374 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



seeded at various depths. The best germination was at 

 a depth of 1 inch and none grew when planted 2 inches 

 deep or more. 



437. Winter-killing. In soils composed of heavy clay 

 or rich in humus, red clover is very apt to be uprooted and 

 destroyed by the heaving of the soil in late winter or early 

 spring. This is particularly likely to damage young 

 clover seeded in the fall, but may injure that seeded the 

 previous spring. A top dressing of coarse stable manure 

 applied in fall will lessen greatly the liability to damage 

 from this cause. If the roots be heaved out 1 inch or less, 

 prompt rolling will be helpful. Very dry autumn weather 

 sometimes weakens clover plants so that the winter 

 mortality is increased. 



According to Werner, red clover suffers from cold in 

 Germany only on wet clay, limestone and humus soils 

 during January in the coldest winters. Lund found that 

 at Copenhagen in a severe winter American red clover was 

 much more injured than was European. 



438. Treatment of clover fields. If clover be seeded 

 in spring with a grain crop, there is usually no return the 

 first season other than a little fall pasturage. Under 

 very favorable conditions, however, a moderate crop of 

 hay may be cut, or this may be allowed to mature for 

 seed. 



If tne clover be seeded alone in spring on well-prepared 

 land, a good cutting of hay is as a rule secured the same 

 season, and in rare cases a second crop. 



During the second season, the general practice is to cut 

 the first crop for hay and the second for seed, after which 

 most of the plants die. 



439. Fertilizers. Numerous fertilizer experiments on 

 clover have been reported by American experiment 



