EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 285 



but probably the losses in the silo are no greater than when the crop 

 is field cured. The expenses of harvesting are, however, much greater, 

 when the weather is fine. It is cheaper to allow the sun to dry the hay 

 than it is to draw the green forage to the barn. There is, of course, less 

 risk in bad weather with the silo than by the older method. 



VARIETIES OF CLOVEE, METHODS OF CULTURE AND YIELDS. 



The seed was selected after careful inspection to prevent the introduc- 

 tion of such weeds as buckhorn plantain, and was sown on the growing 

 wheat in the spring of 1896, during the month of April, and, as far as 

 possible, in the first week of that month. Experiments carried on for 

 two sucessive years had demonstrated that in ordinary seasons the 

 earlier the clover seed is sown in the spring the greater the probability 

 of a full crop. The seed was sown in the early morning, while the ground 

 was frozen and while the air was still ; a wheelbarrow seeder and various 

 hand devices were used in scattering the seed. On the north half of field 

 9, pure medium red clover was sown; on the south half of the same field 

 mammoth clover, and on field 12, which contains a great variety of soils, 

 alsike seed, mixed with various grasses. The season of 1896 was favor- 

 able on the whole to the growth of the clover plants, which, after the 

 removal of the wheat crop, grew so rapidly as to necessitate running a 

 mower over the field and the removal of nearly a ton to the acre of hay in 

 the fall of 1896. 



Neither cattle nor sheep seemed to like this fall crop of clover, although 

 secured without exposure to rain. It was stored in the barn, and the 

 attempt to feed it was made in the cold weather of winter, with but very 

 partial success. The dairy cows rejected it, and the lambs would not 

 eat enough of it to make a respectable growth. It had to be used, 

 therefore, largely for bedding. Its removal was, however, necessary, to 

 prevent smothering the clover plants during the winter. 



The winter of 1896-97 was favorable to clover, and the crops made a 

 good growth and were ready for the mower by the last week in June. On 

 the 23d of that month a measured acre on the west end of No. 9 was 

 cut and field cured. The yield was 4,200 pounds of hay in good condition 

 to go into the barn. Field 12 was used as a pasture ^brough the season. 

 The field contains 34 acres. On it 18 head of growing cattle were pas- 

 tured from the early part of May through the season. Mowers were put 

 in the field June 24th, and the hauling of the hay was completed on 

 the 30th. The yield for the 34 acres was 35 tons, 1,940 pounds of field 

 cured hay. No rain fell while the crop was being gathered, and the hay 

 was of most excellent quality, green in color and free from dust. 



The yield from field 9, 23.S acres, was 53 tons, 1,677 pounds, or two 

 tons, five hundred and twenty-f- or pounds per acre. No tests have been 

 made of the relative feeding value of the hay from medium, alsike and 

 mammoth clover. The practical identity in composition of red clover 

 and alsike hay is prima facie evidence that they are of practically equal 

 value. Mammoth clover hav is not eaten as clean as medium, because 

 of its woody stems. 



