AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 12^ 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTI- 

 CULTURE 



AN EXPERIMENT WITH CLOVER 



During the past two years the growing of clover has been a 

 success upon the college farm. This crop has been such a dis- 

 couraging one in the past, and so generally abandoned, we give 

 our method. 



The two successful attempts at growing clover have come 

 from spring seeding. One field after having been well man- 

 ured, using seven cords to the acre of barn-yard manure, and 

 in cultivation for ensilage corn the previous year, was plowed 

 early in the spring of 1896 and fitted ; working in during the 

 process, with a cutaway harrow, 640 pounds of commercial 

 fertilizer per acre. The fertilizer used contained the following 

 mixture per acre: 170 pounds dissolved bone black, 170 

 pounds ground bone, 3io pounds muriate of potash, 45 pounds 

 dried blood, and 45 pounds nitrate of soda. 



The other field contained soil similar in every respect to the 

 first, but did not contain a hoed crop the previous season. It 

 was also plowed in the spring of 1S96, and stocked, using 

 seven cords of stable manure together with 85 pounds each of 

 ground bone and muriate of potash per acre. 



The seed used was three pecks of barley and the following 

 mixture of grass seed, per acre : 5 pounds Alsike clover, 7 

 pounds choice Red clover, 5 pounds Red-top, and I3 pounds 

 Timothy or herds-grass. 



The soil is a heavy clay, but fairly drained, somewhat roll- 

 ing, and typical of the grass-lands of this section. 



Figure i represents a field just coming into bloom, which 

 upon close examination shows the clover heads well divided 

 between the Red and Alsike. At cutting time, in some sec- 

 tions of this field, three feet was not an uncommon height. 



Figure 2 represents the harvesting of the clover crop during 

 the past season. The average yield from this field was 4 tons, 

 1,097 pounds per acre. This weight includes both the first 

 and second crops, which were 3 tons, 55 pounds, and i ton, 

 1,042 pounds, respectively. 



