still time should be chosen for sowing the seed by hand,
more especially when grass seeds, which are usually lighter, are sown at
the same time. In hand sowing much care is necessary in scattering the
seed, so that each cast of the seed will spread evenly as it falls,
leaving no bare spaces between the cast from the hand or between the
strips sown at one time. Hand sowing, especially in the Western States,
is in a sense a lost art, owing to the extent to which machine sowing is
practised; nevertheless, it is an accomplishment which every farmer
should possess, since it will oftentimes be found very convenient when
sowing small quantities of seed, and in sowing seeds in mixtures which
cannot be so well sown by machines.
Hand machines are of various kinds. Those most in favor for ordinary
sowing consist of a seeder wheeled over the ground on a frame resembling
that of a wheelbarrow. It sows about 12 feet in width at each cast of
the seed. It enables the sower to sow the seed while considerable wind
is blowing and to sow it quite evenly, but it is not adapted to the
sowing of all kinds of grass and clover mixtures, which it may be
desirable to sow together, since they do not always feed out evenly,
owing to a difference in size, in weight, in shape and in the character
of the covering.
When clover seed is sown with the grain drill, it is sometimes sown
separately from grain; that is, without a nurse crop, and is deposited
in the soil by the same tubes. But it is only some makes of drills that
will do this. Clover seed, and especially alfalfa, may be thus sown with
much advantage on certain of the Western and Southern soils, especially
on those that are light and open in character, and when the seed is to
be put in without a nurse crop. Eastern soils are usually too heavy to
admit of depositing the seed thus deeply, but to this there are some
exceptions.
When sown with a nurse crop, the seed is in some instances mixed with
the grain before it is sown. In some instances it is mixed before it is
brought to the field. At other times it is added when the grain has been
put in the seed-box of the drill. This method of sowing is adapted to
certain soils of the Western prairies and to very open soils in some
other localities, but under average conditions it buries seeds too
deeply. There is the further objection that they all grow in the line of
the grain plants and are more shaded than they would be otherwise.
Nevertheless, under some conditions this method of sowing the plants is
usually satisfactory.
One of the most satisfactory methods of sowing clover seeds along with a
nurse crop is to sow the clover with a "seeder attachment;" that is, an
attachment for sowing small seeds, which will deposit the same before or
behind the grain tubes as may be desired. The seed is thus sown at the
same time as the grain, and in the process is scattered evenly over the
surface of the ground. These seeder attachments, however, will not sow
all kinds of clover and grass mixtures any more than will hand-sowing
machines do the same.
=Depth to Bury the Seed.=--The depth to bury the seed varies with the
conditions of soil, climate and season. Clover seeds, like those of
grasses, are buried most deeply in the light soils of the prairie so
light that they sink, so as to make walking over them unusually tiresome
when working on newly plowed land, and in other instances so light as to
lift with the wind. On such soils the seeds may be buried to the depth
of 2 to 3 inches. On loam soils, a covering of 1 inch or less would be
ample, and on stiff clays the covering may even be lighter under normal
conditions.
Clover seeds are buried more deeply in dry than in moist climates, and
also more deeply in dry portions of the year than when moisture is
sufficient. While it may be proper in some instances to scatter the
seeds on the surface without any covering other than is furnished by
rain or frost, it will be very necessary at other seasons to provide a
covering to insure a stand of the seed.
When clover seed is sown on ground honeycombed with frost, no covering
is necessary. When sown on winter grain in the spring, the ground not
being so honeycombed, covering with the harrow is usually advantageous.
When sown on spring crops and early in the season, it may not be
necessary to cover the seed, except by using the roller, even though the
seed should fall behind the grain tubes while the grain crop is being
sown, or should be sown subsequently by hand. In other instances the
harrow should be used, and sometimes both the roller and the harrow.
Under conditions such as appertain to New England and the adjacent
States to Ontario and the provinces east and to the land west of the
Cascade Mountains, clover and also grass seeds do not require so much of
a covering as when sown on the prairie soils of the central portion of
the continent.
=Sowing Alone or in Combinations.=--Whether clover seed should be sown
alone or in combination with the seeds of other grasses will depend upon
the object sought in sowing it. When sown to produce seed, it is usually
sown without admixture, but not in every instance; when sown to produce
hay, it is nearly always sown in mixtures, but to this there are some
exceptions; when sown to produce pasture, it is almost invariably sown
with something else; and when sown to enrich the land, it is, in all,
or nearly all, instances, sown without admixture.
When sown primarily to produce seed, there are no good reasons why
timothy and probably some other grasses may not be sown with medium red
and mammoth clover, when pasture is wanted from the land in the season
or seasons immediately following the production of seed.
The presence of these grasses may not seriously retard the growth of the
clover plants until after they have produced seed, and subsequently they
will grow more assertively and produce pasture as the clover fails.
Moreover, should they mature any seed at the same time that the clover
seeds mature, they may usually be separated in the winnowing process,
owing to a difference in the size of the seeds. But timothy should not
be sown with alsike clover that is being grown for seed, since the seeds
of these are so nearly alike in size that they cannot be separated.
When hay is wanted, the practice is very common of sowing timothy along
with the medium red, mammoth and alsike varieties of clover. Timothy
grows well with each of these; supports them to some extent when likely
to lodge; matures at the same time as the mammoth and alsike clovers;
comes on more assertively as the clovers begin to fail, thus prolonging
the period of cropping or pasturing; and feeds upon the roots of the
clovers in their decay.
Next to timothy, redtop is probably the most useful grass to sow with
these clovers, and may in some instances be added to timothy in the
mixtures. Some other grasses may also be added under certain conditions,
or substituted for timothy or redtop. In certain instances, it has also
been found profitable to mix certain of the clovers in addition to
adding grass seeds when hay is wanted. The more important of these
mixtures will be referred to when treating of growing the different
varieties in subsequent chapters. When growing them, the aim should be
to sow those varieties together which mature about the same time. The
advantages from growing them together for hay include larger yields, a
finer quality of hay, and a more palatable fodder.
In the past it has been the almost uniform practice to sow alfalfa
alone, but this practice is becoming modified to some extent, and is
likely to become more so in the future, especially when grown for
pasture.
When sown to produce pasture, unless for one or two seasons, clover seed
is sown in various mixtures of grasses in all or nearly all instances.
The grasses add to the permanency of the pastures, while the clovers
usually furnish abundant grazing more quickly than the grasses. Several
of them, however, are more short-lived than grasses usually are, hence
the latter are relied upon to furnish grazing after the clovers have
begun to fail. In laying down permanent pastures, the seed of several
varieties is usually sown, but in moderate quantities. The larger the
number of the varieties sown that are adapted to the conditions, the
more varied, the more prolonged and the more ample is the grazing
likely to be.
When clovers, except the crimson variety, are sown for the exclusive
purpose of adding to the fertility of the land, they are usually sown
along with some other crop that is to be harvested, the clover being
plowed under the following autumn or the next spring. These are usually
sown without being mixed with other varieties, and the two kinds most
frequently sown primarily to enrich the land are the medium red and
crimson varieties. The former grows more quickly than other varieties,
and the latter, usually sown alone, comes after some crop already
harvested, and is buried in time to sow some other crop on the same land
the following spring.
=Sowing with or without a Nurse Crop.=--Nearly all varieties of clover
are usually sown with a nurse crop; that is, a crop which provides shade
for the plants when they are young and delicate. But the object in
sowing with a nurse crop is not so much to secure protection to the
young plants as to get them established in the soil, so that they will
produce a full crop the following season. Two varieties, however, are
more commonly sown alone. These are alfalfa and crimson clover.
Alfalfa is more commonly sown alone because the young plants are
somewhat delicate and easily crowded out by other plants amid which they
are growing. Because of the several years during which alfalfa will
produce crops when once established, it is deemed proper to sacrifice a
nurse crop in order to get a good stand of the young plants. The other
clovers are usually able to make a sufficient stand, though grown along
with a nurse crop. In some situations alfalfa will also do similarly,
as, for instance, where the conditions are very favorable to its growth.
Crimson clover is more commonly sown alone for the reason, first, that
it is frequently sown at a season when other crops are not being sown;
second, that it grows better without a nurse crop; and third, that if
grown with a nurse crop the latter would have to be used in the same way
as the clover.
Some have advocated sowing clovers without a nurse crop under any
conditions. Such advocacy in the judgment of the author is not wise. It
is true that in some instances a stand of the various clovers is more
certainly assured when they are sown without a nurse crop, but in such
situations it is at least questionable if it would not be better to sow
some other crop as a substitute for clover. But there may be instances,
as where clover will make a good crop of hay the year that it is sown,
when sowing it thus would be justifiable. In a majority of instances,
however, it will not make such a crop, because of the presence of weeds,
which, in the first place, would hinder growth, and in the second, would
injure the quality of the hay.
The nurse crops with which clovers may be sown are the small cereal
grains, as rye, barley, wheat and oats. Sometimes they are sown with
flax, rape and millet. They usually succeed best when sown along with
rye and barley, since these shade them less and are cut earlier, thus
making less draft on moisture in the soil and admitting sunlight at an
earlier period. Oats make the least advantageous nurse crop, because of
the denseness of the shade, but if they are sown thinly and cut for hay
soon after they come into head, they are then a very suitable nurse
crop. One chief objection to flax as a nurse crop is that it is commonly
sown late. The chief virtue in rape as a nurse crop is that the shade is
removed early through pasturing. The millets are objectionable as nurse
crops through the denseness of the shade which they furnish and also
because of the heavy draught which they make on soil moisture. Peas and
vetches should not be used as nurse crops, since they smother the young
clover plants through lodging in the advanced stages of their growth.
=Amounts of Seed to Sow.=--The amounts of clover seed to sow are
influenced by the object sought in sowing; by combinations with which
the seeds are sown, and by the relative size of the seeds. The soil and
climate should also be considered, although these influences are
probably less important than those first named.
When clovers are sown for pasture only, or to fertilize the soil
speedily and to supply it with humus, the largest amounts of seed are
sown. But for these purposes it is seldom necessary to use more than 12
pounds of seed per acre. These amounts refer to the medium red and
mammoth varieties, which are more frequently used than the other
varieties for the purposes named. They also include the crimson sown
usually to fertilize the soil. When sown to provide seed only, 12 pounds
per acre of the medium red, mammoth and crimson varieties will usually
suffice. Half the quantity of alsike will be enough, and one-third the
quantity of the small white, or a little more than that. Whether alfalfa
is grown for seed, for hay or for pasture, about the same amounts of
seed are used; that is, 15 to 20 pounds per acre. When sown with nurse
crops and simply to improve the soil, it is customary to sow small
rather than large quantities of seed, and for the reason that the hazard
of failure to secure a stand every season is too considerable to justify
the outlay. From 4 to 5 pounds per acre are frequently sown and of the
medium or mammoth variety.
When the mammoth and medium varieties of clover are sown for hay with
one or two kinds of grass only, it is not common to sow more than 6 to 8
pounds of either per acre. The maximum amount of the seed of the alsike
required when thus sown with grasses may be set down at 5 pounds per
acre. These three varieties are chiefly used for such mixtures. With
more varieties of grass in the mixtures, the quantities of clover seed
used will decrease. When clovers are sown with mixtures intended for
permanent pastures, it would not be possible to name the amounts of seed
to sow without knowing the grasses used also, but it may be said that,
as a rule, in those mixtures, the clovers combined seldom form more than
one-third of the seed used.
The seeds of some varieties of clover are less than one-third of the
size of other varieties. This, therefore, affects proportionately, or at
least approximately so, the amounts of seed required. For instance,
while it might be proper to sow 12 pounds of medium or mammoth clover to
accomplish a certain result, less than one-third of the quantity of the
small white variety would suffice for the same end.
The influences of climate and soil on the quantities of seed required
are various, so various that to consider them fully here would unduly
prolong the discussion. But it may be said that the harder the
conditions in both respects, the more the quantity of seed required and
_vice versa_.
=Pasturing.=--When clover seed is sown in nurse crops that are matured
before being harvested, the pasturing of the stand secured the autumn
following is usually to be avoided. Removing the covering which the
plants have provided for themselves is against their passing through the
winter in the best form. In some instances the injury proves so serious
as to result in a loss of all, or nearly all, the plants. The colder the
winters, the less the normal snowfall and the more the deficiency of
moisture, the greater is the hazard. But in some instances so great is
the growth of the clover plants that not to graze them down in part at
least would incur the danger of smothering many of the plants,
especially in regions where the snowfall is at all considerable.
