32 The Bulletin. 



bushels will give better results), after which it will not be necessary to 

 reseed if the crop is given proper treatment and an opportunity to 

 mature seed, as referred to under "Reseeding". 



Reseeding. 



" When Grown in Rotation with Corn. — Bur clover will mature enough 

 seed by about the 20th of May to thoroughly reseed the field for an- 

 other year. As soon as sufficient seed have matured for reseeding and 

 the season will permit, the land on which the clover is growing should 

 be broken thoroughly with a two-horse plow and then run over with a 

 cutaway harrow. The corn rows should be run from four to five feei 

 apart and a fertilizer application of a mixture of 200 pounds of acid 

 phosphate, 100 pouuds of kainit applied in the drill when the core 

 is planted. By this method it will be possible to get the corn in the 

 ground early in June, which has been found the best time on the fine 

 sandy loam soil of the Edgecombe Test Farm, especially when fertilizers 

 are to be used. The corn should be reduced to a stand of 18 or 20 

 inches on medium land. As it will require few cultivations, the entire 

 cost of the corn crop for fertilizer and labor, up to time of harvesting, 

 should not exceed $4.50 per acre, and a crop of from 20 to 60 bushels of 

 shelled corn per acre should be expected on fairly good land with an 

 average good season. Fig. 11 shows corn which was treated in this way. 



Excellent results have also been obtained by running off the corn 

 rows in the bur clover field during March, April or early May, and 

 applying the fertilizer in this furrow. Then two furrows are thrown on 

 the fertilizer with turning plow and after allowing to stand awhile the 

 corn is planted in the usual way. This will leave between the corn 

 rows a middle some two feet wide of growing clover. Now, without 

 disturbing this middle, the corn is cultivated one or more times with a 

 suitable plow or cultivator before the seed of the bur clover have ma- 

 tured. As soon as the seed are ripe the middle is broken out by means of 

 a one-horse turning plow, followed shortly by cultivation with a Plant 

 Jr. cultivator, which should level down and pulverize pretty thoroughly 

 the land between the rows. This will ordinarily conclude the cultivation 

 for corn. Bur clover when treated as indicated above will mature 

 enough seed to be assured of a good stand the following fall and spring. 



Bur Clover as a Cover Crop and Soil Protector. 



"From what has preceded it will be readily seen that bur clover has 

 special advantages as a cover crop for orchards and other places where 

 protection is needed in fall, winter and early spring. It is during these 

 parts of the year that our lands are most exposed to washing from the 

 surface and the loss of plant-food from leaching. The clover will pre- 

 vent this to a large extent, at least, by appropriating the plant-food 

 as it becomes available and then after the clover dies down in the spring 

 will leave the plant-food it took from the soil and collected from the 

 air in the land for the use of succeeding crops. After it has matured 

 seed, other crops may follow; orchards may be cultivated and later 

 planted in peas, in case it is desired. This procedure will enrich the 

 land very rapidly and at small cost. Liberal applications of acid phos- 



