126 CLOVER CULTURE. 



ihe gavels with the clover heads up and therefore in the besl 

 -:hape for drying*. Others remove the binding- apparatus, 

 leaving- the deck board and dropper, and bolting- on the lattei 

 a three-inch board of the same thickness, extending- eig-hteen 

 inches to the rear. They then bolt a piece of iron half an 

 inch wide, a quarter of an inch thick and eig-hteen inches 

 3ong, on the rear end of this dropper and at right angles to it, 

 bending- in a semi-circle upward to the driver's seat and to 

 the end of which they attach a small rope or cord bringing- it 

 up through a small pulley fastened on the top of the machine 

 and above elevating- rollers and extending- to a treadle on the 

 foot board in front of the driver's seat. Wood pieces are put 

 in in lieu of the iron parts that have been removed with the 

 oinding apparatus. In this way the clover can be cut and 

 lumped in such gavels as seems best. Where the stand is 

 thin it can be cut with the ordinary mower and raked in small 

 windrows, taking- care to rake it only when slightly damp, 

 especially after it has had two or three days of hot sun. 



The threshing- should in all cases be done with a huller 

 where one can be obtained. The hulling attachments, while 

 3ften the only practicable means of getting the seed, leave 

 much of it in the straw and chaff, and when these are used it 

 will pay to thresh the chaff the second time. Whenever the 

 growing of clover seed has been established, threshers will 

 find it profitable to procure hullers, and in good seasons will 

 lo a very profitable business. 



The seed crop of the common red clover comes from the 

 -second growth. It is not true that the first crop does not 

 seed. The only reason that the seed does not materialize is 

 the lack, in most seasons, of insect fertilization, due to the 

 time of cutting. To insure a good crop of seed the first crop 

 should be removed not later than the first week of July, 

 although when the autumn is peculiarly favorable a crop of 

 seed can be grown on cuttings as late as the middle of that 

 month. .The method of handling is the same as that men- 

 tioned above in the case of mammoth clover. With both it 

 Is a mistake to allow the clover, after being cut, to lie in the 

 gavel longer than is necessary for easy threshing. If a 

 huller cannot be secured it should be stacked and well covered 

 and allowed to remain until the cold winter weather. 



The seed crop of the alfalfa is taken from one of the last 

 -cuttings and the white and the alsike from the first. No 

 special directions need be given as to the threshing of either 

 of these, as they all thresh readily. Great care, however, 

 should be exercised in handling them after cutting, as the 

 seed in all shells out quite readily. 



