-94 CLOVER CULTURE. 



foreign writers on agr' culture that clover can not be grown 

 either in Great Britain or on the Continent except as a part 

 of a long rotation, and hence short rotations have to be aban- 

 doned. Fortunately as yet, it can be grown in any desired 

 rotation in most parts bf the United States. 



It is possible to form an indefinite number of rotations by 

 the use of the red, mammoth and alsike clovers. The ten- 

 dency in all countries is to begin with a short rotation and to 

 extend rotations as agriculture becomes more diversified. 

 Farmers usually begin in the new countries with the crop for 

 which the land is best adapted and which brings the best cash 

 price, and continue with that until compelled to alternate 

 with some other crop. The bulk of new lands in the corn 

 regions are planted in corn year after year, and when corn be- 

 gins to fail alternated with oats, spring wheat or barley. The 

 difficulty with any of these rotations is that they draw excess- 

 ively on the stored fertility of the soil, and especially of the 

 nitrogen, and the first move toward the adoption of a better 

 rotation is the introduction of clover. The rotation then 

 stands: 



i. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat seeded in con- 

 nection with clover. Where a good stand of clover is secured 

 the crop can be turned under and again planted to corn with 

 manifest advantage. This is the shortest rotation possible. 

 A manifest improvement on this rotation is: 



i. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat sown with 

 clover; 3. Clover meadow and seed crop. 



This makes a 3-years' rotation and the meadow can be 

 turned under and again planted in corn. This is perhaps the 

 Ibest rotation possible where the aim is to get the largest pos- 

 sible amount of immediate cash crops from the land, and at 

 the same time secure a large amount of hay for consumption 

 on the farm. It involves plowing the ground but once in 

 three years, oats and other spring grains being cultivated in 

 without plowing. The seed crop, if the mammoth variety is 

 used, is ordinarily a paying crop, and if the manure is return- 

 ed to the meadow after the seed is taken off, there is no reason 

 why fertility should not be kept up for an almost indefinite 

 period. 



Where the farmer is engaged more largely in livestock 

 production, and especially where he has no permanent pasture 

 in connection with his corn lands, the following is an improve- 

 ment on the above rotation: 



i. Corn; 2. Oats, spring wheat or barley, sown to clover 