But when the seed is sown alone or in mixtures of grain and even of
other grasses in the spring, grazing the same season will have the
effect of strengthening the plants. This result is due chiefly to the
removal of the shade that weeds and other plants would furnish were
they not thus eaten down, but it is also due in part to the larger share
of soil moisture that is thus left for the clover plants. Pasturing
clover sown thus should be avoided when the ground is so wet as to poach
or become impact in consequence. Unless on light, spongy soils which
readily lose their moisture, such grazing should not begin until the
plants have made considerable growth, nor should it be too close, or
root development in the pastures will be hindered.
It would not be possible to fix the stage of growth when the grazing
should begin on clover fields kept for pasture subsequent to the season
of sowing. The largest amount of food would be furnished if grazing were
deferred until the blossoming stage were reached and the crop were then
grazed down quickly. But this is not usually practicable, hence the
grazing usually begins at a period considerably earlier. In general,
however, the plants should not be grazed down very closely, or growth
will be more or less hindered.
Grazing clover in the spring and somewhat closely for several weeks
after growth begins, has been thought conducive to abundant seed
production. This result is due probably to the greater increase in the
seed heads that follow such grazing. This would seem to explain why
clover that has been judiciously grazed produces even more seed than
that clipped off by the mower after it has begun to grow freely.
In nearly all localities the grazing of medium red clover, and even of
mammoth clover, somewhat closely in the autumn of the second year, is to
be practised rather than avoided. These two varieties being essentially
biennial in their habit of growth will not usually survive the second
winter, even though not grazed, hence not to graze them would result in
a loss of the pasture.
With nearly all kinds of clover there is some danger from bloat in
grazing them with cattle or sheep while yet quite succulent, and the
danger is intensified when the animals are turned in to graze with empty
stomachs or when the clover is wet with dew or rain. When such bloating
occurs, for the method of procedure see page 95. The danger that bloat
will be produced is lessened in proportion as other grasses abound in
the pastures.
=Harvesting.=--All the varieties of clover, except alfalfa, are best cut
for hay when in full bloom. Here and there a head may have turned brown.
If cut earlier, the crop is difficult to cure, nor will it contain a
maximum of nutriment. If cut later it loses much in palatability.
Alfalfa should be cut a little earlier, or just when it is nicely coming
into bloom, as if cut later the shedding of the leaves in the curing is
likely to be large.
All clovers are much injured by exposure to rain or dew. They will also
lose much if cured in the swath, without being frequently stirred with
the tedder; that is, it will take serious injury if cured in the swath
as it fell from the mower. If cured thus, it will lose in aroma and
palatability, through the breaking of leaves and, consequently, in
feeding value. To avoid these losses, clover is more frequently cured in
the cock. When cured thus, it preserves the bright green color, the
aroma and the tint of the blossoms, it is less liable to heat in the mow
or stack and is greatly relished by live stock when fed to them.
To cure it thus, it is usually tedded once or twice after it has lost
some of its moisture. It is then raked as soon as it is dried enough to
rake easily, and put up into cocks. When the quantity to be cured is not
large caps are sometimes used to cover the cocks to shed the rain when
the weather is showery. These are simply square strips of some kind of
material that will shed rain, weighted at the corners to keep them from
blowing away. The clover remains in the cocks for two or three days, or
until it has gone through the "sweating" process. Exposure to two or
three showers of rain falling at intervals while partially cured in the
swath or winrow will greatly injure clover hay.
When the area to be harvested is large, clover is sometimes cured in the
swath. When thus cured it is stirred with the tedder often enough to aid
in curing the hay quickly. It is then raked into winrows and drawn from
these to the place of storage. In good weather clover may be cured thus
so as to make fairly good hay, but not so good as is made by the other
method of curing. It is much more expeditiously made, but there is some
loss in leaves, in color and in palatability.
Some farmers cure clover by allowing it to wilt a little after it is
cut, and then drawing and storing it in a large mow. They claim that it
must be entirely free from rain or dew when thus stored. This plan of
curing clover has been successfully practised by some farmers for many
years; others who have tried it have failed, which makes it evident that
when stored thus, close attention must be given to all the details
essential to success.
Clover may also be cured in the silo. While some have succeeded in
making good ensilage, in many cases it has not proved satisfactory. The
time may come when the conditions to be observed in making good silage
from clover will be such that the element of hazard in making the same
will be removed. In the meantime, it will usually be more satisfactory
to cure clover in the ordinary way.
Grasses cure more easily and more quickly than clovers. Consequently,
when these are grown together so that the grasses form a considerable
proportion of the hay, the methods followed in curing the grasses will
answer also for the clovers. For these methods the reader is referred to
the book "Grasses and How to Grow Them" by the author. The influence
that grasses thus exert on the growing of clovers furnishes a weighty
reason for growing them together.
=Storing.=--Clovers are ready to store when enough moisture has left the
stems to prevent excessive fermentation when put into the place of
storage. Hay that has been cured in the cock is much less liable to heat
when stored so as to produce mould, than hay cured in the swath or
winrow. The former has already gone through the heating process or, at
least, partially so. Some experience is necessary to enable one to be
quite sure as to the measure of the fitness of hay for being stored.
When it can be pitched without excessive labor it is ready for being
stored, but the unskilled will not likely be able to judge of this
accurately. If a wisp is taken some distance from the top of the winrow
or cock and twisted between the hands, if moisture exudes it is too
damp, and if the hay breaks asunder readily it is too dry. When no
moisture is perceptible and yet the wisp does not break asunder, the hay
is ready to be drawn. Care must be taken that the wisp chosen be
representative of the mass of the hay. To make sure of this, the test
should be applied several times.
Where practicable the aim should be to store clover hay under cover,
owing to the little power which it has to shed rain in the stack. This
is only necessary, however, in climates with considerable rainfall
during the year and where irrigation is practised, as in the mountain
States clover hay may be kept in the stack without any loss from rain,
and it can be cured exactly as the ranchman may desire, since he is
never embarrassed when making hay by bad weather. When storing clovers,
the time of the day at which it is stored influences the keeping
qualities of the hay. Hay stored at noontide may keep properly, whereas,
if the same were stored while dew is falling it might be too damp for
being thus stored.
Much care should be taken in stacking clover hay that it may shed rain
properly. The following should be observed among other rules of less
importance that may be given: 1. Make a foundation of rails, poles or
old straw or hay that will prevent the hay near the ground from taking
injury from the ground moisture. 2. Keep the heart of the stack highest
from the first and the slope gradual and even from the center toward the
sides. 3. Keep the stack evenly trodden, or it will settle unevenly, and
the stack will lean to one side accordingly. 4. Increase the diameter
from the ground upward until ready to draw in or narrow to form the top.
5. Aim to form the top by gradual rather than abrupt narrowing. 6. Top
out by using some other kind of hay or grass that sheds the rain better
than clover. 7. Suspend weights to some kind of ropes, stretching over
the top of the stack to prevent the wind from removing the material put
on to protect the clover from rain.
=Feeding.=--The clovers furnish a ration more nearly in balance than
almost any other kind of food. If the animals to which they are fed
could consume enough of them to produce the desired end, concentrated
foods would not be wanted. They are so bulky, however, relatively, that
to horses and mules at work, to dairy cows in milk and cattle that are
being fattened, to sheep under similar conditions, and to swine, it is
necessary to add the concentrated grain foods, more or less, according
to the precise object. But for horses, mules, cattle, sheep and goats
that are growing subsequent to the weaning stage, and for mature animals
of these respective classes not producing, that is, not yielding
returns, a good quality of clover hay will suffice for a considerable
time at least without the necessity of adding any other food.
It is considered inferior to timothy as a fodder for horses. This
preference is doubtless owing largely to the fact, first, that clover
breaks up more and loses more leaves when being handled, especially when
being transported; and second, that clover is frequently cured so
imperfectly as to create dust from over-fermentation or through breaking
of the leaves, because of being over-dried, and the dust thus created is
prejudicial to the health of these animals. It tends to produce
"heaves." This may in part be obviated by sprinkling the hay before it
is fed. When clover is properly cured, it is a more nutritious hay than
timothy, and is so far preferable for horses, but since timothy
transports in much better form, it is always likely to be more popular
in the general market than clover. The possibility of feeding clover to
horses for successive years without any evils resulting is made very
apparent from feeding alfalfa thus in certain areas of the West.
Clover hay is specially useful as a fodder for milk-producing animals,
owing to the high protein content which it contains. Dairymen prefer it
to nearly all kinds of fodders grown, and the same is true of shepherds.
When very coarse, however, a considerable proportion of the stems is
likely to be left uneaten, especially by sheep. Because of this it
should be the aim to grow it so that this coarseness of stem will not be
present. This is accomplished, first, by growing it thickly, and second,
by growing the clovers in combination with one another and also with
certain of the grasses.
Clovers are especially helpful in balancing the ration where corn is the
principal food crop grown. The protein of the clover crop aids greatly
in balancing the excess of carbo-hydrates in the corn crop, hence much
attention should be given to the production of clovers in such areas.
=Renewing.=--Because of the comparatively short life of several of the
most useful of the varieties of clover, no attempt is usually made to
renew them when they fail, unless when growing in pasture somewhat
permanent in character. To this, however, there may be some exceptions.
On certain porous soils it has been found possible to maintain medium
red clover and also the mammoth and alsike varieties for several years
by simply allowing some of the seed to ripen in the autumn, and in this
way to re-seed the land, a result made possible through moderate grazing
of the meadow in the autumn, and in some instances through the absence
of grazing altogether, as when the conditions may not be specially
favorable to the growth of clover.
It is not uncommon, however, to renew alfalfa, by adding more seed when
it is disked in the spring, as it sometimes is to aid in removing weeds
from the land. The results vary much with the favorableness of the
conditions for growing alfalfa or the opposite.
In pastures more or less permanent in character, clovers may be renewed
by disking the ground, adding more clover seed, and then smoothing the
surface by running over it the harrow, and in some instances also the
roller. This work is best done when the frost has just left the ground
for a short distance below the surface.
Some kinds of clover are so persistent in their habit of growth that
when once in the soil they remain, and therefore do not usually require
renewal. These include the small white, the yellow, the Japan, burr
clover and sweet clover. In soils congenial to these respective
varieties, the seeds usually remain in the soil in sufficient quantities
to restock the land with plants when it is again laid down to grass.
Nearly all of these varieties are persistent seed producers; hence, even
though grazed, enough seed is formed to produce another crop of plants.
=Clovers as Soil Improvers.=--All things considered, no class of plants
grown upon the farm are so beneficent in the influence which they exert
upon the land as clovers. They improve it by enriching it; they improve
it mechanically; and they aid plant growth by gathering and
assimilating, as it were, food for other plants.
All clovers have the power of drawing nitrogen from the air and
depositing the same in the tubercles formed on the roots of the plants.
These tubercles are small, warty-like substances, which appear during
the growing season. They are more commonly formed on the roots within
the cultivable area, and therefore are easily accessible to the roots of
the plants which immediately follow. Clovers are not equally capable of
thus drawing nitrogen from the air, nor are the same varieties equally
capable of doing this under varying conditions. The relative
capabilities of varieties to thus deposit nitrogen in the soil is by no
means equal, but up to the present time it would seem correct to say
that relative capability in all of these has not yet been definitely
ascertained. With reference to the whole question much has yet to be
learned, but it is now certain that in all, or nearly all, instances in
which clovers are grown on land, they leave it much richer in nitrogen
than it was when they were sown upon the same.
They also add to the fertility of the surface soil by gathering plant
food in the subsoil below where many plants feed. They have much power
to do this, because they are deep rooted and they are strong feeders;
that is, they have much power to take up food in the soil or subsoil.
Part of the food thus gathered in the subsoil helps to form roots in the
cultivable area and part aids in forming top growth for pasture or for
hay. If grazed down or if made into hay and fed so that the manure goes
back upon the land the fertility of the same is increased in all leading
essentials. This increase is partly made at the expense of the fertility
in the subsoil. But the stores of fertility in the subsoil are such
usually as to admit of thus being drawn upon indefinitely.
Clovers improve soils mechanically by rendering them more friable, by
giving them increased power to hold moisture, and by improving drainage
in the subsoil. Of course, they have not the power to do this equally,
but they all have this power in degree and in all the ways that have
been named.
Clovers send down a tap root into the soil and subsoil as they grow.
From the tap roots branch off lateral roots in an outward and downward
direction. From these laterals many rootlets penetrate through the soil.
