(34) 



Upon good, fresh, rich soils, where clover has not previously 

 grown, one bushel for eight acres will be sufficient. If the soil is 

 thin and unproductive, one bushel for six acres ought to be sown. 

 If the land has been regularly rotated with clover, one-half the 

 quantity of seed mentioned above will suffice, sometimes much less. 



The frequent failure to secure a good stand of clover admonishes 

 the farmers of the State to exercise more care in the seeding. 

 When sown late in the spring many of the seeds sprout, and are 

 killed by dry weather. It would be all the better if the clover 

 seed could be buried a half-inch (or even an inch on loose soils) be- 

 neath the surface after the middle of March. 



GROWTH AND MANURE. 



Red clover rarely makes much growth the first season if sown 

 with grain. Should the weather be very seasonable after harvest, 

 and the land fertile, it will sometimes attain the height of thirty 

 inches and put out blooms, making an excellent fall pasture. 

 When sown alone it will always blossom in August. 



As soon as it begins to grow, in early spring, an application of 

 two bushels of gypsum or land plaster, upon granitic or sandy soils, 

 is absolutely necessary to get a good growth. 



Baron Liebig, after numerous experiments made with gypsum 

 upon clover, comes to the conclusion that the action of gypsum is 

 very complex; that it indeed promotes the distribution of both 

 magnesia and potash in the soil. He thinks that gypsum exercises 

 a chemical action upon the soil, which extends to any depth, and 

 that in consequence of the chemical and mechanical modification of 

 the earth, particles of certain nutritive elements become accessible 

 to and available for the clover plant, which were not so before. 



Though having my mind constantly directed to this point, I have 

 rarely found an application of gypsum beneficial upon clayey loams, 

 but its effects are very apparent on strong limestone soils, such as 

 are found in the Central Basin. Red clover has two growing 

 seasons. It makes its most vigorous growth from the 1st of April 

 until the 15th of June, beginning to bloom usually in the central 

 parts of the State about the 15th of May, and attaining its full in- 

 florescence about the 1st of June. After this, unless depastured by 

 stock or cut for hay, the heads begin to dry up, and stems and 

 leaves begin to fall, forming a mat upon the land. Sometimes thi 

 mat is so thick as to catch and concentrate the heats of summer to 



