GRASSES AND CLOVER. 129 



from the time the grass began to head, until it was nearly dead. 

 In all of these trials but three, about two tons was put in a lot. 

 In the three eight hundred pounds each. The greatest shrinkage 

 was 36 per cent, and in four cases it exceeded 30 per cent. The 

 smallest was 12 per cent, on clover nearly dead, and in five cases 

 it was less than twenty per cent. The average for the seventeen 

 trials was 24.1 per cent. The second weighing was made in 

 December or at a later period during the winter. From these 

 experiments it will be seen that it will require a large advance 

 in price to pay for the shrinkage and rehandling of hay. 



Millet. The millet family is better for green feeding than 

 for hay, but as it will make the best crop when sown about the 

 first of June, and the yield of hay from our meadows can be 

 estimated closely by that date, it is often wise for the farmer to 

 sow a field in millet when he finds the hay crop likely to be 

 short. If the crop is to be grown for seed, not more than 

 twelve quarts of seed should be sown to the acre. If for hay, 

 from sixteen to twenty quarts. The yield is often very heavy, 

 and the quality is fair. For fodder it should be cut before ripen- 

 ing. It does best on loamy land, but will produce a crop on any 

 good soil. Great pains must be taken in the preparation of the 

 seed bed, as when it is sown at the hot season of the year the 

 land soon dries out, making it difficult to get a stand, and if the 

 millet is thin on the ground it will be coarse and inferior as food, 

 and likely to be mixed with weeds. In preparing land for millet 

 I would recommend that it be rolled as fast as plowed, then har- 

 rowed fine and the seed sown and covered with the plank drag. 

 It will make a better start if sown soon after a rain, than if sown 

 before one heavy enough to crust the land, particularly on a clay 

 upland. The hay is better for cattle than horses, and it is 

 thought to be unwholesome for the latter if the seed is near 

 maturity. 



Clover. I have, in a previous chapter, spoken of clover as 

 a renovator and cleanser of the soil, and here I shall speak 

 more particularly of it as a food-producing plant. While the 

 varieties are numerous, there are but few which are of suffi- 

 cient value to the farmer to justify the devoting of our space 



