90 



FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



autumn of 1896 and the spring of 1897 to the autumn oi 

 1898 ; the other from the autumn of 1899 and the spring 

 of 1900 to the autumn of 1901. 



The table shows the average of the two experiments, of 

 the yields obtained at one cutting, the second summer after 

 seeding : 



81. Nurse crops. In sowing grass or clover seeds, 

 it is a very common practice to sow them with a crop of 

 small grain or, as is usually the case, with red clover, to 

 sow the seed in spring on a field of fall-sown grain. When 

 grass seed is thus sown with a grain crop, the latter is 

 spoken of as a nurse crop. 



The advantages of a nurse crop are : 



1 . To secure a greater return from the land the first year. 



2. To economize labor by making one seed bed answer 

 for two crops. 



3. To check weeds from developing. 



4. To hold snow to prevent washing of the land. 



