FORAGE PLANTS OF THE FAMILY LEGUMINOS^ 193 



contains the maximum of nutrients. When cut as a soiling crop, the cut- 

 ting may begin, as soon, as the first flowers appear, and if used for silage, 

 the plants should be fully mature. Some farmers prefer to pasture their 

 clover instead of cutting it. Sometimes the crop is grown for seed which 

 may be successfully produced in regions where clover hay is produced. 

 Each head produces an average of twenty-five to thirty seeds each, which 

 would make the yield one to two bushels to the acre. The self-rake reaper 

 is the best machine to harvest the crop for seed, while a clover huller is 

 used in the threshing operations. The average yield of clover hay per 

 acre, according to the census of 1910, was 1.29 tons, but under favorable 

 conditions the yield in two cuttings ranged from two to four tons to the 

 acre. 



Nutrient Value. Red Clover is one of the most highly nutritious 

 forage plants either in the green state, or cured as hay. Clover hay con- 

 tains 15.3 per cent, water, 6.2 per cent, ash, 12.3 per cent, protein, 24.8 

 per cent, crude pro tern, 38.1 per cent, introgen free extract, 3.3 per cent. 

 ether extract (fat), of these constituents 67 per cent, protein 53 per cent, 

 crude fiber 78 per cent, nitrogen-free extract and 65 per cent, ether ex- 

 tract (fat) are digestible. Many rotations in which red clover enters have 

 played a prominent part in the agriculture of America. A common 

 rotation is corn followed by oats, which hi turn are followed by wheat. 

 The wheat in turn acts as a nurse crop for the red clover sown with it. 

 After clover has stood two years, the clover soil is plowed down to cosn 

 again. There are rotations of clover with rye or cotton, etc. 



Varieties. The recognized varieties of red clover are the ordinary 

 red clover, the mammoth red clover, the Russian red clovers and special 

 forms of red clover, which have been bred for their disease-resistant quali- 

 ties. 



Alsike Clover (Trifolium kybridum). This is a clover intermediate 

 in appearance between red and white clover and was supposed by Linnaeus 

 to be a natural hybrid of the two other clovers. Alsike clover is adapted 

 remarkably to wet soils and also to soils which are too low in humus to 

 grow red clover to advantage. Seed may be obtained from the first crop 

 although an early clipping, especially if there is a wet spring, will result 

 in a better crop of seed. Excellent honey is obtained from the flower. 

 The alsike clover plant is a perennial plant lasting from three to five years 

 and longer. It is an erect, branching, rather stout, smooth herb growing 

 one to three feet tall arising from a large tap root. The leaves are long 



