36 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



the first clipped crop is then turned under as a green manure. 



Red clover as hay. Next to alfalfa, red clover is one of 

 the most valuable forage crops for dairy feeding. In fact, 

 red clover is a good feed for almost every farm animal. It 

 furnishes a protein content to stock feed, giving a better bal- 

 anced ration than timothy hay. Clover is also a good soiling 

 crop, and should supply from eight to ten tons per acre for 

 this purpose. Clover should be cut when free from moisture, 

 raked into windrows, then allowed to cure in haycocks. The 

 chief value of clover, like alfalfa, is contained in the leaves, 

 and if the leaves dry in the swath and break off in handling 

 much of the value is lost. 



If the crop gets wet while curing, the color, rich odor, an<J 

 much of the palatability are lost. 



Red clover furnishes excellent pasture for stock of all 

 kinds, but excessive pasturing results in the destruction of 

 the plant. 



Clover seed. As was stated above, the seed is usually 

 harvested from the second crop. The largest jdelds of seed 

 are usually obtained when the first crop is cut early, because 

 in this case the seed of the second crop will form earlier and 

 possibly escape the second brood of clover seed midge, and 

 other clover seed insects. It is a well known fact that bum- 

 blebees, as they feed upon the clover blossom, pollenate the 

 flowers and thus make possible fertile clover seed. For this 

 reason, more than any other oftentimes, the first crop of 

 clover is not a profitable seed crop, since bumblebees are not 

 so abundant in the early summer. 



Clover should be cut for seed when the heads have turned 



