Farmers^ Week in Agricultural College. 163 



The same is true if tlie clover is soavii in the corn at the last cultivation 

 or following corn the next spring without a nurse crop. When the lime 

 is sown in the corn the cultivation of this crop stirs it into the soil in a 

 very thorough manner, more so than would be the case if it were applied 

 when the ground is being prepared for the wheat, rye or oats crop. 

 Lime, however, can be applied at this time with good results, provided 

 it is not convenient to do so on the ,corn ground. 



Value of clover in the rotations. — No rotation is complete without 

 clover. It is the crop that supplies nitrogen to the soil, the most ex- 

 pensive element when it is bougl-.t in the fertilizer sack. Clover brings 

 up the mineral elements, phosphorous and potassium, from the sub-soil, 

 and stores them in the large surface roots and crowns to be used later 

 by other crops. It has been estimated that a good crop of clover on one 

 acre has in its roots and tops elements of fertility equal to that con- 

 tained in ten tons of manure, the roots alone containing about one-third 

 to one-half of that amount. It is extremely important to keep the soil 

 well supplied with humus and decaying vegetable material, and this 

 tlie clover crop does by filling it with an immense root system. The value 

 of this feature it is not an easy matter to estimate. 



Farmers in general are apt to continually underestimate the full 

 significance and the extreme importance of this crop. However, its 

 real and immediate value is so great, and its continued success means 

 so much in keeping up the rotation, and the rotation so much toward 

 keeping up a continuous and profitable system of farming, that every 

 effort should be made and every means applied to make sure that each 

 year there will be success in growing clover and maintaining the rotation 

 as planned. 



SUMMARY, 



On the average farm success in maintaining a profitalile system 

 of agriculture hinges very largely on keeping up a systematic rotation. 



No rotation is complete without clover or some legume as a substi- 

 tute for it. Hence the importance of continuous success with clover. 



Continued success with this crop is a very broad problem. Failure 

 may be due to one or more of a number of factors. Assuming that the 

 land is well drained, and that a liberal amount of seed is to be sown, the 

 following is of extreme importance : 



The method of seeding. — The seed must be covered ; the soil at 

 seedtime must be in condition to insure this, aiid if not, the conditions 

 are not favorable for germination and for the young clover plants tak- 

 ing root. If the common method of sowing on "honeycombed" ground 

 or on the snow, in winter grains, does not afford this covering, a seed 



