136 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



about the first of September. It is certain that there are soils or 

 seasons that give excellent results for summer or fall seeding of 

 clover, and if an acre or two of the corn-field was sown each year 

 at different times, and the experiment repeated for several years, 

 it would not be long till the farmer would learn the conditions 

 necessary to success. 



As a rule, farmers turn their stock on the clover too soon after 

 harvest, and by so doing they not only permanently injure the 

 crop, but also fail to get the benefit from the fall feed which they 

 would if they would allow it to make more growth. The same 

 rule holds good as with spring pasturing. It should not be pas- 

 tured, at least heavily, until the blossom buds show. In favor- 

 able autumns clover will grow large enough after harvest to make 

 a heavy crop of hay, and will also mature seed. I have known 

 nearly two tons of hay cut to the acre, or a bushel of seed, 

 from the growth after a wheat crop. If it is the intention to 

 follow with corn the following spring, I would advise that the 

 clover be allowed to make all the growth it will and neither be 

 pastured or mowed; but if it is to stand over it is not safe to 

 leave this mass of foliage on the soil, as it will in some cases 

 kill out the entire crop. I had in the fall of 1882 thirty acres 

 of heavy clover, and allowed the stock to partially pasture all of 

 it but five acres. The pastured part came through the winter 

 in fine condition, while the part on which the fall growth was 

 left was entirely dead the next spring. It was not winter- 

 killed, for there was such a mass on the ground that it could 

 scarcely freeze at all, but was either smothered or killed by field 

 mice. I did not at the time make a careful examination to de- 

 termine the cause, but as I noticed a number of owls all winter 

 near the field I am inclined to suspect that the mice caused the 

 trouble. I have been told by farmers who have wintered heavy 

 clover without pasturing or mowing, that it is quite common for 

 field mice to greatly damage the crop. 



Clover for Pasture. I consider clover as only a supple- 

 mentary pasture crop, by which I mean that the farmer never 

 should depend on it entirely. We have grasses that are less 

 injured by tramping or close feeding, which will enable the 



