388 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



the northernmost regions of clover culture, only one crop 

 can be secured, which may be either hay or seed. Mam- 

 moth clover does not produce much second growth, so 

 that the hay crop must be sacrificed when a seed crop is 

 desired. 



Where two cuttings can be obtained, it is very rare 

 that the first is ever cut for seed. The first crop does not 

 as a rule seed heavily. Two reasons have been assigned 



in explanation first, that 

 pollinizing insects are not 

 abundant enough ; and second, 

 the plants tend to produce new 

 shoots from the base unless 

 weather conditions are very 

 dry. There are no experi- 

 mental data recorded, however, 

 as to the relative seed-yielding 

 capacities of the first crop and 

 the second crop, but in Iowa 

 more seeds to a head have 

 been found in the second crop 

 than in the first. 

 Seed crops are not usually harvested until the second 

 season, but sometimes a fair seed yield may be obtained 

 from clover sown in spring, either on wheat or alone. 

 This treatment 'is thought, however, to weaken the 

 plants and materially lessen the growth the following 

 season. 



The best seed crops are obtained when the growth -of 

 the clover is not rank, and when dry, cloudless weather 

 conditions prevail during the period of blooming and ripen- 

 ing. For the first reason, light soils are supposed to pro- 

 duce better seed crops than clays or clay loams, especially 



FIG. 41. Stages in the de- 

 velopment of red clover seed. 

 a and c, flower in prims and 

 ripe ; b and d, immature and 

 mature seed vessel ; e, mature 

 seed. 



