76 CLQVER CULTURE. 



the method of seeding with a nurse cro p' will prove successfu 

 on account of lack of summer moisture. It has proved a fail- 

 ure under drier conditions than prevail east of the Missouri, 

 and Nebraska and Kansas farmers have resorted to the meth- 

 od of cutting the prairie sod with heavily loaded disc harrows, 

 and then sowing grass seeds as above described. We are in- 

 clined to think that the rule will hold good that wherever 

 the tame grasses require to be sowed alone without a nurse 

 crop the wild pastures will require to be disced in order that 

 the grass seeds may secure an early and rapid growth to ena- 

 ble them to withstand the coming drouth. 



In practical clover management the amount of moisture 

 that can be confidently expected must always be borne in 

 mind. While in the entire country east of the Missouri and 

 for some distance west, it is entirely practicable to sow the 

 grass seeds with spring grains, it is unsafe, as a rule west of 

 that river. If they are sown with oats especially the growth 

 is necessarily limited, the plants are delicate and "spindling," 

 ^nd when the nurse crop is removed the hot sun is almost 

 certain to greatly weaken, if not entirely destroy, the stand. 

 This is true to some extent with the oats crop in Iowa and 

 Missouri, and especially during the excessively hot seasons. 

 The rule, therefore, west of the Missouri, except in unusually 

 moist soils, should be to sow grass seeds as a crop by them- 

 selves. The ground should be carefully prepared, clover and 

 timothy seed covered to the depth usually given to oats or 

 spring wheat, and the tame grasses allowed the full use of 

 the ground. The weeds will spring up with the young 

 grasses and these should be mowed off once or twice during 

 the summer, if necessary, setting the mower somewhat high 

 thus allowing the young plants to have the full measure of 

 sunshine and air. By this method it is possible to grow the 

 tame grasses far beyond the limit set by public opinion, based 

 on previous experience, and by the methods usualjin localities 

 where the moisture is more abundant. This necessarily in- 

 volves a change in the rotation which will be discussed more 

 fully in the next chapter. 



It will be found, however, that wherever the clovers can 

 be relied upon as a permanent crop, they can be grown quite 

 successfully without a nurse crop. 



There is a point west of the Missouri where the growth 

 of red, mammoth, white and alsike clover is so uncertain that 

 alfalfa should be used as a substitute. Just where this line is 

 has not yet been determined by actual experience. It is not ? 



