HARROWING BEFORE SEEDING 289 



there is always uncertainty more or less great in clover 

 seeding on unprepared land. When one can do so with- 

 out disturbing the grasses too much one should wait 

 till the land is dry enough to work in April or late March, 

 then harrow lightly and so\v the clovers, perhaps harrow- 

 ing again to cover the seed. With proper care this may 

 be done with no resulting injury to the previous seeding, 

 or so little injury that the good of having a sure stand 

 of clovers much more than offsets it. One will need 

 here to be in the field in person since one can not trust 

 the harrowing of young grasses to ignorant and heedless 

 laborers. It is common to use 10 pounds of clover seed 

 which. may be of purely red clover, or a mixture of red 

 and other clovers. Always where there is suspicion that 

 alfalfa may succeed one should sow in the mixture 

 enough alfalfa seed to give a thin scattering of plants 

 over the field, in order to inoculate the field and to show 

 the condition of the soil in respect to sw r eetness, drain- 

 age and fertility, since there is no such soil barometer 

 as the alfalfa plant. I have had fine success with a mix- 

 ture of 6 pounds of red clover, 3 pounds of alsike and 

 I pound of alfalfa, though this mixture may put too 

 much alsike into the meadow, and the use of 2 pounds 

 of the latter and 7 pounds of red clover, with i pound 

 of alfalfa, may give a better result, this depending cer- 

 tainly on the nature of the land. If one desires, one 

 can sow more alfalfa, but the small amount indicated 

 will be enough to give a scattering stand for purposes 

 of observation and inoculation. Sweet clover may be 

 introduced into the mixture if the field is to be mown; 

 animals do not graze this clover well when they may 



