The Hay Crop 255 



Crimson This plant has received a variety of names 



Clover jj^ various parts of the country, such as 



Scarlet clover, Italian clover, German clover and Annual 

 clover. It is strictly an annual plant, sown in late 

 summer or fall and matures in early spring from April 

 to late May according to climate. Crimson clover is 

 mainly of value as a soil improver, since it can be turned 

 under in the spring in time for the planting of a hoed crop 

 of corn or tobacco or cotton. It is harder to cure as hay 

 than any of the clovers, and if the blossoms are allowed to 

 get brown the hay will be dangerous food for horses on 

 account of the hair balls that form in the animal's intes- 

 tines. It can be made into hay if cut as soon as in full 

 bloom, but it requires frequent turning in the cocks till 

 cured sufficiently to store. The feeding value of the hay 

 is higher than that of red clover since it has a larger per- 

 centage of protein. 



In the Middle States crimson clover is very commonly 

 sown among corn at last working, and progressive farmers 

 in the South sow it among cotton. Both give the soil a 

 good winter cover, which is especially important in the 

 South to prevent the wasting of fertility from the bare and 

 unfrozen ground. Farmers who think about their busi- 

 ness are gradually coming to understand the value of a 

 green crop on the land in winter that would otherwise be 

 left bare after a hoed crop. Southern farms have lost as 

 much through the wasting of the bare land in the cotton 

 fields in winter as from the cropping. 



Crimson clover is not certainly hardy much north of 

 central Pennsylvania as a rule, and hence cannot be used 

 as a regular crop in the more northern sections. In the 



