lyS HOW TO MAKE THE FARM I'AY. 



it the day after it is cut unless it gets wet. If only a small 

 quantity is cut it may often be housed the same day, but it is 

 better to put the whole crop of clover in at the same time, that 

 it may settle evenly. A peck of salt or lime to the ton is always 

 an improvement. Cover the top of the stack or mow with straw, 

 or, what is better, salt marshi hay. 



In cutting for seed, the best plan we have ever tried is to cut 

 with the reaper, attaching a board at the buck edge of the 

 grain platform. When the platform is full, pitcb it off in 

 heaps. In cutting with the scythe lay two swaths together. 

 Secure as soon as dry, as a hard rain will wash out much of the 

 seed. The grain caps recommended in Chapter Y., are often in- 

 valuable at this time. A crop of clover ought to average three 

 bushels to the acre, and the straw and chaff are worth enough 

 to pay for harvesting. Another practice is to get the largest 

 possible crop at the first cutting for hay, and then when the new 

 growth gets well started, pasture it. We consider this advan- 

 tageous, as it saves hauling the clover and hauling back the 

 manure. 



Clover as a Manure. Valuable as clover may be, both for 

 hay and pasture, we consider its greatest value to be as an im- 

 prover of the soil. We have spoken at length of this elsewhere, 

 and would only add that gypsum or plaster should always be 

 sown with the seed, or on the young clover, for whatever pur- 

 pose it may be intended. When the first crop has been cut for 

 hay, the second can be turned under when in blossom. The 

 next year this crop will pasture a cow to the acre until August, 

 when, if plowed eight inches deep, the soil will be in admirable 

 condition for winter wheat. Clover must be seeded every two 

 years. If a permanent meadow or pasture is desired, enough 

 other grasses must be sown with it to take complete possession 

 •jf the soil at the end of two years. 