When the plants are numerous, these roots and rootlets fill the soil.
When it is broken up, therefore, particles of soil are so separated that
they tend to fall apart, hence the soil is always made more or less
friable, even when it consists of the stiffest clays. The shade
furnished by the clover also furthers friability. This friability makes
the land easier to work, and it is also more easily penetrated by the
roots of plants. The influence on aeration is also marked. The air can
more readily penetrate through the interstices in the soil, and, in
consequence, chemical changes in the soil favorable to plant growth are
facilitated.
The roots of clovers are usually so numerous that they literally fill
the soil with vegetable matter. This matter, in process of decay,
greatly increases the power of the soil to hold moisture, whether it
falls from the clouds or ascends from the subsoil through capillary
attraction. The moisture thus held is greatly beneficial to the plants
that immediately follow, especially in a dry season and in open soils,
and the influence thus exerted frequently goes on, though with
decreasing potency, for two, three or four seasons.
Reference has already been made to the tap root which clover sends down
into the soil and subsoil. In the strong varieties this tap root goes
down deeply. When the crop is plowed up, the roots decay, and when they
do, for a time at least, they furnish channels down which the surface
water percolates, if present in excess. Thus it is that clover aids in
draining lands under the conditions named. The channels thus opened do
not close immediately with the decay of the clover roots, hence the
downward movement of water in the soil is facilitated for some time
subsequently.
It has been stated that clovers have more power than some other plants
to gather plant food in the soil. In some instances they literally fill
the soil with their roots. When other plants are sown after the clover
has been broken up they feed richly on the decaying roots of the clover.
Thus it is that clover gathers food for other plants which they would
not be so well able to gather for themselves, and puts it in a form in
which it can be easily appropriated by these. The nitrogen in clover is
yielded up more gradually and continuously as nitrates than it could be
obtained from any form of top dressings that can be given to the land.
In this fact is found one important reason why cereal grains thrive so
well after clover.
Since the roots of clovers act so beneficently on soils, it is highly
important that they be increased to the greatest extent practicable.
Owing to the relation between the growth of the roots of plants and the
parts produced above ground, development in root growth is promoted much
more when the clover is cut for hay than when it is fed off by grazing.
Experiments have also demonstrated that the development of root growth
is much enhanced in medium red clover by taking a second cutting for
hay or seed. They have also demonstrated that more nitrogen is left in
the soil by clover roots after a seed crop than after a crop of hay.
From what has been said, it will be apparent that the extent to which
clovers enrich the soil will depend upon the strength of the growth of
the plants and certain other conditions. It will not be possible to
reduce to figures the additions in plant food which clovers add to the
soil other than in a comparative way. Dr. Voelker has stated that there
is fully three times as much nitrogen in a crop of clover as in the
average produce of the grain and straw of wheat per acre. Dr. Kedzie is
on record as having said that in the hay or sod furnished by a good crop
of clover, there is enough nitrogen for more than four average crops of
wheat, enough phosphoric acid for more than two average crops and enough
of potash for more than six average crops. He has said, moreover, that
the roots and stubble contain fully as much of these elements as hay.
It will also be apparent that where clover grows in good form no cheaper
or better way can be adopted in manuring land, and that in certain areas
the judicious use of land plaster on the clover hastens the renovating
process. It is thought that in some instances the mere loading and
spreading of barnyard manure costs more than the clover and plaster.
Especially will this be true of fields distant from the farm steading.
It is specially important, therefore, that in enriching these, clover
will be utilized to the fullest extent practicable.
=Clover as a Weed Destroyer.=--Where clover is much grown, at least in
some of its varieties, it becomes an aid in reducing the prevalence of
many forms of weed growth. It is thus helpful in some instances, because
of the number of the cuttings secured; in others because of its
smothering tendencies, and in yet others because of the season of the
year when it is sown and harvested or plowed under, as the case may be.
Alfalfa and medium red clover are cut more frequently than the other
varieties and, therefore, because of this, render more service than
these in checking weed growth. The former is cut so frequently as to
make it practically impossible for most forms of annual weed life to
mature seed in the crop. The same is true of biennials and also
perennials. But there are some forms of perennial weeds which multiply
through the medium of their rootstocks that may eventually crowd
alfalfa. Medium red clover is usually cut twice a year, hence, in it
annuals and biennials cannot mature seed, except in exceptional
instances, and because of the short duration of its life, perennials
have not time to spread so as to do much harm.
The clovers that are most helpful in smothering weeds are the mammoth,
the medium and the alsike varieties. These are thus helpful in the order
named. To accomplish such an end they must grow vigorously, and the
plants must be numerous on the ground. When grown thus, but few forms of
weed life can make any material headway in the clover crop. Even
perennials may be greatly weakened, and in some instances virtually
smothered by such growth of clover. To insure a sufficient growth of
clover it may be advantageous to top dress the crop with farmyard manure
sufficiently decayed, and in the case of medium red clover to dress the
second cutting with land plaster. If the second growth is plowed under,
subsequent cultivation of the surface will further aid in completing the
work of destruction.
The crimson variety is sown and also harvested at such a time that the
influence on weed eradication is very marked. The ground is usually
prepared in the summer and so late that weeds which sprout after the
clover has been sown cannot mature the same autumn. In the spring it is
harvested before any weeds can ripen. When plowed under, rather than
harvested, the result is the same.
When clover is grown in short rotations, its power to destroy weeds is
increased. For instance, when the medium red or mammoth varieties are
grown in the three years' rotation of corn or some root crop, followed
by grain seeded with clover, the effects upon weed eradication are very
marked, if the cultivation given to the corn or roots is ample. Under
such a system weeds could be virtually prevented from maturing seeds at
any time, especially if the medium variety of clover were sown, and if
the stubbles were mown some time subsequent to the harvesting of the
grain crop. Such a system of rotation faithfully carried out for a
number of years should practically eradicate all, or nearly all, the
noxious forms of weed life.
=Clover Sickness.=--On certain of the soils of Great Britain and
probably on those of other countries in Europe, where clover has been
grown quite frequently and for a long period, as good crops cannot be
grown as previously, and in some instances the crop is virtually a
failure. The plants will start from seed in the early spring and grow
with sufficient vigor for a time, after which they will show signs of
wilting and finally they die. Various theories were advanced for a time
as to the cause before it was ascertained by experiment what produced
these results. Some thought they arose from lack of water in the soil,
others claimed that they were due to the presence of parasites, which in
some way preyed upon the roots, others again attributed them to improper
soil conditions. It is now just about certain that they arose from a
deficiency of soluble potash in the subsoil. Such, at least, was the
conclusion reached by Kutzleb as the result of experiments conducted
with a view to ascertain the cause of clover wilt.
The cause being known, the remedy is not difficult. It is to grow clover
less frequently on such soils. Sufficient time must be given to enable
more of the inert potash in the subsoil to become available. Another way
would be to apply potash somewhat freely to these soils, and subsoil
them where this may be necessary.
It is thought that clover sickness is as yet unknown in the United
States and Canada, although its presence had sometimes been suspected in
some sections where clover has been much grown. This does not mean that
it may not yet come to this country. Should the symptoms given above
appear on soils on which clover has been grown frequently and for a long
period, it would be the part of wisdom to take such indications as a
hint to grow clover less frequently in the rotation.
=Possible Improvement in Clovers.=--Some close observers have noticed
that there is much lack of uniformity in the plants found growing in an
ordinary field of clover, especially of the medium red and mammoth
varieties. Many of the plants vary in characteristics of stem, leaf,
flower and seed; in the size and vigor of the plants; in the rapidity
with which they grow; and in earliness or lateness in maturing. So great
are these differences that it may be said they run all the way from
almost valueless to high excellence. Here, then, is a wide-open door of
opportunity for improving clover plants through selection. This question
has not been given that attention in the past which its importance
demands.
There may be a difference in view as to all the essential features of
improvement that are to be sought for, but there will probably be
agreement with reference to the following in desirable varieties: 1.
They will have the power to grow quickly and continuously under average
conditions. This power will render them valuable as pasture plants in
proportion as they possess it. 2. They will produce many stems not too
coarse in character. This will affect favorably the character of the hay
and will also have a bearing on increase in the production of seed. 3.
There should be an abundance of leaves. Such production will affect
favorably palatability in the pasture and also in the hay. 4. The
blossoms should be so short that the honey which they contain may be
accessible to the ordinary honey bee. The importance of this
characteristic cannot be easily overestimated. It would not only tend to
a great increase in seed production through the favorable influence
which it would have on fertilization, but it would greatly increase the
honey harvest that would be gathered every year, and 5. They should be
possessed of much vigor and hardihood; that is, they should have much
power to grow under adverse conditions, as of drought and cold. The
person who will furnish a variety of red clover possessed of these
characteristics will confer a boon on American agriculture.
=Bacteria and Clovers.=--The fact has long been known, even as long ago
as the days of Pliny, and probably much before those days, that clover,
when grown in the rotation, had the power to bring fertility to the
soil. This fact was generally recognized in modern agriculture and to
the extent, in some instances, of giving it a place even in the short
rotations. But until recent decades, it was only partially known how
clover accomplished such fertilization. It was thought it thus gathered
fertility by feeding deeply in the subsoil, and through the plant food
thus gathered, the root system of the plants were so strengthened in the
cultivated surface section of soil as to account for the increased
production in the plants that followed clover. According to this view,
the stems and leaves of the plants were thus equally benefited and,
consequently, when these were plowed under where they had grown these
also added plant food to the cultivated portion of the soil, in addition
to what it possessed when the clover seed which produced the plants was
sown upon it. In brief, this theory claimed that fertility was added by
the clover plants gathering fertility in the subsoil and depositing it
so near the surface that it became easily accessible to the roots of
other plants sown after the clover and which had not the same power of
feeding so deeply. This theory was true in part. The three important
elements of plant food, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, were and
are thus increased in the soil, but this does not account for the source
from which the greater portion of the nitrogen thus deposited in the
soil was drawn, as will be shown below.
It was also noticed that when the seed of any variety of clover was sown
on certain soils, the plants would grow with more or less vigor for a
time and then they would fail to make progress, and in some instances
would perish. It was further noticed that if farmyard manure was applied
freely to such land, the growth made was more vigorous. Yet, again, it
was noticed that by sowing clover at short intervals on such soils, the
improvement in the growth of the plants was constant. But it was not
understood why clover plants behaved thus under the conditions named. It
is now known that ill success at the first was owing to the lack of
certain micro-organisms, more commonly termed bacteria, in the soil,
the presence of which are essential to enable clover plants to secure
additional nitrogen to that found in the soil and subsoil on which to
feed. When manure was applied, as stated above, the clover plants
secured much or all of their nitrogen from the manure. Bacteria were
introduced in very limited numbers at first, it may be through the
medium of the seed or in some other way, and because of an inherent
power which they possess to increase rapidly in connection with
continued sowing of clover at short intervals, they came at length to be
so numerous in the soil as to make possible the growth of good crops of
clover where these could not be thus grown a few years previously.
Careful observers had noticed that certain warty-like substances were
found attached to the roots of clover plants, and that the more
vigorously the plants grew, the larger and more numerous were these
substances, as a rule. It was thought by many that these warty
substances, now spoken of as nodules, were caused by worms biting the
roots or because of some unfavorable climatic influence or abnormal
condition of soil. It is now known that they are owing to the presence
of bacteria, whose special function is the assimilation of free nitrogen
obtained in the air found in the interstices; that is, the air spaces
between the particles of soil. This they store up in the nodules for the
use of the clover plants and also the crops that shall follow them.
The nodules in clover plants vary in size, from a pin head to that of a
pea, and they are frequently present in large numbers. Bacteria are
present within them in countless myriads. They gain an entrance into
the plant through the root hairs. The exact way in which benefit thus
comes to the clover plants is not fully understood, but it is now quite
generally conceded that the nitrogen taken in by these minute forms of
life is converted into soluble compounds, which are stored in the
tissues of the roots, stems and leaves of the plants, thus furnishing an
explanation to the increased vigor. It cannot be definitely ascertained
at present, if, indeed, ever, what proportion of the nitrogen in clover
is taken from the air and from the soil, respectively, since it will
vary with conditions, but when these are normal, it is almost certain
that by far the larger proportion comes from the air. But it has been
noticed that when soil is freely supplied with nitrogen, as in liberal
applications of farmyard manure, the plants do not form nodules so
freely as when nitrogen is less plentiful in the soil. The inference
would, therefore, seem to be correct, that when plants are well supplied
with nitrogen in the soil they are less diligent, so to speak, in
gathering it from the air. In other words, clover plants will take more
nitrogen from the air when the soil is more or less nitrogen hungry than
when nitrogen abounds in the soil. And yet the plants should be able to
get some nitrogen from the soil in addition to what the seed furnishes
to give them a vigorous start.
