RED CLOVER. 103 
should be used for seed production depends on conditions. If these 
are favourable, all or certain parts of the field are commonly left for 
seed. Success depends on many factors. If the latter part of the” 
summer, when the seed is ripening, is rainy, there is far less chance 
of producing good seed than if the weather is warm and dry. Cold, 
stiff soils, which may produce luxuriant growth, are not as a rule 
satisfactory for seed production. The best soils are sandy loams 
with an abundance of lime and a fair supply of potash and phos- 
phates. A thick stand of clover improves the quality of the hay 
but produces only a scant amount of seed. A relatively thin crop 
will give a heavier yield and the seed produced is of a better quality. 
A smaller amount should therefore be sown for seed production than 
for hay or pasture. 
The first cut of Red Ciover gives a small return of seed because 
the bumble bees, which fertilize the blossoms, are less numerous 
during the early part of the summer than later. For this reason the 
first growth is cut for hay or pastured and the second growth left for 
seed. By cutting or pasturing the first crop, the weeds are checked 
and the second growth is cleaner. 
Red Clover should be cut for seed when most of the heads have 
turned brown and the stems begin to dry up. The seeds in most of 
the heads are then ripe and of a pronounced colour. By cutting 
earlier, a large proportion of the seeds will be immature and shrunken, 
the vitality will be low and the general colour and appearance in- 
ferior. It can be cut with an ordinary mowing machine. ‘The heads, 
and flowers are easily broken by careless handling, especially in dry, 
hot weather. Threshing should be done in cold, dry weather as it 
is difficult to separate the seeds from the pods when it is damp. 
Quality of seed: The colour of ordinary commercial Red Clover 
seed is mixed, some seeds being yellow, others purple, and others 
bright in.one end and dark in the other. In some samples the bright 
colours prevail while in others the dark seeds are most common. 
It isa popular belief that bright coloured seeds are not fully mature 
and that samples which contain a large proportion of them are in- 
ferior. This, however, is an error. All seeds gathered from any 
individual plant are of the same general colour. In some plants all 
the seeds are yellow, in others deep violet, and in others uniformly 
two-coloured. Bright yellow seeds are just as ripe as dark purple 
ones. The mixed colour of the ordinary commercial sample there- 
fore does not mean that the seeds are not uniformly ripe. It simply 
means that it is composed of seeds of different types, each type having 
