LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 



155 



specific directions for curing clover can be laid down, but 

 recognizing the character of the plant and the sources of de- 

 terioration as stated under 37, an attempt should be made 

 to obtain the best possible product at the least cost. 



165. Harvesting Seed. The most abundant seed is obtained 

 from plants that do not grow so large as to be blown down or 

 become decumbent on account of their great weight. Thin 

 dry soil is therefore most suitable to a seed crop. Throughout 

 the North Atlantic and North Central states only the second 

 crop is cut for seed, since the first crop seeds less abundantly 

 than the second. Two reasons for this have been offered. 

 First, since the second crop is not so luxuriant as the first, it 

 is less likely to fall down from wind or otherwise ; and second, 

 the first crop is usually harvested before bumblebees become 

 abundant. The writer once had a late blooming first crop care- 

 fully examined, bumblebees having by that time become com- 

 mon, and found an abundance of seed. 



The crop should be 

 cut when the flower 

 heads are in the main 

 brown or black and 

 the seeds mostly hard. 

 There will usually be 

 some late flowering 

 heads that will con- 



tain soft or leathery 



T e , 

 Seeds. If harvested 



too early the seeds 



are likely to be immature and the yield small. If allowed to 



stand too long, new shoots will be thrown up bearing fresh 



flowers, which will retard the drying and interfere with the 



hulling. 



The crop may be cut with an ordinary mowing-machine and 

 afterward put in bunches with barley forks, or when damp 



Mowing-machine with windrowing attachment; may 

 also be used as a buncher when harvesting 

 clover or alfalfa for seed 



