CRIMSON CLOVER AND OTHER ANNUALS 431 



In North Carolina successful stands of crimson clover 

 have been secured by sowing in cotton in August, but it 

 is difficult to cover the seeds without injuring the opened 

 cotton. Among other intertilled crops in which crimson 

 clover may be sown are soybeans, tobacco, cantaloupes 

 and all vegetables except root crops, as the digging of these 

 necessarily destroys much of the clover. 



Crimson clover is most often sown alone, whether in- 

 tended for use as green manure, hay or seed-production. 

 In recent years it has been much grown in mixtures with 

 wheat, oats, rye or barley. Sometimes only a small 

 amount of the grain crop is added so as to prevent the 

 clover from lodging, but more often a half seeding of the 

 grain is used, and the resulting hay crop is much larger 

 than that of clover alone. The common rate of seeding in 

 such a mixture is 15 pounds of the clover seed and 30 

 pounds of the grain seed to the acre. 



Crimson clover may be sown with buckwheat, in 

 midsummer or even later, provided there is time for the 

 buckwheat to mature before frost. The buckwheat must 

 be seeded lightly, otherwise the clover may be destroyed 

 by the dense shade. In place of buckwheat, cowpeas 

 may be used, and either cut for hay before frost or allowed 

 to remain on the ground. 



520. Time to cut for hay. Crimson clover should 

 preferably be cut for hay just as soon as the lower flowers 

 on the most advanced heads have faded. If cutting be 

 delayed beyond this, the hairs on the calyx and elsewhere 

 become hard and stiff, so that if the hay be fed to horses, 

 the hairs are likely to form compact " hair-balls " in the 

 intestines, which nearly always result in death. The 

 danger is generally believed to be much lessened by feeding 

 crimson clover mixed with other roughage, or by wetting 



