CLO 



CLO 



or expense. ImmediatPly after har- 

 vest the stubble is scarified and liar- 

 rowed, so as to raise a mould ; the 

 trifolium is sown at the rate of six- 

 teen to twenty pounds per acre, and 

 well rolled in It sprinjis up and 

 stands the winter well, and with the 

 first genial weather in spring it grows 

 rapidly. It makes excellent hay, and 

 what is left produces seed most abun- 

 dantly in the end of May or beginning 

 of June, being off the ground in good 

 time to plough the land and clean it 

 for turnips It is far superior to stub- 

 ble turnips as an intervening crop, 

 and more rapid in its growth than 

 tares. On light land a crop of buck- 

 wheat is readily obtained after it. It 

 has the property of smothering an- 

 nual weeds by its rapid growth, and 

 for this reason is not so well adapt- 

 ed for sowing with other crops. The 

 Italian rye grass {LoUum perennc) 

 may be sown with it, and will grow 

 as rapidly. After the tnfolmm has 

 been cut, this will continue and give 

 an excellent second crop 



In France and in the United States 

 plaster is considered as a specific ma- 

 nure for clover. It is sown by hand 

 over the plant in spring, and in some 

 situations the advantage is evident, 

 in others scarcely observable. The 

 quantity used is about one bushel to 

 the acre. 



On good land an acre of clover will 

 produce as much as three tons and a 

 half of dry hay ; that is, two tons 

 the first cutting, and one and a half 

 the second. Greater crops are ob- 

 tained on very highly manured land. 

 The value of a ton of clover hay to 

 feed horses with is about fifteen or 

 twenty per cent, more than good 

 meadow hay. 



When clover is intended to be left 

 to ripen its seeds, it should be mown 

 early, or fed off by sheep in May. 

 The first crop is seldom free from 

 various seeds of other plants which 

 rise among the clover : by feeding it 

 down or mowing it these are destroy- 

 ed, and the clover, which grows more 

 rapidly than most other plants, ri- 

 ses again without any mixture of 

 weeds. When the blossom is thor- 



oughly withered, and the seed is 

 nearly ripe, the clover is mown and 

 left to dry on the ground without 

 much shaking. In very dry weather 

 it may be housed or stacked in a 

 week ; but the process is much re- 

 I tarded by showers. It is well known 

 that the subsequent stock suffers if 

 I the clover is allowed to stand for 

 I seed. As the calyx of the fiower of 

 clover envelops the seed closely, it is 

 dilficult to separate them. There are 

 various machines for this purpose, 

 one of which consists of two fine- 

 rodded hurdles, made to rub un each 

 other while the heads pass between 

 them. The principal clover mill for 

 separating the seed is by J. Ritten- 

 house, price sixty dollars. Clover is 

 generally thrashed on the floor, but if 

 the heads, after being separated from 

 the haulm, are put together in a heap 

 and pressed, a slight fermentation 

 takes place, and this makes the calyx 

 brittle, so that it breaks into dust, 

 and the seed comes out readily ; it is 

 then easily cleared by the fan. The 

 yield is four to five bushels the acre. 

 When the seed is not intended for 

 the market, the trouble of cleannp- it 

 from the husk may be saved, espe 

 cially in the Trifolium incarnatvm 

 It will grow as well when sown with 

 the husk as when cleaned, and it is 

 easy to find the proportion required 

 to be sown in that state by allowing 

 for the weight of the husk. 



CLOVER, VARIETIES. Numer- 

 ous plants are more or less cultiva- 

 ted resembling clover, hence some 

 confusion has arisen in the popular 

 names. Thus, the Chilian clover is 

 lucern. Bokhara clover is sweet clo- 

 ver {Melilotus major) ; it is a coarse 

 plant, rising to six and ten feet, but 

 if cut four or five times in the season, 

 when about two feet high, it yields 

 an immense quantity of good herbage 

 for soiling. 'J'he seed should be sown 

 in spring in drills eighteen inches 

 apart. It should be kept free from 

 weeds when young, thinned out by 

 the hoe, and cut close to the ground. 

 It is perennial, and will stand the 

 winters of Virginia, and probably of 

 I'enn.sylvania. The mature stems 



167 



