934 



THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. 



impossible to get in a crop of barley in an unstained condition if the 

 clover is tall. On the other hand it is certain that heavier crops are 

 grown in the following year when the seed is sown early, therefore the 

 farmer must settle in each case whether he thinks it will answer his 

 purpose best to sow the clover seed at the same time that the corn is 

 drilled, or to postpone it until the corn is up. When the latter is 

 done an opportunity is afforded of hoeing the corn, which is a decided 

 advantage, but the risk of loss of plant during a summer drought is 



great. We find it advisable 

 to put the seed in at both 

 periods, so that the whole 

 crop may not be lost. For 

 preference we put the clover 

 in early with wheat or oats, 

 which are necessarily cut a 

 considerable time before they 

 are fit to stack ; whilst we 

 sow those clovers which are 

 seeded in the barley after the 

 latter crop is up. 



Clover is fit to stock with 

 sheep in May, and, as a rule, 

 is ready for mowing in June, 

 being fit to cut some little 

 time before the meadows in 

 the same localities. Two 

 cuttings may be relied upon 

 in the first season (the year 

 in which the seed is sown 

 s does not count ; the first 

 year in the life of the clover 

 Fig. 439. Clover Dodder. crop is that which comes 



(Cuscuta Trifolii.) after it has stood a winter, 



until then the crop is 



spoken of as " young seeds "). The first cutting is taken in June, and 

 the second in August or September. Clover hay must not be tedded, 

 or the nutritious leaves are knocked off; the process of haymaking, 

 therefore, chiefly consists of gentle turnings. It is not uncommon 

 in wet seasons for the crop to afford three feedings for sheep. Red 

 clover will stand two or more years on good soils, but on land predis- 

 posed or liable to clover-sickness it is very bad policy to leave it 

 more than one season. It is found to act as a restorative crop to land 

 even when the whole of the crop above ground is carted off, a large 

 amount of plant food being stored up in the roots and necks of the 

 clover plants (see page 1022). There is no crop of greater value on the 

 farm, and land which is capable of growing good crops with frequency 

 is always valuable for corn-growing purposes and will cany a pasture 

 readily if seeded down. 



