No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 581 



mineral food, derived from acid phosphate, ground bone and muriate 

 of potash, fourth, thorough preparation of the seed-bed, making it 

 as fine as possible; fifth, an abundance of good seed, at least 30 

 pounds per acre, and should be seeded either early in spring, as soon 

 as danger of frost is past, or early in August, and without cover 

 crop; sixth, inoculation of the soil with portions of soil from old 

 alfalfa patches, or with the pure cultures; seventh, spring eeedings 

 should have the weeds kept down by frequent cutting; eighth, the 

 crop cut when blossoms begin to appear, and this without regard to 

 the size of the crop; ninth, the curing of the hay carefully per- 

 formed. Handle before too dry, and allow to cure in cocks. 



It may be that a successful catch and subsequent profitable crops 

 do not require attention to all of these points, though all have been 

 observed in those entirely satisfactory'. 



Cowpeas and soy beans should not be seeded until the latter part 

 of May. A safe period to begin seeding, is the last week in May. 

 The best soils are those of a sandy or porous nature, or those that 

 may be described as open and friable. Land should be preferably 

 limed (though it is not so essential as in the case of alfalfa), and well 

 supplied with phosphoric acid and potash. Seed at the rate of 1^ 

 bushels per acre, if broadcasted, and from three pecks to one bushel 

 per acre, if put in drills. The crop should be harvested when the 

 pods are just beginning to form, and in curing should be handled 

 in the same manner as described for alfalfa. 



Crimson clover seeded in corn at the rate of 12 to 15 pounds of 

 seed per acre, at the last cultivation, and lightly covered by a nar- 

 row or light cultivator. This crop grows ordinarily where corn 

 grows well, and failures to withstand the winter are due more often 

 TO a lack of lime and other plant-food, and the specific bacteria in 

 the soil, rather than to any lack of hardiness. When seeded pri- 

 Uiarily for a forage crop, or hay, the land should be well prepared, 

 and about 15 pounds of seed broadcasted ard lightly covered. The 

 hay crop will be ready to harvest by the 20th of May. The combined 

 crops of oats and peas, and oats and vetch, are readily grown 

 wherever oats do well. 



The Ne^ Jersey Station's experiments show a considerable varia- 

 tion in the yields of different years, due to seasonal and other condi- 

 tions, though the average jield of alfalfa has been five tons; of cow 

 peas, soy beans and crimson clover, about 1^ tons per acre each, 

 though as high as an equivalent of four tons of crimson clover hay 

 has been secured. The peas, beans and clovers have shown a wider 

 variation in yield than in the case of the alfalfa, which is doubtless 

 due to the fact that the fields of different years have been obtained 

 from the same acre. 



The average cost per acre is, for alfalfa, |26.30; for cowpeas and 

 soy beans, |10, and for crimson clover hay, |4.50, the latter when 

 seeded in corn, as the main cost is the seed and harvesting; it would 

 be greater when the land is specially prepared for the crop, though 

 naturally the yield would also be greater, probably making the cost 

 per unit of crop not widely different. The differences in the cost of 

 cow peas are largely due to variations in the cost of seed, as the 

 cost of preparation of land and fertilizer has been practically the 

 same each year. Based upon average yields, therefore, the cost per 

 ton of alfalfa hay is $5.26, the cost per ton of cow pea and soy bean 