This power to form tubercles, and thus to store up nitrogen, is by no
means confined to clovers. It is possessed by all legumes, as peas,
beans and vetches. It is claimed that some of these, as soy beans, cow
peas and velvet beans, have even greater power to gather nitrogen from
the air and store it in the soil than clover, since the nodules formed
on the roots of these are frequently larger. In some instances, on the
roots of the velvet bean they grow in clusters as large as an ordinary
potato. With reference to all these leguminous plants it has been
demonstrated that under proper conditions good crops may be grown and
removed from the soil and leave it much richer in nitrogen than when the
seed was sown. It is thus possible by sowing these crops at suitable
intervals to keep the soil sufficiently supplied with nitrogen to grow
good crops other than legumes, adapted to the locality, without the
necessity for purchasing the nitrogen of commerce in any of its forms.
They may be made to more than maintain the supply of nitrogen,
notwithstanding the constant loss of the same by leeching down into the
subsoil in the form of nitrates, and through the more or less constant
escape of the same into the air in the form of ammonia, during those
portions of the year when the ground is not frozen.
They will do this in addition to the food supplies which they furnish,
hence they may be made to supply this most important element of
fertility, and by far the most costly when purchased in the market,
virtually without cost. The favorable influences which these plants thus
exert upon crop production is invaluable to the farmer. They make it
possible for him to be almost entirely independent of the nitrogen of
commerce, which, at the rate of consumption during recent years, will
soon be so far reduced as to be a comparatively insignificant factor in
its relation to crop production. It is possible, however, and not
altogether improbable, that by the aid of electricity a manufactured
nitrate of soda or of potash may be put upon the market at a price which
will put it within reach of the farmer. The power of legumes to increase
the nitrogen content in the soil should allay apprehension with
reference to the possible exhaustion of the world's supply of nitrogen,
notwithstanding the enormous waste of the same in various ways.
The more common sources of loss in nitrogen are, first, through the
leeching of nitrates into the drainage water; second, through oxidation;
third, through the use of explosives in war; and fourth, through the
waste of the sewerage of cities. When plant and animal products are
changed into soluble nitrates, they are usually soon lost to the soil,
unless taken up by the roots of plants. When vegetable matter on or near
the surface of the ground is broken down and decomposed, in the process
of oxidation, there is frequently much loss of nitrogen, as in the rapid
decomposition of farmyard manure in the absence of some material, as
land plaster, to arrest and hold the escaping ammonia. Through
explosives used in war there is an enormous vegetable loss of nitrogen,
as nitrate salts, which should rather be used to preserve and sustain
life than to destroy it. The waste of nitrogen through the loss of
sewerage is enormous, nor does there seem to be any practicable way of
saving the bulk of it.
In many soils the germs which produce nodules are present when clovers
are first grown on them. But where they are not present, the clover
plants have no more power to gather nitrogen than wheat or other
non-leguminous crops. But since in other soils they are almost entirely
absent, how shall they be introduced? The process of introducing them is
generally referred to as a process of inoculation, and soils when
treated successfully are said to be inoculated.
Three methods have been adopted. By the first, as previously indicated,
the grower perseveres in sowing clover at short intervals in the
rotation. He may also add farmyard manure occasionally, and thus,
through the inherent power of multiplication in the bacteria, they
increase sufficiently to enable the land to grow good crops. By the
second method, inoculating is effected through soil which is possessed
of the requisite bacteria; and by the third, it is effected through the
aid of a prepared product named nitragin.
When fields are to be inoculated by using soil it is obtained from areas
which have grown clovers successfully quite recently, and which are,
therefore, likely to be well filled with the desired bacteria. In some
instances the seed is mixed with the soil and these are sown together.
To thus mix the seed with the soil and then sow both together broadcast
or with a seed drill is usually effective, and it is practicable when
minimum quantities of soil well laden with germs are used. In other
instances the soil containing germs is scattered broadcast before or
soon after the seed is sown. Considerable quantities of earth must needs
be applied by this method.
It should be remembered that each class of legumes has its own proper
bacteria. Because of this, inoculation can only, or at least chiefly, be
effected through the use of soils on which that particular class of
legumes have grown, or which are possessed of bacteria proper to that
particular species. In other words, bacteria necessary to the growth of
vetches will not answer for the growth of clovers, and _vice versa_. Nor
will the bacteria requisite to grow medium red clover answer for growing
alfalfa. In other words, the bacteria proper to the growth of one member
of even a family of plants will not always answer for the growth of
another member of the same. But in some instances it is thought that it
will answer. The study of this phase of the question has not yet
progressed far enough to reflect as much light upon it as could be
desired. It is certainly known, however, that alfalfa will grow on soils
that grow burr clover (_Medicago maculata_) and sweet clover (_Melilotus
alba_), hence the inference that soil from fields of either will
inoculate for alfalfa.
Nitragin is the name given by certain German investigators to a
commercial product put upon the market, which claims to be a pure
culture of the root tubercle organism. These cultures were sold in the
liquid form, and it was customary when using them to treat the seed with
them before it was planted. Their use has been largely abandoned,
because of the few successes which followed their use compared with the
many failures. But it is now believed that these cultures can be
prepared and used so as to be generally effective and without excessive
cost to the grower.
In preparing cultures it has been found that by gradually reducing the
amount of nitrogen in the culture of media, it is possible to increase
the nitrogen fixing power in these germs from five to ten times as much
as usually occurs in nature. It is now known that the bacteria thus
grown upon nitrogen free media retain high activity if carefully dried
and then revived in liquid media at the end of the varying lengths of
time. Some absorbent is used to soak up the tubercle-forming organisms.
The cultures are then allowed to dry, and when in that condition they
can be safely sent to any part of the country without losing their
efficacy. It is necessary to revive the dry germs by immersing them in
water. By adding certain nutrient salts the bacteria are greatly
increased if allowed to stand for a limited time--as short, in some
instances, as 24 hours. The culture thus sent out in a dry form, and no
larger than a yeast cake, may thus be made to furnish bacteria
sufficient to inoculate not less than an acre of land. It is stated that
the amount of inoculating material thus obtained is only limited by the
quantity of the nutrient water solution used in increasing the germs, so
that the cost of inoculating land by this process is not large. The
culture may be applied by simply soaking the seed in it, by spraying the
soil, or by first mixing the culture into earth, spreading it over the
field and then harrowing it. Inoculations thus tried under the
supervision of the United States Department of Agriculture have proved
quite successful.
Where any legume is extensively grown surrounding soils come to be
inoculated through the agency of winds and water. The increase brought
to the yield of plants on various soils runs all the way from a slight
gain to 1000-fold. And when soil is once inoculated it remains so for a
long time, even though the proper legume should not be grown again on
the same soil.
The amount of nitrogen that may thus be brought to many soils by growing
clover and other legumes upon them is only hedged in practically by the
nature of the rotation fixed upon. An acre of clover when matured will
sometimes add 200 to 300 pounds of nitrogen to the soil under favorable
conditions. Where the soil contains the requisite bacteria, the young
plants begin to form tubercles when but a few weeks old, and continue to
do so while the plant is active until mature. That the plants use much
of the nitrogen while growing would seem to be clear, from the fact that
toward the close of the growing season the tubercles become more or less
broken down and shrunken.
CHAPTER III
MEDIUM RED CLOVER
Medium Red Clover (_Trifolium pratense_) is also known by the names
Common Red Clover, Broad-Leaved Clover and Meadow Trefoil. The term
medium has doubtless come to be applied to it because the plants are in
size intermediate between the Mammoth variety (_Trifolium magnum_) and
the smaller varieties, as the Alsike (_Trifolium hybridum_) and the
small white (_Trifolium repens_). But by no designation is it so
frequently referred to as that of Red Clover.
This plant is spreading and upright in its habit of growth. Several
branches rise up from the crown of each plant, and these in turn
frequently become branched more or less in their upward growth. The
heads which produce the flowers are nearly globular in shape, inclining
to ovate, and average about one inch in diameter. Each plant contains
several heads, and frequently a large number when the growth is not too
crowded. When in full flower these are of a beautiful purple crimson,
hence, a field of luxuriant red clover is beautiful to look upon. The
stems of the plants are slightly hairy, and ordinarily they stand at
least fairly erect and reach the height of about one foot or more; but
when the growth is rank, they will grow much higher, even as high as 4
feet in some instances, but when they grow much higher than the average
given, the crop usually lodges. The leaves are numerous, and many of
them have very frequently, if not, indeed, always, a whitish mark in the
center, resembling a horseshoe. The tap roots go down deeply into the
soil. Usually they penetrate the same to about 2 feet, but in some
instances, as when subsoils are open and well stored with accessible
food, they go down to the depth of 5 or 6 feet. The tap roots are
numerously branched, and the branches extend in all directions. When
they are short, as they must needs be in very stiff subsoils and on thin
land underlaid with hard soil, the branches become about as large as the
tap roots. It has been computed that the weight of the roots in the soil
is about equal to the weight of the stem and leaves.
Medium red clover is ordinarily biennial in its habit of growth, but
under some conditions it is perennial. Usually in much of the
Mississippi basin it is biennial, especially on prairie soils. On the
clay loam soils of Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and some
other States, it is essentially biennial, but many of the plants will
survive for a longer period. In the mountain valleys in the Northwestern
States, and on the Pacific slope west of the Cascade Mountains, it is
perennial. Medium red clover meadows in these have been cut for several
successive years without re-seeding the crop. The duration of this plant
is also more or less influenced by pasturing as compared with cutting
for seed. Grazing the plants has the effect of prolonging the period of
their growth, while maturing seed from them has the opposite effect.
Medium red clover is characterized by a rapid growth. Seed sown in the
spring has in certain climates produced a crop of hay in 120 days from
the date of sowing. It is also most persistent in its growth from spring
until fall when sufficient moisture is present. In this property it far
outranks any of the other varieties of clover. It comes into bloom in
the South during the latter half of May and in the North during the
month of June, early or later, according to location, and in about sixty
days from the time that it is cut for hay. Ordinarily, a second cutting
of hay may be taken from it and still later some pasture.
It furnishes excellent pasture, soiling food and hay for nearly all
classes of live stock. While it is much relished by the stock, it is
probably not exceeded in its capacity for quick and prolonged growth
throughout the growing season by any pasture plant, except alfalfa. For
a similar reason it stands high as a soiling food. No other variety of
clover grown in America will furnish as much of either pasture or
soiling food. For animals producing milk and for young animals, the
pasture is particularly excellent. It is also the standard pasture for
swine where it can be grown, and where alfalfa is not a staple crop.
When the hay is well cured, it makes a ration in even balance for cattle
and sheep, and for horses it is equally good. The prejudice which exists
in some quarters against feeding it to horses has arisen, in part, at
least, from feeding it when improperly harvested, when over-ripe, when
damaged by rain, or by overcuring in the sun, or when it may have been
stored so green as to induce molding. It may also be fed with much
advantage to brood sows and other swine in winter.
As a soil improver, medium red clover is probably without a rival,
unless it be in mammoth clover, and in one respect it exceeds the
mammoth variety; that is, in the more prolonged season, during which it
may be plowed under as a green manure. Its quick growth peculiarly
adapts it to soil enrichment. For this reason, it is more sown than any
of the other varieties in the spring of the year, along with the small
cereal grains to be plowed under in the late autumn or in the following
spring, after the clover has made a vigorous start, since it produces
two crops in one season, the first crop may be harvested and the second
plowed under after having made a full growth. This can be said of no
other variety of clover. More enrichment is also obtained from the
falling of the leaves when two crops are grown than from the other
varieties.
The influence of this plant on weed destruction when grown for hay is
greater than with the other varieties of clover. This is owing in part
to the shade resulting from its rapid growth and in part to the two
cuttings which are usually made of the crop. These two cuttings prevent
the maturing of the seeds in nearly all annual weeds, and to a very
great extent in all classes of biennials. The power of this crop to
smother out perennials is also considerable, and when this is linked
with the weakening caused by the two cuttings, it sometimes proves
effective in completely eradicating for the time being this class of
weeds.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Medium Red Clover (_Trifolium pratense_)
Oregon Experiment Station]
=Distribution.=--Medium red clover is thought to be native to Europe. It
was probably introduced into England some time early in the seventeenth
century. That it was attracting attention about the middle of the
century or a little later, is rendered probable by the fact that it is
discussed at considerable length in the third edition of Blyth's
"Improver Improved," published in 1662, while it is not mentioned in the
first edition, published in 1650. It was doubtless introduced into the
United States by the early colonists and at sundry times.
