Treatment of Clover. 131 



had thin wheat on my best land the clover would be very large, 

 so I could hardly run the binder high enough to not get it in the 

 butts of the bundles. I usually find some thin wheat with very 

 feeble clover in it, so small you can scarcely see it. This wants 

 a double dose of fine manure at once, before a shower comes, if 

 possible. Don't think I get a heavy, rank growth of clover all 

 over the field, uniform and almost perfect, sometimes entirely so, 

 without attention. I have to work for it on my soil. I have had 

 farmers go over my stubble right after harvest with me, and say, 

 " Well, I don't call that a very good stand of clover,'' and still 

 before winter I would have the field from end to end a perfect 

 lawn of thick, dark-green clover. 



The first operation is to take the manure from our covered 

 yard and put it just where it will do the most good. Such manure 

 as we have it would only be practicable to do this with a spreader. 

 To do such fine hand work as to not smother young clover, and to 

 have the manure fine enough to do the most good, would be a 

 tedious job. We sometimes do spread by hand on very small 

 spots. Thus used, the manure helps to bring the clover all up to 

 a uniform standard. If we can make a large growth of clover 

 come on a poor spot, large or small, why, we know we are getting 

 plant food then for following crops. The clover will not let any 

 manure go to waste, but will store it all up practically and more 

 with it. If the manure makes the clover grow larger, gives it a 

 start, why it reaches down further and brings more up from below 

 and more from the air. " Unto him that hath shall be given." I 

 believe I can use my manure to better advantage in growing 

 clover, in feeding the renovating crop, than in any other way. 

 It gets to the potatoes and wheat in the end in the best possible 

 shape, and an increased amount of it, and it is not put on parts of 

 field where it is not needed. But, of course, you understand this 

 manure must be finely spread, or it will smother some young 

 plants. I have seen it stated that manure could not be spread on 

 clover without injury to it. Well, I know it can, for I have done 

 it. It should be so fine that after a shower and a week's time, 

 hardly a trace of it can be seen in sight as you pass by the field. I 

 can manage the spreader so it will mostly be thus spread, but we 

 always go over the field after it with a fork to shake up any 

 bunches that may be left. 



Now this is the best time in the whole season for me to get 

 out manure. The ground is usually hard, so no injury will be 

 done. Really, I have seen farmers draw out manure in the spring 

 on soft ground when I thought they did the land nearly as much 

 injury as the manure would do it good. This is not mere talk ; 

 I fully believe it. I do not want my land tramped in the spring. 

 On some sandy soil it might not matter. Then in the spring we 

 are busy. It might be drawn early in March, before busy time 

 begins, while ground was still frozen, by selecting days, but 



