276 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



est in this topic. It would seem that the more this question is agitated 

 the more interesting it becomes. In the preparation of the seed bed for 

 clover one should not lose sight of the demands for such a crop and be 

 governed too largely by the desire to get a crop of grain on the same 

 ground where there is to be a start made for a crop of clover. On most 

 farms small grain is put in on ground that had been to corn last year 

 and it will be necessary to clear it from stalks and trash, if it is not to be 

 plowed, which is not always advisable. If possible to do so it is better to 

 break the stalks when the ground is frozen and when sufficiently dry they 

 should be raked (not raked at) and burned so as to be out of the way of 

 working the ground and also out of the way of the first crop of hay that 

 is to come off the field. Both clover and small grain needs a solid seed bed 

 and this is not always obtained by. spring plowing. When the soil is in 

 a good condition for drilling and discing it should be disced and har- 

 rowed down smooth, then the clover seed and oats are to be put in with 

 a drill. This will appear to be a great deal of trouble but it will pay to 

 lake some trouble in obtaining a good stand of grass. The oats and 

 grass seed can be put in at the same operation if the right kind of drill 

 is employed. Some drills will work all right in this kind of ground even 

 if there are a few stalks left on the field, others will not do so well. 



Many mistakes are made in the quantity of seed used and the quality 

 as well. It should be remembered that the main crop expected is the 

 clover crop and the oats should be put in so as to be a protection to the 

 young grass and not as a main crop. Let the seed oats be selected and 

 thoroughly cleaned so all the grain will grow, th«m set the drill to put on 

 four or five pecks of oats to the acre. If the clover seed has been selected 

 with the same view to good quality it should be sown at the rate of one 

 bushel to five acres, otherwise the seeder attachment should be set to sow 

 one peck per acre. We know we are treading on dangerous ground and 

 that a great many farmers will feel that we are advocating a wasteful 

 practice, but experience along just exactly this line has convinced us that 

 this is the best way to do on soil such as is found in the greater part of 

 the central West. 



In growing all kinds of crops it is very naturally to be expected that 

 we are growing crops for profit and not to see how easily and economically 

 crops can be put in. There will be as much gain in having one stalk of 

 oats yield one hundred grains of oats as there will be in having four yield 

 that number and save three stalks cumbering the ground and impeding 

 the growth of the clover. 



When two or three bushels of seed oats are sown on an acre a large 

 number of the oat plants are of but little consequence and a great deal of 

 the young clover is killed out on or about the time the oats are harvested, 

 which condition is liable to occur in any case when the weather conditions 

 are such as to endanger the young plants. When clover has been put in 

 as above the ground will not dry out as it will when plowed and the young 

 plants will have more growth, which are two conditions in its favor. The 

 only reason for stirring ground to obtain a seed bed for any kind of grass 