Medium red clover will grow in good form only in the temperate zone,
since it cannot stand excessive heat or excessive cold. The northerly
limit of its successful growth in North America is somewhere about 50 deg.
north latitude on the wind-swept prairies, but on suitable soils, and
protected somewhat by trees and winter snows, it will probably grow 10
degrees further to the north. In British Columbia, on the Pacific slope,
it will probably grow as far north as Alaska. But on prairies eastward
from the Rocky Mountains, it has not been grown with much success much
further north than 48 deg., unless under the eastern shadow of the Rocky
Mountains. Low temperatures in winter, where there is only a moderate
covering of snow, are far less fatal to clover plants than exposure to
the sweep of the cold winds. Even where the thermometer is not so low as
in the areas just referred to, such winds are particularly damaging to
the plants when they blow fiercely just after a thaw which has removed a
previous covering of snow. In some instances, one cold wave under the
conditions named has proved fatal to promising crops of clover over
extended areas.
In a general way, the southerly limit of vigorous and reliable growth
may be put at about 37 deg.. But in some localities good crops may be grown
further South, especially in some parts of Tennessee. Nor would it be
correct to say that medium red clover grows at its best in many
localities much south of 38 deg.. On the plateaus it can be grown further
South, where the soil is suitable.
This plant flourishes best in a moist climate. In fact, the abundance
and continuance of the growth for the season are largely dependent on
the amount of the precipitation, and on the distribution of the same
throughout the season. In climates in which it is usual for a long spell
of dry weather to occur in mid-summer, the plants will not make rapid
growth after the first cutting of the season; but under conditions the
opposite, they will grow continuously from spring until fall. Continuous
growth may be secured through all the season on irrigated land. Although
the plants root deeply, they will succumb under drought beyond a certain
degree, and in some soils the end comes much more quickly than on
others; on porous and sandy soils, it comes much sooner than on clays.
On the latter, drought must be excessive to destroy clover plants that
have been well rooted. White clover can withstand much heat when
supplied with moisture. Moderate temperatures are much more favorable to
its growth.
Spring weather, characterized by prolonged periods of alternate freezing
and thawing, is disastrous to the plants on dry soils, possessed of an
excess of moisture, when not covered with snow. They are gradually drawn
up out of the soil and left to die on the surface. In some instances,
the destruction of an otherwise fine stand is complete. In other
instances, it is partial, and when it is, a heavy roller run over the
land is helpful in firming the soil around the roots that have been thus
disturbed.
Medium red clover can be grown with some success in certain parts of
almost every State in the Union. But in paying crops it is not much
grown south of parallel 37 deg.. With irrigation it grows most vigorously in
the mountain valleys between the Rocky and Cascade mountains, and
between about 37 deg. and 50 deg. north latitude. In these valleys its habit of
growth is perennial. Without irrigation, the highest adaptation, all
things considered, is found in Washington and Oregon, west of the
Cascades, except where shallow soils lying on gravels exist. East of the
mountains, the best crops are in the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The soils
of Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, that have produced
hardwood timber, have unusually high adaptation to the growth of this
plant, and as the snow usually covers the ground in these areas in
winter, the crop may be relied upon with much certainty. But on the
sandy soils, which more or less abound in these areas, it does not
succeed so well. It has not yet proved a marked success in Western
Minnesota or in the Dakotas, owing in part probably to the lack of the
proper bacteria in the soil. Its growth in these localities, however, is
extending from year to year. Indiana and Ohio are great clover States,
and the same is true of much of Illinois and Iowa; but southward in
these States there is some hazard to the young plants from drought and
heat in summer, and to an occasional frost in winter when the ground is
bare.
East of the States named, it would probably be correct to say that the
highest adaptation is found in New York and Pennsylvania, particularly
the former, in many parts of which excellent crops are grown. In various
parts of the New England States good crops may also be grown. Much of
the soil in these is not sufficiently fertile to grow clover as it can
be grown in the more Central States. The same is true of the States of
Delaware, Maryland and Eastern Virginia, east of the Rocky Mountains,
south from the Canadian boundary and west from Minnesota, Iowa and
Missouri, but little success has heretofore attended the efforts to grow
medium red clover. This statement does not apply equally to Eastern
Nebraska and Kansas. Usually the climate is not moist enough in summer,
the sweep of the cold winds is too great in winter, the snowfall is
usually insufficient to protect the plants, and it may be also that the
requisite bacteria is lacking in the soil. Sometime, however, these
adverse conditions may in part be overcome by man's resourcefulness. In
parts of States that lie south of the 37th parallel, it may be found
profitable to grow crops of medium red clover; but in these, other
legumes, as crimson clover, cow peas and soy beans, will probably
furnish food more reliably and more cheaply.
In Canada the highest all-round adaptation for clover is in Ontario and
Quebec, unless it be the mountain valleys and tide lands of British
Columbia. Because of the high adaptation in the soil of the two
provinces first named, and the plentifulness of the snowfall, clover in
these is one of the surest of the crops grown. The maritime provinces of
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward's Island, particularly the
former, have soils a little too hungry to produce the highest returns in
clover. On the open prairies between Ontario and the Rocky Mountains,
not much success has attended the attempts to grow any kind of clover,
owing probably to present uncongeniality in soils and more especially in
climatic conditions. However, there are good reasons for believing that
with the introduction of hardy varieties and through the use of Northern
grown seed, an inoculated soil, where inoculation may be necessary, that
medium red clover will yet be grown over wide areas in all the provinces
of Northwestern Canada, south of and including the Saskatchewan valley.
=Soils.=--Fortunately, this most useful plant will grow in a
considerable variety of soils, though, of course, not equally well.
Highest in general suitability, probably, are clay loams underlaid with
a moderately porous clay subsoil. They should at the same time be moist
and reasonably well stored with humus. On such a soil, in a climate with
sufficient rainfall and properly distributed, a stand of clover should
be looked upon as reasonably certain any season when properly sown. It
would also be correct to say that on the volcanic soils of the mountain
States in the West, clover will grow equally well when supplied with
moisture, and in these it is also very tenacious of life.
Next in adaptation are what may be termed loam soils, also underlaid
with clay. The proportion of the clay in them will exercise an important
influence on the growth of the clover. Loamy sands will grow clover
better than sandy loams, although both are very suitable, the other
conditions being right.
It would seem to be correct to assign third place to stiff clays,
whether of the white or red cast. The better that these are supplied
with vegetable matter, and the more moist the season, the better is the
stand of the clover likely to be. In seasons that are generally
favorable, excellent crops of clover may be obtained from such soils,
but in dry seasons it is easy to secure a good stand of the plants. They
are also considerably liable to heave in these soils in the spring of
the year from the action of the frost. The more perfectly they are
drained, the less will be the injury from this source, but it is
scarcely possible to drain such lands so perfectly that there will be no
loss of clover plants in these from the source named in the winters,
characterized by frequent rains, accompanied by frequent alternations of
freezing and thawing. The loss from this source in such lands varies
from nothing at all to 100 per cent.
Nearly, if not equal to the former, are dark loam soils with a gravel or
sand drainage underneath, providing, first, that the sand and gravel do
not come too near the surface, and second, that the normal rainfall is
sufficient. On such soils it seldom fails to grow, is not liable to
heave in the winter or spring, and usually produces excellent crops when
these soils are properly tilled. It has special adaptation for being
grown on calcareous or limy soils. It also, usually, grows well on soils
underlaid with yellow clay of more or less tenacity.
The black humus soils of the prairie vary much in their suitability for
growing medium red clover. Much depends on the clay content in such
soils. The more of this element in them and the nearer an underlying
clay subsoil is to the surface, the better will this clover grow on
them. In large areas of the prairie, red clover will grow more
successfully on the subsoil when laid bare than when on the surface
soil. It has been the experience in many instances that when the humus
soils of the prairie, porous and spongy in character, were first tilled,
clover grew on them so shyly that it was difficult to get a good stand
of the same until it had been sown for several seasons successively or
at intervals. Eventually, good crops were grown on these lands, and are
now being grown on them. This was the experience that faced a majority
of the first settlers on the prairie where excellent crops are now being
grown, and it is the experience which faces many to-day, who are
located on sections of the prairie but newly broken.
Two reasons may be given by way of explanation, but these may not
furnish all the reasons for the experience just referred to. First, much
of the land was so porous in its nature that in dry seasons the young
plants perished for want of moisture. As such lands become worn through
cropping, they lie more firmly and compactly; hence, there is less loss
of moisture through the free penetration of the soil within a short
distance of the surface of the dry atmosphere. And second, the requisite
bacteria is not in these soils until it is brought to them by sowing
seed repeatedly, more or less of which grows, and in growing increases
the bacteria in the soil until that point is reached when good crops of
clover can be grown with the usual regularity.
The suitability of sandy and gravelly lands for growing clover depends
much on the amount of plant food which they contain, on the character of
the climate, and on the subsoil. Such soils when possessed of some loam
when underlaid with clay, and in a climate with 20 inches and more per
annum of rainfall, usually grow good crops of clover; but when
conditions the opposite prevail, the growth of this plant is precarious.
However, when sandy or gravelly soils low in fertility are underlaid
with the same and the rainfall is sufficient, good crops of clover may
be grown if these soils are first sufficiently supplied with vegetable
matter and then sufficiently fertilized.
Muck soils do not seem to have the proper elements for growing clover in
the best form. But when these have in them some clay, and especially
when they are underlaid with clay not distant from the surface, they
will grow good crops of clover, especially of the alsike variety. Thus
it is that lands which have grown black ash and tamarack generally make
good clover lands also. But clover will not succeed well on unreduced
peaty soils, since it is not able in these to gather food supplies. But
when sufficiently reduced, some kinds of clover will succeed better on
these than on some other soils.
Deposit soils, such as are found in the bottom lands of rivers and
streams, vary much in the suitability for growing clover, owing to the
great differences in the compositions; but since they are usually
possessed of sufficient friability, fertility and moisture, good crops
of clover may generally be grown upon them where the climatic conditions
are suitable. The injury from overflow on such soils will depend on the
depth of the same and its duration, also the season of the year when it
occurs. Overflow in the spring season before growth has begun, or when
it is about starting, will be helpful rather than harmful, especially if
some deposit is left on the land by the subsiding waters. But if the
overflow should be deep and of any considerable duration, and, moreover,
if it should occur when the clover was somewhat advanced in growth, and
in hot weather, the submergence of the clover would probably be fatal to
it.
It may be proper to state here that the lands which grow hardwood timber
will usually grow clover. By hardwood timber is meant such trees as
maple, beech, birch, oak, elm, basswood, butternut and walnut. Where
forests are found comprising one or more varieties of these trees
anywhere on this continent, and especially comprising several of them,
the conclusion is safe that medium red clover will grow, or, at least,
can be grown, on such soils. If a considerable sprinkling of pine trees
is found in the same, the indications are not changed in consequence.
Where the forest is largely composed of maple and birch, excellent crops
of clover may be looked for when the land has been cleared. But because
of what has been said, the conclusion must not be reached that clover
will not grow well under some conditions where soft woods abound, but
rather that where the former abound the indications of suitability for
clover production are more certain than where soft timbers abound.
=Place in the Rotation.=--Medium red clover may be made to precede or to
follow almost any crop that is grown upon the farm. Notwithstanding,
there are certain crops which it precedes or follows with much more
advantage than others. Since it brings nitrogen to the soil from the air
and deposits the same for the benefit of the crops that immediately
follow, it is advantageous to plant such crops after it as require much
nitrogen to make them productive, as, for instance, wheat. Since,
through the medium of its roots, it stores the ground with humus, such
crops should come after it as feed generously on humus, as, for
instance, corn and potatoes. And since it tends to lessen weed growth
through smothering, it may with advantage be followed by crops for which
a clean seed bed is specially advantageous, as flax. It may, therefore,
be followed with much advantage by wheat, oats or barley, corn and
sorghum in all their varieties, flax, potatoes, field roots, vegetables
and such small fruits as strawberries. Where wheat is a success it is
usually first grown among the small cereal grains after clover, since it
is less able to flourish under the conditions which become decreasingly
favorable in the years that follow the breaking up of the clover.
