MAKING CLOVER HAY 341 



graze so closely. Clipping back the young clover and the 

 weeds a few weeks after the nurse crop is harvested is often 

 the most beneficial treatment which can be given. This 

 treatment is not advisable in the North, however, unless 

 there is time before frost for the plants to make sufficient 

 growth to protect the roots from winter injury. A top- 

 dressing of manure will greatly increase the yield, though, 

 if the supply of manure is limited, it may be appUed with 

 greater profit just before breaking up the clover sod for corn. 



The usual practice the second season is to cut the first 

 crop for hay as soon as it comes into blossom, cutting the 

 second crop either for seed or hay. Conditions are usually 

 better for seed production at the time the second crojp 

 matures. ! The second growth may also be pastured, or if 

 the land needs vegetable matter it may be plowed under to 

 benefit the crop which follows. Better returns will be ob- 

 tained, however, if this second crop is pastured or is cut 

 and fed on the farm and the manure returned to the land. 

 Clover alone ordinarily does not maintain a good stand 

 after the second year unless the second crop is allowed to 

 produce seed and this seed is harrowed in. When mixed 

 with timothy, good meadows may be maintained for three or 

 four years, particularly if a top-dressing of manure is given, 

 but the hay crop during the later years will contain a large 

 proportion of timothy. 



452. Making Clover Hay. Directions have already been 

 given for hay making (Sections 350-352). Somewhat more 

 than ordinary care is needed to make good hay from clover 

 or the other leguminous crops, for they cure less readily than 

 the grasses. The best clover hay is usually obtained by cut- 

 ting when a majority of the blossoms are a Httle past full 

 bloom. As the leaves contain a large part of the food mate- 

 rial in the most palatable form, they are a very valuable part 

 of the hay. They are best retained by curing largely in the 

 shade. The hay should be cut in the morning as soon as 



