76 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



grown the same season. And this is true of it 

 whether it is grown for pasture, for soiling food, for 

 hay or for green manure. It may with much pro- 

 priety be preceded by such quick-growing early sum- 

 mer crops as vegetables and certain of the early 

 maturing cereals, and followed by such crops as pota- 

 toes, corn or any of the sorghums, and on soils low 

 in fertility by cowpeas or soy beans. 



Preparing the Soil. In preparing the soil for 

 clover seed in any of its varieties, the aim should be 

 to secure a seed bed fine, firm, deep, moist and clean. 

 It should be fine that the clover seeds may be more 

 perfectly hidden from the* light, and that the tender, 

 tiny rootlets may easily ramify the soil in search of 

 food. It should be firm to prevent evaporation, too 

 rapid from the surface. It should be deep to allow 

 the tap roots to go down readily. But in light sands, 

 or spongy loam soils of the prairie, shallow cultiva- 

 tion would be preferable unless done a good while 

 previously to the sowing of the seed because of the 

 difficulty of sufficiently firming such soils. It should 

 be moist to promote quick germination and rapid 

 growth. It should be clean to secure an abundant 

 growth in the clover and to produce a good quality 

 of food. 



The first of these conditions may be more 

 readily secured when the soil is plowed in the 

 autumn, and such plowing is also favorable to secur- 

 ing all the conditions named. Deep plowing can be 

 done much more advantageously in the fall than in 

 the spring, where fall plowing is in order. But in 

 climates with much rainfall in winter, autumn plow- 

 ing may be less judicious than spring plowing, 



