84 



THE GENi:SEE FARRIER. 



CLOVEB SEED- 



" On raising clover seed, and the best method of harvesting and 

 preparing for market." 



In jiroparing land for growing clover seed, we 

 generally plant it two years previously with some 

 root or hoed crop, taking care to manure it well 

 with barn-yard manure. We then seed the ground 

 in the spring with clover seed, sown witli a crop 

 of spring wheat on barley, sowing about six or 

 seven pounds of clover seed to the acre, with a due 

 mixture of timothy seed, sufficient to make a crop, 

 should the young clover kill out in winter. The 

 timothy does not injure the clover for seed, and 

 improves the quality of the iirst crop for hay, and 

 comes in for a crop of hay the following year. 



After the grain crop has been harvested, care 

 should be taken not to graze the young clover plant 

 too closely. A little grazing in the fall, as long as 

 the ground is dry and tinn, does little harm; but 

 on no account in the spring, no matter in what 

 condition the ground may be. In the spring, the 

 ground should be cleared of stones or roots, about 

 a hundred iH>unds of plaster sown to the acre, and 

 •well rolled. 



The first crop of clover ought to be cut from the 

 twentieth of .June to about the eighth of July, 

 according to the season ; tlie earlier, the better will 

 be the seed crop, and the sooner it will be fit to 

 cut. As soon as the seed becomes ripe, we take a 

 reaping luachine, setting the knives high enough 

 to secure all tlie lieads, and leave the bulk of grass, 

 raking it oil" as often as enough has gathered for a 

 moderate-sized fork full, as large cocks are objec- 

 tionable. Ten acres may be cut in a day in this 

 way. Care should be taken to rake the clover otf 

 in neat buuclies, as it saves much time and labor 

 afterward in turning and raking up the seed. 



If the weather is favorable and dry, the clover 

 seed may lay one or two days, and then be turned 

 carefully over, Avhen another day, if dry, will make 

 it fit for the stack o'- mow. It is of very little use 

 to put seed clover in cucks, is they will not turn 

 rains ; and should they get wet in tlie bunches as 

 left by the reaper, it will dry soon. 



In stacking or mowing clover, care must be taken 

 to raise the bottom of the stack or mow, on the 

 side most exposed to the prevailing wind, to allow 

 the air to pass in, and then draw one or more 

 (jmpty barrels up through the mow, as it is filled 

 up, forming a chimney for sweat or steam to pass 

 up, for, no matter how dry clover is, it will sweat 

 more or less when put in the mow. 



Clover seed threshes best in the coldest weather. 

 We run the clover through a threshing machine, 

 taking care to feed the machine light, so that it 

 may thrash it clean. After the clover is threshed, 

 it requires to be riddled to take out the stems and 

 atones. This can either be done by using a flat 

 .iddle, about five feet long and three feet wide, 

 witli meshes about tliree-quarters of an inch wide. 



Where a large business is done in raising or 

 cleaning clover, it is better to construct a riddle 

 about seven or eight feet, either square or six-sided, 

 like the bolt of a flouring mill, the meshes about 

 tliree quarters or an inch square. This may be 

 placed at an angle so as to allow the chaff and 

 stems pass to tlie lower end easily, and be oper.ited 

 by hand, or a belt from the machine. It is better to 

 have a clover-hulling machine, which hulls, riddles, 



and cleans the seed ; but those who can not obtain 

 them, can use the riddle. After it has gone through 

 a clover-huller, the seed has to be sifted through a 

 sieve, of about eight meshes to the inch, and then 

 put through a fanning mill to blow out all the dust 

 and light seeds. It is then fit for market. 



It has been well said of clover, that " it is valu- 

 able to the farmer for three important purposes— 

 to feed his stock, fertilize his land, and fill hi? 

 purse. His cattle thrive upon it when green, as a 

 pasture in the summer, and in the stall when fed 

 with the hay in winter ; his wheat and corn 

 thrive upon it, when buried and decomposing in 

 the soil ; and his purse increases with the increase 

 of his cattle and crops." a tenant famek. 



Coborirg, C. W., JSTov., 1858. 



APPLYING MANTJEE TO CORN AND POTATOES. 



" On tlie relative advantages of applying manure in the hill for 

 corn and potatoes, and plowing it in." 



I AM greatly in favor of spreading and plowing 

 in manure upon ground which is to be planted to 

 corn or potatoes, instead of placing it in the hill, 

 for several good reasons. 



I wouM not place the manure in hills, because 

 its effects arc of small value to the crop of corn or 

 potatoes. W'hat po.ssible benefit can a shovelful or 

 two of unfermeuted yard or stable manure do a 

 hill of corn? Two-thirds of the farmers use the 

 manure made in winter, for application to their 

 fields in the spring. It is nothing more or less than 

 green manure. If the weather, after planting, 

 should prove wet, it will be one chance in a hun- 

 dred if the seed does not rot — corn, especially. 

 If the weather is dry, the manure dries into a solid 

 mass, and is more of an injury than a benefit. 

 Should the season be just right, the roots of corn 

 soon grow beyond the efiects of the manure, and 

 leave it useless at the bottom of the stalks, where 

 it can be of no use until the field is plowed again 

 for another crop. If well rotted manure is used, 

 applying in the hill will do very well. Yet its 

 effects are too contracted, and the full force of the 

 manure is lost to the crop. 



I am not in favor of manuring potatoes in the 

 hill, under any consideration, as I believe it more 

 of an injury than otherwise. I have always seen 

 the best potatoes raised upon ground well manured 

 for some other crop the previous year, especially 

 late years, when there is danger of the rot. 



My reasons for spreading and plowing in the 

 manure are, because it is where it can benefit the 

 crop during the whole period of i-ts growth. It is 

 mixed with the soil, and within reach of the roots 

 of the plant along its whole length, where it must 

 be of more value to the plant than when jilaced in 

 the hill. It is impossible for the manure, when 

 placed in the hill, to influence the growth of the 

 crop beyond the first commencement; and al- 

 though an early start in spring is very beneficial, 

 yet would not that hill out grow and out yield, 

 which could obtain a rich sujqdy of nourishment 

 for its plants during the whole season, in.stead of 

 the one which had a full sui)i)ly during its early 

 growth, but was .stinted all the rest of the season, 

 as corn and potatoes must be, when dependence is 

 made upon applying manure in the hill alone ? 



E. p. B. 



