380 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



Volunteer crops may also be secured from fields when 

 some of the seed has been lost in harvesting, or by allow- 

 ing the seed to become shattered. Successful fields were 

 obtained in this manner at the Louisiana Experiment 

 Station and in Alabama. 



To secure a stand in this manner is, however, very un- 

 certain, and further, it is better to grow some other crop 

 than to have clover follow clover. 



447. Stage to cut. If red clover be used as green feed, 

 it is probably best cut before bloom. This method of 

 feeding is more common in Europe than in America. 

 European authorities nearly all agree that the clover for 

 this purpose should be cut before blooming, as the digesti- 

 bility is then highest, as well as the percentage composition 

 of protein. 



If cut for hay, different authorities recommend cutting 

 in young bloom, in full bloom, and when the heads are 

 half brown. The content of digestible nutrients is greatest 

 in full bloom. Later cuttings, however, cure more easily 

 than the early ones, and it is probable that better curing 

 counterbalances largely the lower content of nutrients : 



TABLE SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN TIME OF CUTTING AND 

 ACRE YIELD OF RED CLOVER IN POUNDS ON A WATER- 

 FREE BASIS 



