106 CLOVERS 



under them, like unto that from which they have 

 been removed. 



Clover seed may be stored in the barn or stack, 

 or it may be threshed directly in the field or from 

 the same. The labor involved in handling the crop 

 is less when it is threshed at once than by any other 

 method, but frequently at such a busy season it is 

 not easily possible to secure the labor required for 

 this work. It is usually ready for being threshed in 

 two or three days after the crop has been cut, but 

 when the weather is fair it may remain in the field 

 for as many weeks after being harvested without 

 any serious damage to the seed. If, however, the 

 straw, or "haulm," as it is more commonly called, is 

 to be fed to live stock, the more quickly that the 

 threshing is done after harvesting, the more valuable 

 will the haulm be for such a use. 



When stored in the barn or stack, it is common 

 to defer threshing until the advent of frosty weather, 

 for the reason, first, that the seed is then more easily 

 separated from the chaff which encases it ; and sec- 

 ond, that farm work is not then so pressing. When 

 threshed in or directly from the field, bright weather 

 ought to be chosen for doing the work, otherwise 

 more or less of the seed will remain in the chaff. 



In lifting the crop for threshing or for storage, 

 much care should be exercised, as the heads break 

 off easily. The fork used in lifting it, whether with 

 iron or with wooden prongs, should have these long 

 and so numerous that in lifting the tines would 

 go under rather than down through the bunch to be 

 lifted. The wagon rack should also be covered with 



