CLOVER: ITS USES. 227 



of from fifteen to fifty dollars. Now there is no se- 

 cret in the business, no patent right. He gives you 

 his whole process, that you may profit by his exam- 

 ple if you will. We shall endeavour to present it in 

 concise and plain terms. 



Clover is used either for hay or pasture the first 

 crop, and uniformly for seed and forage the second 

 crop. If for pasture, he turns his stock upon it 

 about the first of May, or when the soil has become 

 so firm that the feet of the cattle will not poach the 

 sod. At this time, the growth is such as to enable 

 the cattle to thrive. He pastures till about the 20th 

 of June, and the closer it is cropped at this time, the 

 better, he thinks. The cattle are then withdrawn, 

 and the second crop is permitted to grow and ma- 

 ture its seed. If the first crop is designed for hay, 

 it is cut from the 20th to the 25th of June, although 

 it may not have passed the bloom, or arrived at that 

 state "when most farmers deem it in a proper condi- 

 tion to be cut. It is important to cut it as early as 

 the 25th, Mr. B. thinks, in order to give the second 

 crop time to grow and mature its seed before it is 

 injured by the frosts of autumn; five days often 

 making a material difference in the seed-crop. We 

 do not like Mr. B.'s mode of curing this early-cut 

 clover: he takes it, when partially cured, to his 

 barn, and spreads it about upon scaffolds and poles 

 till made, and then puts it into his bay. This causes 

 unnecessary labour. Cured in grass-cocks, accord- 

 ing to our repeated directions,* it will be as good as 



* We have this year varied our practice somewhat, and, we 

 think, with advantage. The grass cut in the forenoon has been 

 turned in swath directly after dinner, and put into grass-cocks 

 the same day. If rain has threatened, the cocks have been 

 opened the second day, and the hay finished ; but we prefer to 

 .eave them to the third day, when a slight opening, to evaporate 

 the external moisture, suffices. The grass mown in the after- 

 noon is turned the same day in swath, or, if not wilted enough, 

 in the forenoon of the second day, and in the afternoon put into 

 cocks. We deem it important, 1st. That clover should st_?id 



