RED CLOVER. IO3 



should be used for seed production depends on conditions. If these 

 are favourable, all or certain parts of the field are commonly left for 

 seed. Success depends on many factors. If the latter part of the 

 summer, when the seed is ripening, is rainy, there is far less chance 

 of producing good seed than if the weather is warm and dry. Cold, 

 stiff soils, which may produce luxuriant growth, are not as a rule 

 satisfactory for seed production. The best soils are sandy loams 

 with an abundance of lime and a fair supply of potash and phos- 

 phates. A thick stand of clover improves the quality of the hay 

 but produces only a scant amount of seed. A relatively thin crop 

 will give a heavier yield and the seed produced is of a better quality. 

 A smaller amount should therefore be sown for seed production than 

 for hay or pasture. 



The first cut of Red Clover gives a small return of seed because 

 the bumble bees, which fertilize the blossoms, are less numerous 

 during the early part of the summer than later. For this reason the 

 first growth is cut for hay or pastured and the second growth left for 

 seed. By cutting or pasturing the first crop, the weeds are checked 

 and the second growth is cleaner. 



Red Clover should be cut for seed when most of the heads have 

 turned brown and the stems begin to dry up. The seeds in most of 

 the heads are then ripe and of a pronounced colour. By cutting 

 earlier, a large proportion of the seeds will be immature and shrunken, 

 the vitality will be low and the general colour and appearance in- 

 ferior. It can be cut with an ordinary mowing machine. The heads 

 and flowers are easily broken by careless handling, especially in dry, 

 hot weather. Threshing should be done in cold, dry weather as it 

 is difficult to separate the seeds from the pods when it is damp. 



Quality of seed : The colour of ordinary commercial Red Clover 

 seed is mixed, some seeds being yellow, others purple, and others 

 bright in one end and dark in the other. In some samples the bright 

 colours prevail while in others the dark seeds are most common. 

 It is a popular belief that bright coloured seeds are not fully mature 

 and that samples which contain a large proportion of them are in- 

 ferior. This, however, is an error. All seeds gathered from any 

 individual plant are of the same general colour. In some plants all 

 the seeds are yellow, in others deep violet, and in others uniformly 

 two-coloured. Bright yellow seeds are just as ripe as dark purple 

 ones. The mixed colour of the ordinary commercial sample there- 

 fore does not mean that the seeds are not uniformly ripe. It simply 

 means that it is composed of seeds of different types, each type ha\ ing 