Whether wheat or flax, corn or potatoes should immediately follow the
growing of clover, should be determined in great part by the immediate
necessity for growing one or the other of these crops, but also to some
extent by the crops that are to follow them.
Clover may follow such crops as require cultivation while they are
growing, and of a character that will clean the soil. This means that it
may with advantage be made to follow corn, sorghum, potatoes or field
roots. It may also follow the summer fallow bare, or producing crops for
being plowed under where these come into the rotation. Of course, since
clover can to a considerable extent supply its own nitrogen, it may be
successfully grown on lands that are not clean, and that may not possess
high fertility, but when thus sown the nurse crop with which it is
usually sown is not likely to succeed well, because of the presence of
weeds in it, and from the same cause the quality of the first of the
clover is likely to be much impaired. The conditions of the time of
sowing are also less favorable for getting a stand of the seed.
There is probably no rotation in which clover may be grown with more
advantage than when it is made to alternate with corn or potatoes and
some small cereal grains, as wheat or oats, growing each crop for but
one season. Of course the clover must be sown with the grain and
harvested the following year, taking from it two cuttings. In no other
form of rotation, perhaps, can clover be used to better advantage, nor
would there seem to be any other way in which land may be made to
produce abundantly for so large a term of years without fertilization
other than that given to the soil by the clover. It would fully supply
the needs of the crops alternating with it in the line of humus, and
also in that of nitrogen. In time the supply of phosphoric acid and
potash might run low, but not for a long term of years. The cultivation
given to the corn and potatoes would keep the land clean. Fortunate is
the neighborhood in which a rotation may be practised, and fortunate are
the tillers of the soil who are in a position to adopt it.
Medium red clover may be followed with much advantage by certain catch
crops sown at various times through the season of growth. It may be
pastured in the spring for several weeks, and the land then plowed and
sowed with millet or rape, or planted with corn, sorghum, late potatoes,
or certain vegetables, or it may be allowed to grow for several weeks
and then plowed, to be followed by one or the other of these crops. It
may also be harvested for hay in time to follow it with millet or rape
for pasture, and under some conditions with fodder corn. But when the
stand of clover is good, it would usually be profitable to utilize the
clover for food rather than the crops mentioned, since doing so would
involve but little labor and outlay. After the second cutting for the
season, winter rye may be grown as a catch crop by growing it as a
pasture crop.
=Preparing the Soil.=--Speaking in a general way, it would be correct to
say that it would not be easy to get soil in too friable a condition for
the advantageous reception of medium red clover seed. In other words, it
does not often happen that soils are in too fine tilth to sow seed upon
them without such fineness resulting in positive benefit to the plants.
The exceptions would be clays of fine texture in climates subject to
rainfalls so heavy as to produce impaction. On the other hand, the
hazard would be even greater to sow clover on these soils when in a
cloddy condition. The rootlets would not then be able to penetrate the
soil with sufficient ease to find enough food and moisture to properly
nourish them. Some soils are naturally friable, and in these a tilth
sufficiently fine can be realized ordinarily with but little labor.
Other soils, as stiff clays, frequently require much labor to bring them
into the condition required. Usually, however, if sufficient time
elapses between the plowing of the land and the sowing of the seed, this
work may be materially lessened by using the harrow and roller
judiciously soon after rainfall.
When preparing prairie soils so open that they will lift with the wind,
the aim should be to firm them rather than to render them more open and
porous; otherwise they will not retain sufficient moisture to properly
sustain the young plants, if prolonged dry weather follows the sowing of
the seed. Plowing such land in the autumn aids in securing such density.
The same result follows summerfallowing the land or growing upon it a
cultivated crop after the bare fallow, or after the cultivated crop has
been harvested prior to the sowing of the clover seed, otherwise the
desired firmness of the land will be lessened, and weed seeds will be
brought to the surface, which will produce plants to the detriment of
the clover. In preparing such lands for the seed, cultivation near the
surface is preferable to plowing.
When the clover is sown late in the season, as is sometimes the case, in
locations where the winters are comparatively mild, the ground may be
made reasonably clean before the seed is sown, by stirring it
occasionally at intervals before sowing the seed. This is done with some
form of harrow or weeder, and, of course, subsequently to the plowing of
the land.
=Sowing.=--The time for sowing clover seed is influenced considerably by
the climatic conditions. Under some conditions it may be sown in the
early autumn. It may be thus sown in the Southern States and with much
likelihood that a stand will be secured, yet in some instances an
inauspicious winter proves disastrous to the plants: all things
considered, it is probably safer to sow clover in the South at that
season than the spring, when vegetation is beginning to start. It may
also succeed in some instances in areas well to the North when sown in
the early autumn, providing snow covers the ground all the winter, but
should the snow fail to come the subsequent winter, or fail to lie when
it does come, the clover plants would perish. The element of hazard,
therefore, is too great in northerly areas to justify sowing the seed
thus. But on the bench lands of the mountain valleys there may be
instances in which the seed may be sown so late in the autumn that it
will not sprout before winter sets in, but lies in the soil ready to
utilize the moisture, so all important in those areas, as soon as the
earliest growth begins in the spring.
The seed may be sown with no little assurance of success in the late
summer. But this can only be done where moisture is reasonably plentiful
from the time of sowing onward, and where the winters are not really
severe. In some of the Central States this method of sowing may succeed
reasonably well. Clover and timothy sown thus without any nurse crop
will produce a full crop the next season. When the seed is sown thus, it
may, of course, be made to follow a crop grown on the land the same
season. It may also insure a crop the following season, when the clover
seed sown the spring previously may for some reason have failed.
While medium red clover is frequently sown in the South and in some
areas of the far West in the months of January and February on the snow,
in the North it is usually sown in the early spring. This also is in a
great majority of instances the best time for sowing. In many locations
it may be sown with safety as soon as the winter snows have gone. On the
whole, the earlier that it is sown in the spring the better, that the
young plants may have all the benefit possible from the moisture, which
is more abundant than later. But there are certain areas, as, for
instance, in the northerly limits of the Mississippi basin, in which
young clover plants perish by frost after they have germinated. This,
however, does not happen very frequently. When the seed is sown on the
snow, or while the ground is yet in a honeycombed condition from early
frost, it must of necessity be sown early. But where the hazard is
present that the young plants will be killed by frost, it will be safer
to defer sowing the seed until it can be covered with the harrow when
sown.
Whether it will be more advisable to sow the seed on bare ground earlier
than the season when growth begins, or to sow later and cover with the
harrow, will depend to a considerable degree upon the soil and the
condition in which it happens to be. On timber soils newly cleaned the
early sowing would be quite safe where the young plants are not liable
to be killed after germination, because of the abundance of humus in
them. On the same soils, early sowing would probably be preferable, even
when much reduced in humus, providing they were in a honeycombed
condition at the time of sowing. This condition is far more
characteristic of clay and clay loam soils, than of those sandy in
texture. To sow the seed on clay soils that are worn would be to throw
it away, unless in a most favorable season for growth. The same would
prove true of the sandy soils low in humus, since these do not honeycomb
at any season. Seed sown on honeycombed ground falls into openings made
in the soil, and is covered by the action of the frost and the sun on
the same. The rule should be to defer sowing the seed where the ground
does not honeycomb until it can be covered with the harrow.
In some instances the seed is sown successfully just after a light fall
of snow in the spring. The seed is carried down into little crevices or
fissures in the soil when these are present, but the seed should not be
thus sown. Usually it is not quite safe to sow clover seed where the
winter snow still lingers to any considerable depth, lest much of it
should be carried down to the lower lands by the sudden melting of the
snows. The chief advantage of sowing before the ground can be harrowed
arises from the benefit which the young plants derive from the plentiful
supply of moisture in the soil at that season. They are more firmly
rooted than plants sown later, and, therefore, can better withstand the
dry weather that frequently characterizes the later months of the
summer. There is also the further advantage that the labor of harrowing
at a season that is usually a busy one is dispensed with.
Various modes of sowing clover seed have been adopted. Sometimes it is
sown by hand. In other instances a sower is used which is strapped to
the shoulder and turned with a crank. Sometimes the seed is sown by a
distributor, which is wheeled over the ground on a frame resembling that
of a wheelbarrow. Again, it is sown with a seeder attachment to the
ordinary grain drill or to the broadcast seeder, and yet again with the
grain in the ordinary drill tubes, or scattered with the same by the
broadcast seeder; which of these methods should be adopted will depend
on such conditions as relate to season, climate and soil.
The seed may be sown by hand at almost any time desired, whether it is
covered or not. The advantages of hand sowing are that it may be done
under some conditions when no other method will answer as well, as, for
instance, when it is sown upon snow or upon the ground honeycombed. The
disadvantages are that it takes more time than some of the other
methods, especially when the sower only scatters the seed with one hand,
that it cannot be thus sown when the wind blows stiffly or fitfully, and
most of all, only a limited number of persons who sow seed are thus able
to sow it with complete regularity. A still time should, if possible, be
chosen for hand sowing; such a time is usually found in the early
morning. When one hand is used, the seed may be sown from a light dish
or pail or sowing-bag, but when both hands are used a sowing-box or a
sowing-sack suspended in front of the breast is necessary. Clover seed
may be sown when a considerable breeze is blowing by having a due regard
to the wind. When facing it, the cast of seed should be low; when going
before the wind it should be high. But when the wind is blowing at
right angles, much care must be observed by the sower as to where he
walks, in relation to the cast that is being sown.
When the seed is sown on grain that has been drilled, the rows of grain
will suffice to serve as a guide to the sower, and when the grain is not
up, the drill marks may be made to serve the same end.
The advantages of the hand seeder held in place by straps are that the
sowing may be done by an individual who cannot sow by hand, that the
seed may be easily distributed and that it may be used with advantage in
sowing seed among brush. The disadvantages are that it cannot be used
when much wind is stirring, and when using it stakes are sometimes
necessary for the guidance of the sower.
The advantages from using the seeder wheeled over the ground are that
the work may be done by any one able to wheel the seeder, that the seed
is distributed evenly, that it may be sown when a fairly stiff wind is
blowing, and that stakes are not necessary for the guidance of the
sower, as the distance of the cast may be gauged at least fairly well by
the wheel marks made. One disadvantage is that it cannot be used with
much satisfaction on certain soils when the ground is cloddy or frozen,
or when it is wet. There is also the disadvantage to all three methods
of sowing by hand, that it is frequently necessary to provide a covering
for the seed by subsequently using the harrow.
The advantages from sowing with the seeder attachment to the grain drill
are that the seed may be made to fall before or behind the tubes as may
be desired, or it may be sown with the seed along with the grain, and
that when sown by any of these methods there is much saving of time as
compared with sowing by hand. In some sections of the prairie the seed
is sown with the grain drill by driving the same across the newly sown
grain rows. If necessary to insure sufficiently thin sowing, the seed
should be first mixed with some substance such as common salt.
In the moist areas of the upper Atlantic coast, Ontario and the Puget
Sound region, the seed is frequently made to fall behind the grain tubes
on clay and clay loam soils, and is covered by running the roller over
the ground subsequently; but in States more inland the seed is usually
made to fall before the drill tubes, when, in some instances, the sowing
of the grain will provide a sufficient covering; but in others the
harrow is used in addition, and sometimes both the harrow and the
roller. When clover seed is sown along with grain and by the same tubes,
it will in some soils be buried too deeply, but in others the objection
does not hold good. The young plants are also injured more by shade from
the grain, since they grow only in the line of the row along with the
grain, and yet this method of sowing clover seed in some localities
seems to answer reasonably well.
When the broadcast seeder is used in sowing clover seed, time is also
saved as compared with hand sowing, but the seed can only fall before
the seeder, and must, therefore, be given the same covering as the
grain, as, when the seed is sown with the grain drill, it will in some
instances be buried too deeply. In other instances it is not so.
The depth to which the seed of medium and other clovers ought to be
buried should vary with soil and climatic conditions, and with the
season of sowing. The more stiff the soil, the more moist the climate,
and the earlier that the seed is sown, the less the covering required,
and _vice versa_. As has been shown, under certain conditions (see page
22), early sown clover seed does not require any covering artificially
given, and sometimes when sown later, a reasonably copious rain will
provide sufficient covering, providing it falls quite soon after the
sowing of the seed. But in certain of the soft, open, spongy soils of
the prairie, it may sometimes be buried to the depth of at least 3
inches, with apparent benefit. Lower than 5 or 6 inches in any soil,
clover seed will not germinate till brought nearer the surface. On all
soils that lift with the wind, the seed should, as a rule, be buried
deeply. Ordinarily, from half an inch to an inch, or an approximation to
these distances, is considered a proper depth to bury clover seed.
