CLOVER CULTURE. y3 



orchard grass with a brush harrow. Orchard grass does well, 

 as a rule, south of the latitude of central Iowa and Nebraska, 

 and has a westward range much further than clover. How 

 far north this mixture can be used depends very much on the 

 nature of the exposure and the protection furnished by groves, 

 windbreaks and other grasses. The reasons for adding or- 

 chard grass to this mixture are two: First, It is about the 

 only grass that will be fit to cut for hay at the time the com- 

 mon red clover is at its best estate. Second, We know of no 

 grass, except clover, that will yield such an abundant after- 

 math. If, therefore, the amount of timothy above suggested 

 be lessened and orchard grass added, the result will be, wher- 

 ever this grass does well, an amount of fall pasture that is 

 surprising to farmers who do not know the capabilities of a 

 soil well set in the best grasses. However, where orchard 

 grass forms any considerable portion of the sward, it should 

 not be plowed up except after a term of years, for the reason 

 that the seed is expensive, and the grass being a perennial or 

 growing from 3^ear to year from thesame root, should be used 

 as long as its usefulness continues. 



By using clover in any ot the ways above suggested, it is 

 possible to keep up the fertility of the soil for a great length 

 of time, depending upon the amount of phosphoric acid and 

 potash that are available, or that may become available by the 

 disintegration ol the primary rock of which all soils are largely 

 composed. As to how long it might require to exhaust the pot- 

 ash and phosphoric acid on the drift soils of the West no one is 

 yet competent to express an opinion. This, however, should 

 be distinctly understood, that if the crops grown with the aid 

 of clover as well as the clover itself are removed from the soil 

 and no manure returned, the land will become permanently 

 exhausted and cannot be restored to its wonted fertility with- 

 out the costly, hazardous and uncertain experiment of the use 

 of commercial fertilizers. 



As clover itself is a large consumer of phosphoric acid and 

 potash the first symptom woulcflikely be that the soil would 

 refuse to grow clover and become, in popular language, 

 "clover sick. n This, however, is not a proper use of the 

 term, the true clover sickness being a disease that affects the 

 clover in the fall of the year and after it has made a vigorous 

 growth during the spring and summer months. We wish, 

 therefore, to impress with the utmost clearness and distinct- 

 ness on the mind of the reader this fact, that he cannot goon 

 forever obtaining large crops by the use of clover unless he 



