190 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The importance of a rotation of crops for Massachusetts 

 farmers cannot be too strongly insisted u})on. At least one 

 crop, and if the rotation extends over a period of five years, 

 two crops, in the rotation should be a legume. Whenever 

 the hay grown is to be fed on the farm, mammoth red or 

 alsike clover should be used in the seed mixture. If the 

 land will not grow clover, everything should be done to 

 assist this crop, such as using lime if the soil is acid, and 

 inoculatinof the soil with the bacteria that form root nodules 

 on clover. 



Mr. Augustus Piiatt (of North Middleborough). What 

 variety of clover will be best for me to apply to some lields 

 on which I now have a rye crop ? It has been my usual cus- 

 tom in the spring of the year to put my harrow on and put 

 on the western clover seed, which I buy in the market under 

 that name. Is there any better clover seed for me to apply 

 than that? Will it be worth while for me to apply any of 

 these that are considered a little doubtful in the New Eng- 

 land climate? I have no ditiiculty in growing clover. 



Dr. Woods. You will have to depend upon the clover 

 seed which conies from the great centres, and Chicago is 

 the great centre of the country. I should get from them a 

 seed that is plum}) and heavy, one that they will class very 

 high. You would naturally think "i)rime" seed ought to be 

 all right, but prime is the fourth grade of seeds, so you will 

 have to go considerably higher to get the seed you Avant. 

 Both the dealers and the farmers are a little ignorant about 

 the quality of the seed. With a difference in price of two 

 or three cents a pound, perhaps S)!> out of 100 farmers will 

 take the lower priced, although in 1)1)1) out of 1,000 cases 

 they ought to take the higher one, because it will on the 

 whole, be a more economical seed. Choose the mammoth 

 clover or the red clover. Crimson clover is an annual, and 

 is hardly sure in our winters. It grows one season and 

 blossoms, but if you sow it in August it will come u}) the 

 next S})ring and will bloom souk^ time in June, and then you 

 will get a crop, and that is the end of it. 



