EFFECTS OF CklMSON CLOVER 1?1 



able that when one is endeavoring to bring up poor soils 

 by the use of crimson clover, the more one helps the 

 clover by means of manures the more the clover in turri 

 is able to help the land. Thus it pays well to fertilize 

 liberally when the clover is sown, choosing a fertilizer 

 rich in phosphorus, and for some soils potassium. Crim- 

 son clover is !ess insistent than some clovers on lime in 

 the soil, though it thrives best when the land is fairly 

 sweet. 



Bees revel in crimson clover, which is a good point. It 

 makes seed very abundantly and the seed is easily threshed 

 by either machine or hand. Crimson clover seed must be 

 harvested at night or very early in the morning. Not a 

 few southern farmers take squares of canvas to the field, 

 and having the clover cut and dry, flail out the seed. This 

 may leave the seed in the chaff, but for home sowing 

 this is no objection ; in truth, some believe it grows more 

 surely in that condition. It may yield 5 to 10 bushels 

 of seed to the acre. The yield of green forage from 

 crimson clover may easily reach 10 tons to the acre. As 

 a gatherer of fertility it may yield to the soil as much as 

 200 pounds to the acre of nitrogen, besides considerable 

 good grazing, and all, practically, for the cost of seed- 

 ing, since it grows mainly during the time between crops. 

 I suggest to farmers living south of the Ohio River the 

 establishing of small fields of crimson clover, if no more 

 than plats in the gardens, whence can be taken soil to 

 inoculate larger fields. For the small plat one can doubt- 

 less secure inoculated earth from experiment stations. 



Sowing Crimson Clover. Crimson clover seed is large 

 and commonly of good quality. It is not often adulter- 