Some authorities recommend sowing medium and other clovers without any
nurse crop. The advantages claimed are that more or less of a crop may
be obtained the same season, and that a stand of clover is more certain
when the seed is sown thus. The first claim is correct in the main. In
some localities favored with long seasons for growth, as in certain
areas of Missouri, for instance, good yields may be obtained from sowing
the seed thus. This has happened even in Minnesota. But in other areas
and under other conditions, the yield would be light. In some
localities, as, for instance, the Willamette Valley, Oregon,
satisfactory returns have been obtained by sowing clover seed and rape
seed in May and then pasturing both.
The chief objections to sowing clover seed thus are, first, that in a
great majority of instances a sufficient stand of the plants may be
obtained when the seed is sown with a nurse crop; and second, that when
it is not thus sown, the first cutting of the hay will contain more or
less of weeds. That a stand is more assured when clover seed is sown
alone in areas where adverse weather conditions prevail cannot be
disputed. Nevertheless, the fact remains that whenever in order to get a
stand of a short-lived crop, like clover, it is necessary to sow it
alone, and in many instances get but little return the same season, it
will be well to consider if there is not some more satisfactory way of
securing a crop that will prove an equivalent. In northerly areas the
stubbles of the nurse crop frequently render substantial service to the
clover by holding the snow on the crop, and also by protecting it more
or less from the effect of the cold winds. The old-time practice of
sowing clover with a nurse crop is likely to be continued,
notwithstanding that it has some disadvantages.
These disadvantages include the following: 1. The young plants are
liable to be weakened by the crowding and by overmuch shading from the
grain when it grows rankly and thickly, and to such an extent that they
perish; 2. When the grain lodges, as it frequently does, on rich
ground, the clover plants underneath the lodged portions succumb from
want of light; 3. Where the supply of moisture is low, in the struggle
for the same between the stronger plants of the nurse crop and the
weaker plants of the clover, the former secures the larger share. As a
result, when the nurse crop is harvested, should the weather prove hot
and dry beyond a certain degree, the clover plants will die. This is an
experience not at all uncommon on the loose prairie soils of the upper
Mississippi basin.
Injury from crowding and overshading may be prevented, or at least
lessened, by pasturing the nurse crop with sheep for a time, at an early
stage in its growth. The lodging of the grain may also be prevented by
the same means. Injury from drought may also be lessened by cutting the
crop at the proper stage of advancement, and making it into hay, as in
the ripening stage of growth it draws most heavily on the moisture in
the soil. The oat crop is the most suitable for being thus dealt with.
Clover seed may be sown with any of the small cereal grains as a nurse
crop, but not with equal advantage. Rye, barley, wheat and oats are
probably suitable in the order named. Rye shades less than wheat and
oats and is harvested early; hence, its suitability for a nurse crop.
Winter rye and winter wheat are more suitable than spring varieties of
the same, since, on these the crop may usually be sown earlier, and the
soil is likely to lose less moisture from surface evaporation. The
marked suitability of barley as a nurse crop arises chiefly from the
short period which it occupies the ground. Nor is the shade so dense as
from grains that grow taller. Oats are the least suitable of all the
crops named as a nurse crop, since they are characterized by a dense
growth of leaves, which shut out the sunlight too much when the growth
is rank. Notwithstanding, the oat crop may well serve such an end when
sown thinly and cut for hay. Mixed grains grown together, as, for
instance, wheat and oats, or a mixture of the three, answer quite as
well for a nurse crop as clover and oats. The objection to them for such
use arises from the fact that they are frequently sown more thickly than
grain sown alone.
Clover may also be sown with flax or millet or mixed grains grown to
provide soiling food. When the weather is moist, it is likely to succeed
well with flax, as the latter does not form so dense a shade when it is
growing as some other crops. But flax is usually sown so much later than
these crops, that in some climates the dry weather following injures and
in some instances destroys the young plants. The dense shade furnished
by millet is also detrimental to the clover plants; nevertheless, owing
to the short period which the former occupies the ground, under
favorable conditions a stand of clover may be secured. But since millet
is sown later than flax, it frequently happens that there is not
sufficient moisture in the soil to sustain both crops. Mixed grains sown
as soiling food are usually sown reasonably early, and as they are cut
before maturity, the danger is so far lessened that the young plants
will perish from want of moisture, but since these crops are usually
grown thickly and on rich land, owing to the dense character of the
growth, the plants are much more likely to be injured by the dense shade
thus provided.
Clover seed may also be sown with corn and certain other crops that are
usually grazed down, as rape and mixed grains. When sown with corn, the
seed is usually scattered over the ground just before the last
cultivation given to the corn. Attention is now being given to the
introduction of cultivators which scatter such seeds as clover and rape
in front of them, and so preclude the necessity for hand sowing. From
Central Ohio southward, this method of securing a stand of clover will
succeed in corn-growing areas, the other conditions being right. North
from the areas named, the young clover plants may be winter killed when
the seed is sown thus. The less dense the shade furnished by the corn,
and the less dry the weather subsequently to sowing the seed, the better
will be the stand of the plants secured.
When sown with rape that has been broadcast, clover usually makes a good
stand, providing the rape crop is not sown too late in the season. When
the rape is grazed down, the grazing does not appear to materially
injure the clover, and when the shade has been removed by such grazing,
the clover plants may be expected to make a vigorous growth on such
land. In northerly areas, clover seed may be sown along with rape seed
as late as the end of May. If sown later than that time, the season may
prove too short subsequently to the grazing of the rape to allow the
plants to gather sufficient strength to carry them safely through
northern winters. When clover seed is sown with rape, the seeds may be
mixed and sown together.
Clover seed in several of the varieties may be successfully sown on
certain grain crops grown to provide grazing, especially when these are
sown early. Such pastures may consist of any one of the small cereal
grains, or more than one, or of all of them.
The seed may be sown in these the same as with any crop sown to furnish
grain. A stand of clover may thus be secured under some conditions in
which the clover would perish if sown along with the grain to be
harvested; under other conditions it would not succeed so well. The
former include soils so open as to readily lose moisture by surface
evaporation. The tramping of the animals on these increases their power
to hold moisture, the grazing down of the grain lessens its demands upon
the same, thus leaving more for the clover plants, and they are further
strengthened by the freer access of sunlight. The latter include firm,
stiff clays in rainy climates. To pasture these when thus sown, if moist
beyond a certain degree, would result in so impacting them that the
yield of the pasture would be greatly decreased in consequence.
Medium red clover is quite frequently sown alone; that is, without
admixture with clovers or grasses. It is always sown thus when it is to
be plowed under, as green manure. It is also usually sown alone in
rotations where it is to be cropped or grazed for one year. But when
grown for meadow, which is to remain longer than one season, it is
commonly sown along with timothy. The first year after sowing, the crop
is chiefly clover, and subsequently it is chiefly timothy. Orchard grass
or tall oat grass, or both, may also be sown along with medium red
clover, since these are ready for being cut at the same time as the
clover.
When medium red clover is sown to provide pasture for periods of limited
duration, it is frequently sown along with alsike clover and timothy.
Sometimes a moderate amount of alfalfa seed is added. But in arable
soils in the semi-arid West, these will provide pastures for many years
in succession, if supplied with moisture. The same is true of much of
the land west of the Cascades, and without irrigation. East from the
Mississippi and for some distance west from it, much of the medium red
clover will disappear after being grazed for one season, but the alsike,
timothy and alfalfa will endure for a longer period.
In permanent pastures, whether few or many varieties of seed are sown,
medium red clover is usually included in the mixture. It is sown because
of the amount of the grazing which it furnishes the season after sowing,
and with the expectation that it will virtually entirely disappear in
the pastures in two or three seasons after it has been sown.
When medium red clover is sown for being plowed under as green manure,
it is always sown with a nurse crop. Some farmers, in localities well
adapted to the growth of clover, sow more or less of the medium red
variety on all, or nearly all, of the land devoted to the growth of such
cereals as rye, wheat, barley and oats, when the land is to be plowed
the autumn or spring following. Reduced quantities of seed are used.
They believe that the benefit from the young clover plants to the land
will more than pay for the cost of the seed and the sowing of the same.
The amount of seed to sow will depend on the degree of suitability in
the conditions for growing medium red clover. The more favorable these
are, the less the necessity for using maximum quantities of seed, and
_vice versa_. More seed is required when the clover is not grown with
other grasses or clovers than when it is grown with these. When grown
without admixture, 16 pounds of seed per acre may be named as the
maximum quantity to sow and 8 pounds as the minimum, with 12 pounds as
an average. With all the conditions quite favorable, 10 pounds should
suffice. In New England and some of the Atlantic States, many growers
sow much more seed than the quantities named, and it may be that the
necessities of the land call for more. In Great Britain also,
considerably larger quantities are sown.
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.
CHAPTER IV
ALFALFA
Alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_) previous to its introduction into
California, from Chili, about the middle of the last century, was
usually known by the French name Lucerne. The name Alfalfa is probably
Arabic in its origin, and the term Lucerne has probably been given to it
from the Canton Lucerne in Switzerland. It has followed the plant into
Spain and South America, and now it seems probable that soon it will be
known by no other name over all the United States and Canada. It has
also been known by names applied to it from various countries for which
it has shown high adaptation, as, for instance, Sicilian Clover, Mexican
Clover, Chilian Clover, Brazilian Clover, Styrian Clover and Burgundy
Clover. In yet other instances, names have been applied to it indicative
of some peculiarity of growth, as, for instance, Branching Clover,
Perennial Clover, Stem Clover and Monthly Clover.
Alfalfa is upright and branching in its habit of growth, more so than
the common varieties of clover. It usually grows to the height of 2 to 3
feet, but it has been known to reach a much greater height. Although
possessed of a single stem when the plants are young, the number of the
stems increases up to a certain limit, with the age of the plants and
the number of the cuttings. Forty to fifty stalks frequently grow up
from the crown of a single plant where the conditions are quite
favorable to growth, and in some instances as many as a hundred. The
leaves are not large, but numerous, and in the curing of the plants they
drop off much more easily than those of the more valuable of the
clovers. The flowers are borne toward the top of the stems and branches,
and they are in a long cluster, rather than in a compact head. They are
usually of a bluish tint, but the shades of the color vary with the
strain from blue to pink and yellow. The seeds are borne in spirally
coiled pods. They resemble those of red clover in size, but are less
uniform in shape. The color should be a light olive green. The tap roots
go down deeply into the soil and subsoil where the conditions as to
texture and moisture are favorable. It has been claimed that alfalfa
roots have gone down into congenial subsoils 40 to 50 feet, but usually
less, probably, than one-fourth of the distances mentioned would measure
the depths to which the roots go. And with decreasing porosity in the
subsoil, there will be decrease in root penetration until it will reach
in some instances not more than 3 to 4 feet. But where the roots are
thus hindered from going deeper, they branch out more in their search
for food.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_)
Oregon Experiment Station]
Alfalfa is perennial. In the duration of its growth, no fodder plant
grown under domestication will equal it. It has been known, it is
claimed, to produce profitable crops for half a century. In some of the
Western States are meadows from 25 to 40 years old. Ordinarily,
however, the season of profitable growth is not more than, say, 6 to 12
years when grown on upland soils. The meadows usually become more or
less weedy or possessed by various grasses, and some of the plants die.
The plants at first send up a single stem. When this matures or is cut
back the uncut portion of the stem dies down to the crown of the plant,
which then sends out other stems. This is repeated as often as the stems
are cut down until many stems grow up from one plant as indicated above,
unless the plants are so crowded that such multiplication is more or
less hindered. The plants grow rapidly as soon as spring arrives, and as
often as cut off they at once spring again into vigorous life, where the
conditions are favorable to such growth; hence, from one to twelve
cuttings of soiling may be obtained in a single season, the former
result being obtained in arid climates, where the conditions are
unpropitious, and the latter being possible only in congenial soils,
where the winters are very mild and where the soils are irrigated.
Usually, however, even on upland soils and in the absence of irrigation,
not fewer than 3 to 5 cuttings of soiling food are obtained each year
and not fewer than 2 to 4 crops of hay.
