156 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



The practice of spreading straw in order to get a stand of clover 

 is not so valuable as something to be recommended to farmers to practice, 

 as it is in what it teaches. It may be objected at once that it is a mulch, 

 and true, it is. It may also be objected that it is an expensive practice 

 from a labor standpoint. "Whether this is true or not may be judged 

 from the fact that the man and his hand were able to haul and spread 

 the straw over three acres per day. If suitable straw spreaders were at 

 hand this labor might be materially reduced, but as it is and under the 

 conditions found it is time well spent. The practice, however, is worthy 

 of very careful consideration and study. It is found on land where 

 clover had once been grown without any difficulty whatever, but years 

 of farming has brought the soil to that state where a mere thin scatter- 



Fig. 3. Stand of clover secured under very unfavorable conditions, by applying straw 

 to the fleld as in figure 2. 



ing of straw on the surface will insure a perfect stand of clover, while 

 without it, or some substitute like manure or the equivalent of trash, 

 leaves, etc., clover cannot be grown. The natural drainage is good. 

 Commercial fertilizers have been used abundantly for years, and there 

 should evidently be no lack of the elements essential for plant growth. 

 There is no lack of lime, the soil in fact being for the most part of 

 limestone origin. But under these conditions it lacked what proved 

 to be a most essential factor to success in clover production, namely, 

 something that will have an effect probably similar to that of an abund- 



