FORAGE CROPS FOR THE SAND-HILL SECTION OF NEBRASKA. 11 



meadow. Twelve pounds of red clover to the acre or 8 pounds of 

 alsike are usually the quantities recommended and are sufficient to 

 give a complete stand when proper methods of seeding are used. It 

 is better to have a good stand of clover over 5 acres of the meadow, 

 where one can see exactly how beneficial it is, than to have a spot here 

 and there over 80 or 100 acres. Some reckon that if only a bunch 

 here and there is started in n meadow the seed will gradually be 

 scattered by the sAveep rake in haying and will cover the entire 

 meadow. It will do so if the clover is allowed to get fairly ripe 

 before the haying is done, but it will take years. The farmer might 

 have been cutting good clover crops from it much sooner if a smaller 

 area had been given the proper quantity of seed and a field kept on 

 cultivated ground to furnish the seed necessary for a gradual exten- 

 sion of his meadow. A field of pure clover on cultivated land is of 

 great service for this purpose, as that produced in the meadows is 

 so mixed with grass leaves that it is difficult to thrash. If the 

 farmer has some source of seed on his own farm he will ordinarily 

 use a larger quantity than if forced to purchase it. 



METHOD OF SEEDING. 



Many scatter clover seed on the surface of the ground and count on 

 the rains covering it. ^Yhen soAvn with oats on cultivated ground 

 the soil should be plowed and thoroughly prepared with disk and 

 harrow before seeding. Then the cloA'er can be seeded at the same 

 lime as the oats and harrowed in Avith a drag harrow if no drill is 

 available, or the oats can be disked or drilled in first and then the 

 clover seed scattered on and harroAved in lightly. On these light 

 .soils it is always better to coA^er the seed in some way. 



"Wliere cloAer is soAvn Avithout a grain crop, land that was in corn 

 the previous year is preferable, because it is firm and solid. If the 

 corn was cut for fodder, it only remains to sow the seed broadcast 

 and harroAv or drill it in the folloAving spring. The field should be 

 one Avliicli wn- Icc-pt free from Aveeds the preceding year, otherAvise 

 the vouuiT clover plants are likelv to be choked out. 



Most of this paper has been Avritten with the present equipment ot 

 the sand-hill farmer in mind. As soon as possible CA'ery farmer 

 should supply himself Avith a drill AA'hich will sow cloA^er and alfalfa 

 seed. A disk drill having a press attachment Avhich is removable Avill 

 pay for itself in one season in the saving of seed if any considerable 

 area of land is seeded. The press Avheels are very essential on culti- 

 vated ground, since it is ahvays loose and needs to be compacted after 

 the seed is sown. AMien seeding clover on meadoAvland these Avheels 

 can l)e remoA^ed and the seed left in the little furroAvs made by the 

 disks. Succeeding rains Avill pack the soil sufficiently to insure an 



[Cir. 80] 