A number of varieties so called are grown in this country. They differ
from each other more, however, in their adaptation in essential
properties relating to the quality of the pasture and fodder produced,
than in the quality of food product obtained from them. The variety
commonly grown from seed produced in the West is usually spoken of
simply as alfalfa, while that grown from seed European in origin has
been more commonly called Lucerne. The former of these has a tendency to
grow taller than the latter and to send its roots down to a greater
depth. In addition to these, such strains as the Turkestan, the Rhenish,
the Minnesota and Sand Lucerne have been introduced.
The Turkestan variety was introduced by the United States Department of
Agriculture during recent years. It was brought from provinces beyond
the Caspian in Russia, Asia. The object sought was to introduce a
variety that would better withstand the rigors of a climate dry in
summer and cold in winter than the variety commonly grown. Some strains
of this variety have proved drought resistant to a remarkable degree. It
has also shown itself capable of enduring without injury temperatures so
low as to result in the destruction of plants of the common variety. In
trials made by growers in North Dakota and Northern Minnesota, it has
been found able to endure the winter's cold in these areas. But it has
also been found that while the plants produced some seed in the Central
Mountain States, they did not produce much seed when grown in the
Northern States. Unless seed can be secured from plants grown in the
latter in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of growers, it is
feared that in time some of the hardy characteristics of this variety
will be lost if the Central and Southern Mountain States must be relied
upon as the American sources of seed supplies.
The Rhenish strain comes from Central Europe. It has been highly
commended by some European seedsmen for its hardihood, but it has been
as yet grown to only a limited extent in America. The Minnesota strain
was doubtless brought to Carver County by German farmers, by whom it has
been grown in the neighborhood of Lake Waconia for nearly 20 years. It
has been found much hardier than the common variety when grown in that
neighborhood, and the endurance of plants grown from seed of this strain
far northward has been very pronounced. As this variety produces
reasonably good seed crops in Central Minnesota, it would seem
reasonable to expect that it will become popular in Northern areas. Sand
Lucerne, which comes from Central Europe, has considerable adaptation
for poor and light soils, and in trials made at the Michigan experiment
station was found possessed of distinctive merit for such soils.
Where alfalfa can be grown freely, it is unexcelled as a pasture for
swine, and is in favor also as a pasture for horses. While cattle and
sheep grazed upon it are exceedingly fond of it, the danger that it will
produce bloat in them is so frequently present as to greatly neutralize
its value for such a use. It is a favorite pasture for fowls. In
furnishing soiling food where it produces freely, it is without an equal
in all the United States. It is highly relished by all kinds of farm
animals, not excluding rabbits and goats, and when fed judiciously may
be fed in this form with perfect safety. Its high value in producing
such food rests on its productiveness, its high palatability and the
abundant nutrition which it contains. As a hay crop, it is greatly
prized. Even swine may be wintered in a large measure on cured alfalfa
hay.
As a fertilizer, the value of alfalfa will be largely dependent on the
use that is made of the plants. When pastured or fed upon the farm, the
fertility resulting being put back upon the land, it ranks highly as a
producer of fertility. But this question is further discussed on page
191. As a destroyer of weeds much will depend upon the way in which it
is grown. This question also is discussed again. (See page 185.)
=Distribution.=--It is thought that alfalfa is more widely distributed
over the earth's surface, furnishes more food for live stock, and has
been widely cultivated for a longer period than any other legume. It is
grown over wide areas of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and its
cultivation is constantly extending. It was grown on the irrigated
plains of Babylon long before the days of Nebuchadnezzar. It was the
principal fodder used in the stables of the kings of Persia. From
Persia, it is thought, it was brought to Greece about 470 B. C., and
that its cultivation in Italy began at least two centuries before the
Christian era. Several Roman writers, as Virgil, Columella and Varro,
mention it. From Italy it was introduced into Spain and from Spain it
was doubtless carried by missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church to
Mexico and the South American States which lie west of the Andes, as
Peru and Chili. In the arid and semi-arid regions of the Andes, the
conditions were found so favorable to the growth of alfalfa that it is
now the principal forage crop grown. It is almost certain that it was
brought from Chili to California, from which it has spread over much of
the cultivated portion of the arid and semi-arid west. Western grown
seed is also the chief source of supply at the present time for all the
States of the Union.
Fully a century ago attempts were made by Chancellor Livingstone and
others to introduce it into the Eastern States, but without much
success, owing, probably, to the lack of knowledge on the part of the
people as to how it should be grown. The seed at that time was doubtless
brought from European sources, probably France. It has been noticed by
more recent growers in these States that the results from sowing such
seed do not prove as satisfactory as those from American grown seed, but
that alone should not sufficiently explain why the attempts to grow
alfalfa just referred to were not successful.
But it is not alone in the areas named that alfalfa has proved so
helpful to agriculture. In Central Asia and northward it has for long
centuries furnished the Tartars with the principal forage crop grown. In
Turkestan and other places it will grow under conditions so dry as to
forbid the vigorous growth of many hardy grasses. In Southern Asia, from
India to Arabia, it has lost none of the popular favor accorded to it
long centuries ago. In Southern Russia it is extensively grown, and up
and down the basin of the Danube. In the Mediterranean provinces of
Southern Europe it is still one of the leading forage crops. In France
it stands high in the popular estimate, and also in some parts of
Germany. And even in humid England it is grown more or less freely on
dry, calcareous soils. And the day is doubtless near when in many parts
of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Eastern South America this great
fodder plant will be found capable of yielding abundant harvests. In
some parts of Argentina it has been claimed that it grows like a weed.
It is believed by many that alfalfa if exposed to very low temperatures
will perish and that it cannot stand as much winter exposure as medium
red or alsike clover. This is only true of some varieties. Other
varieties, as the Turkestan, for instance, will endure lower
temperatures and more exposure than the clovers named. Alfalfa has been
grown with some success at the government experiment station, Indian
Head, Sask, Canada, and yet it sometimes winter kills in Texas. As with
clover, it is injured most by exposure to sweeping winds blowing over it
in winter when the mercury is low, and the injury is more fatal just
after the removal of a snow covering and when the plants are young. Ice
forming over the fields after a sudden thaw and remaining for a time is
very liable to kill the plants. It can stand considerably more summer
heat than any of the clovers grown northward, as witnessed in the good
crops grown in some parts of Louisiana during the hottest weather of
summer. Nevertheless, with reference to temperatures, what may be termed
a mild climate, such as characterizes Southern France in Europe and
Western California in the United States, is best adapted to its growth.
It is better adapted to climates that are dry, where the plants can be
irrigated, as then rains do not interfere with the harvesting of the
hay. Even in the absence of irrigation, a climate that is reasonably dry
is preferable to one where drenching rains frequently fall, which wash
away the soil when sandy, or which fill it full of water when composed
of clay. But where rains fall frequently and in moderation, as in the
northern Puget Sound region, the effect is helpful to the growth of the
alfalfa plants, although it may add somewhat to the labor of making
alfalfa hay, and to the hazard in curing it. Alfalfa will maintain its
hold for years on some portions of the table lands of the mountain
States under conditions so dry that the plants can only furnish one
cutting of hay in a season. It is safe to assume, therefore, that
alfalfa can be grown under a wider range of climatic conditions than any
other legume grown in the United States. But the influence which climate
should be allowed to exercise on the use that is to be made of it should
not be lost from view. In climates much subject to frequent rains in
summer, it should be grown rather for soiling food and pasture than for
hay, whereas in dry climates, and especially where it can be irrigated,
it should be grown for hay, soiling food and pasture, but especially the
former.
While alfalfa can be successfully grown in one or the other of its
varieties in some portion of every State in the Union, it has its
favorite feeding grounds. The best conditions for growing it are found
in the valleys of all the Rocky Mountain States, where the growth can be
regulated by the application of irrigating waters. In these the
conditions southward are superior to those northward, because of the
milder climate, which precludes the danger of winter killing by
exposure, which occasionally happens in the more northerly of the
mountain States, and because of the more prolonged season for growth,
which adds to the number of the cuttings. This does not mean that the
river bottoms in other parts of the United States will not be found good
for growing alfalfa. It can be grown in many of these; in fact, in
nearly all of them, and to some extent by the aid of irrigation, if the
waste waters were stored, but the deposit soil in these valleys being of
much closer texture than that in the western valleys, is, on the whole,
lower in adaptation than the soil in the latter.
In the western valleys of the mountain States, alfalfa is the crop
around which it may be said that agricultural production centers. It is
the principal hay crop of those States. The extent to which it may be
grown there is revolutionizing the production of live stock on the
ranges, as it is providing food for them in winter, which is fast
removing, and will probably soon entirely remove, the element of hazard
from live stock dependent on the range pastures for support in that
season. The dairy and swine industries in those valleys must largely
depend upon it. Fruit orchards must ultimately grow on buried alfalfa
meadows, and the rotation of all crops in the same will be largely
dependent upon the growing of alfalfa. Next in adaptation to the
mountain States are, it is thought, certain soils that lie between the
Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, especially such as are in proximity
to rivers, or are underlaid with sheet water not far distant from the
surface. But an unusually large proportion of the upland soil in these
States, from Central Minnesota southward, have high adaptation for the
growth of this plant. Particularly is this true of the soils of Nebraska
and Kansas and of considerable portions of Missouri, Arkansas and
Louisiana.
In States east of the Mississippi, the adaptation is not so general, and
is more dependent on soil conditions than on those that are climatic. In
nearly all of the river bottoms of these States it will grow with more
or less success. On nearly all upland soils it will also grow well,
where the subsoil furnishes naturally good drainage. For the exception,
see page 132. But in no State east of the Mississippi, is such a
proportion of the area so highly adapted to growing alfalfa as in many
of the States west of that river. In other States areas are found in
which alfalfa will produce excellent crops, but usually these do not
embrace the larger portion of the entire area in any State. In a
considerable number of the States such areas are more or less limited,
and usually they are distributed variously in the different States; that
is, they do not lie side by side. The favorite soil conditions in these
are a good loam, preferably more or less sandy and resting upon a porous
subsoil.
A more exact idea will be given of relative adaptation in various States
in what is now submitted. In California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New
Mexico, alfalfa is now grown chiefly by the aid of irrigation, and all
of these States have highest adaptation for its growth. In some parts of
California 6 to 10 tons of cured hay are obtained in one year, with
pasture in winter additional. In Utah, good crops have been grown
successively on the same land for more than a quarter of a century. In
Colorado two cuttings are obtained the first season, and it is said that
there the plants are not easily destroyed. It yields enormously in the
irrigated valleys of New Mexico and Arizona.
In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, it is grown with and
without irrigation. In large areas in all these States, excellent crops
are and may be grown, but the season of growth being shorter, not so
many cuttings are obtained per year as in the mountain States further
south. In Northern Idaho two cuttings may be obtained per year, even on
high, dry land.
In North Dakota, especially westward, alfalfa gives promise of
successful growth. It will grow well in much of South Dakota, especially
on sandy soils not too distant from water. In Minnesota it has been
grown successfully in Carver County since 1886. Good success is being
obtained from growing it in other parts of the State, even in some parts
of the Red River valley. In Western Iowa it is being grown with much
success, and in some portions of Eastern Iowa. In Missouri, the two
important centers for growing it are the northwest and the southeast,
but in other areas it has also done well. In Kansas it will grow well in
all parts of the State where the subsoil is porous. It has been cut for
hay in that State in less than 60 days from the date of sowing. It grows
equally well over at least two-thirds of Nebraska, especially the
eastern half, and its growth in Nebraska is rapidly extending. In the
Arkansas valley it luxuriates, and it is also being grown in Oklahoma.
In Louisiana immense fields are being grown along the Red River and in
other parts of the State. In Texas it is being grown more or less north,
east and south, and especially in the valley of the Brazos.
In the Southern States alfalfa has not in many instances been given a
good chance where tried. The plants have too frequently had to contend
there as elsewhere with ill-prepared and weedy soils and imprudent
pasturing. Yet it is being grown with considerable success, though as
yet in limited areas, in all the Southern States. It has done well in
parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, and in Georgia
are some alfalfa meadows 25 years old. In the other Southeastern States,
viz., Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida, it does well only in areas
more or less circumscribed, but it has been grown with some success even
in the rainy climate of Southern Florida.
In the States northward from the Ohio River, that is, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, the necessity for growing alfalfa has not
been so much felt as in some other States, because of the excellence of
the crops of clover grown in these. Its growth, however, is extending in
all of these States. Much
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