CLOVER CULTURE. 77 



line marked out by degrees of latitude or longitude, the de- 

 termining factors are the geological formation of the soil and 

 its capacity to hold moisture and rainfall. We are inclined 

 to the belief that the ordinary clovers can be used with suc- 

 cess east of a line running from Norfolk, Nebraska, to Kear- 

 ney, and south to the Republioan, east along that river and 

 south to .some distance west of Topeka. It will be found by 

 practical experience that they can be grown in many places 

 west of the line indicated. Where these can not be grown, 

 alfalfa is the best substitute among the grasses yet discovered. 

 It is grown without irrigation quite successfully on all soils 

 west of this line that do not rest on hardpan or rock, and 

 while it cannot take the place of clovers in rotation, it is the 

 best substitute among the grasses yet discovered. It is proba- 

 ble that on many of these soils west of the line indicated, and 

 possibly in some places east of it, the soy bean will prove a 

 better crop, especially in view of its adaptation to rotations, 

 than either the clovers usually grown or alfalfa. 



Under the present conditions from ten to twenty per 

 cent, of the lands east of the Great Divide in Iowa comprising 

 sloughs, swales and bottoms are too wet for cultivation, and 

 the time for tile drainage has not yet fully come. In the course 

 of a few years farmers will realize the importance of tile drain- 

 ing all these sloughs. In the meantime much can be done 

 to render them profitable by the use of alsike clover. The 

 method of sowing is similar to that recommended in the case 

 of prairie lands which it is desirable to seed without plowing. 

 Whatever grass may be upon the land of the previous year's 

 growth should be burned off in the fall, and these lands, 

 whether sloughs, swales, or bottoms, annually wet or subject 

 to overflow, should be sown to alsike before the frost leaves 

 the ground in the spring, at the rate of about four pounds of 

 seed per acre. As it is not ordinarily practicable to pasture 

 these lands, especially sloughs which meander through culti- 

 vated fields, the mower should be run over them after^ first 

 leveling the ant hils with a spade, and thus the rank growth 

 of slough grass kept under control. This will give the alsike 

 air and sunlight and ordinarily secure a fair stand the first 

 year. q> The second year the entire crop of alsike and slough 

 grass may be cut for hay; or, if desirable, threshed for seed. 

 The effect of this method will be. in a year or two, to greatly 

 decrease the size of the slough and dry out bottom lands, the 

 decay of the roots of the wild grasses allowing the water to 

 sink away, and where it is practical to pasture them, especial- 



