Book VI. CLOVER FAMILY. 873 



temperature, and the clover will be found to produce most seed under such circum- 

 stances ; but as the production of seed is only in some situations an object of the farmer's 

 attention, a season rather moist, provided it be warm, is always attended by the most 

 bulky crops of clover herbage. 



5532. Tke preparation of the soil and the manures, which clover receives' in ordinary 

 farm culture, are those destined also for another crop ; clover mixed with a certain pro- 

 portion of rye-grass being generally sown along with or among corn crops, and especially 

 with spring-sown wheat, barley, and the early varieties of oats. Unless, however, the 

 soils on which these crops are sown are well pulverised, and have been some years under 

 tillage, clovers will not succeed in them, it being ascertained that newly broken-up leys 

 or pasture grounds cannot be sown down or restored to clover and grasses till the soil 

 is thoroughly comminuted, and the roots of the former grasses and herbage plants com- 

 pletely destroyed. 



5533. The time of sowing clover-seeds is generally the spring, during the corn seed 

 time, or from February to May ; but they may also be sown from August to October, 

 and when they are sown by themselves, that is, unaccompanied by any corn crop, this 

 will be found the best season, as the young plants are less liable to be dried, up and im- 

 peded in their progress by the sun, than when sown alone in spring and remaining tender 

 and unshaded during the hot and dry weather of July. <- -- - - ""^-^^ 



5534. Some prepare the seed for sowing by steeping in water or in oil as in Switzerland, and then mixing 

 it witti powdered gypsum, as a preventive from the attacks of insects. 



5535. The manner of solving is almost always broad-cast. When sown with spring corn, clover and 

 grass-seeds are usually put in immediately after the land has been pulverised by harrowing in the corn- 

 seed, and are themselves covered by one course more of the harrows ; or, if the corn is drilled, the small 

 seeds are sown immediately before or after hand-hoeing; and the land is then finished by a course of the 

 harrows. Clover is generally sown by hand, though of late years the broad-cast drill {fig. 722.) has been 

 used, both in the case of the clovers and the grasses. A lighter harrow is generally employed in covering 

 such seeds, than that used for corn. When the land is under an autumn-sown crop of wheat or other 

 grain, though the clovers and rye-grass are still sown in sjiring, the proper period must dejiend both upon 

 the state of the land and the progress of the crops; and it may be often advisable to break the crust 

 formed on the surface of tenacious soils, by using the harrow before the clovers are sown, as well as after- 

 wards to cover them. Sometimes the roller only is employed at this tiine, and there are instances of clover 

 and rye-grass succeeding when sown, without either harrowing or rolling. But it is commonly of advan.. 

 tage to the wheat crop itself, to use the harrows in spring, and the roller alone cannot be depended on, 

 unless the season be very favourable. In some cases grass-seeds are sown by themselvea, either in autumn 

 or spring, but rarely on tillage land. Nature has not determined any precise depth for the seed of red 

 clover more than other seed. It will grow vigorously from two inches deep, and it will grow when barely 

 covered. Half an inch may be reckoned the most advantageous position in clay soil ; a whole inch in 

 what is light or loose. It is a vulgar error, that small seed ought to be sparingly covered. Misled by 

 that error, farmers commonly cover their clover seed with a bushy branch of thorn ; which not only 

 covers it unequally, but leaves part on the surface to wither in the air. 



5536. In the operation of sowing some consider it best to sow the clover and rye-grass separately, 

 alleging that the weight of the one seed, and lightness of the other, are unfavourable to an equal distri- 

 bution of both, 



5537. The quantity of seed sown on an acre is exceedingly various ; not only when more or less white or 

 yellow clover is sown along with grass-seeds and red clover, or when pasturage is intended ; but, even when 

 they are the only kinds sown, the quantity is varied by the quality of the soils, and the different purposes of 

 hay, soiling, or one year's pasture, to which the crop is to be applied. When pasture is the object, more 

 seed ought to be allowed than is necessary when the crop is to be cut green for soiling ; and for hay, less 

 may suffice than for either of the former. Finely pulverised soils do not require so much seed as clays, on 

 which clover and rye-grass are very frequently sown among autumn or winter-sown wheat, when there is 

 more danger of a part of it perishing from being imperfectly covered. In general, eight or ten pounds 

 may be taken as the minimum quantity, though there have been instances of good crops from less; and 

 from that to fourteen pounds or more per English statute acre. Rye-grass, commonly at the rate of a 

 bushel per acre, but in many cases only half, or two thirds of a bushel, is mixed with this weight of clover, 

 and both are sown at the same time. The rye-grass may be either of the perennial or annual variety, as 

 it is understood that the herbage is to be continued for only one year; and the annual is sometimes sown 

 in preference, as producing a bulkier crop than the perennial. 



5538. When it is intended to retain the land in pasture for several years, the quantity of red clover is 

 diminished, and several kinds of more permanent herbage are added, the most common of which are white 

 and yellow clover, and ribwort. No general rule can be laid down as to the proper quantity of each of 

 these kinds ; in some cases red and white clover are sown in equal proportions, and in others the latter is 

 made greatly to predominate. The yellow clover and ribwort are not often sown at the rate of more than 

 two or three pounds per acre. It is scarcely necessary to add, that, in this case, the rye- grass should 

 always be of the perennial sort. 



5539. In the selection of clover and rye grass seeds particular attention should be paid to their quality 

 and cleanness ; the purple colour of the clover seed denotes that it has been ripe and well saved ; and the 

 seeds of weeds may be detected in it by narrow inspection, if there are any; but various noxious weeds 

 are frequently mixed up with the seeds of the rye-grass, which it is difficult eitht;r to discover or to 

 separate from them. Between the seeds of the annual and perennial rye-grass the difference is hardly 

 discernible; and therefore, unless it is of his own growth, the cultivator must depend in a great measure 

 on the character of the person from whom he purchases it. Red clover from Holland or France has been 

 found to die out in the season immediately after it has been cut or pastured ; while the English seed 

 produces plants which stand over the second, many of them the third,, year {General Report of 

 Scotland, vol. i. p. 537.) ; thus remaining in the latter ca^e loiii: summers in the ground from the time of 

 sowing. V 



5540. The after-culture of clover and rye-grass consists chiefly of picking off any 

 stones or other hard bodies which may appear on the surface in the spring succeeding 

 that in which it was sown, and cutting out by the roots any thistles, docks, or other large 

 grown weeds. After this the surface should be rolled once to smooth it for the scythe. 

 This operation is best performed in the first dry weather of March. Some give a top- 

 dressing of soot, gypsum, common lime, peat, or wood-ashes, at this time or earlier : 



