PREPARATION OF LAND FOR THF SEED If*] 



earth -mulch should roiiiaiii uupacked between 

 rhe rows, to conserve moisture. 



254. In some cases it is impossible to secure 

 a proper seed-bed for small seeds. For ex- 

 ample, no suitable seed-bed can in* procured, 

 as a rule, i'(ir clover see<ls when sowed in a 

 growinj^ tilled crop. In order to secure germina- 

 tion, these seeds are sown on the surface in early 

 sprin«j:, while the surface soil is still porous 

 from winter fre«'zing. The sjirin^ rains wash 

 the seeds into the little cracks in the soil and 

 partly cover them. Tlif weather being cool and 

 cloudy and the soil moist in early spring, the 

 oily seeds of the clover are kept damp enough to 

 insure germination. If such small seeds are sown 

 in summer or early fall, the land is rolled for 

 the purpose of supi>lying them with moisture. 



2')'). A good field stM'd-bed, then, t*an be 

 secured profitably only on land which is either 

 naturally or artificially well <lrained, which has 

 been well broken and crumbled by the plow, and 

 tlie surface of whidi has been thoroughly fined 

 by the luirrow. Particular care should be taken 

 not to work heavy or <'lay lands when they are 

 wet. Neither should clay huuls be tilled so nuich 

 that they become very dusty, else they will puddl»» 

 when the rains come. The remarks respecting 

 the proper tillage of the land ^Thaptor iv.) will 

 apply here. 



