CRIMSON CLOVER 255 



and plump. Moreover, showery or muggy weather 

 will soon greatly injure the crop. One or two days 

 of such weather after the crop has been cut will 

 stain the seed; two or three days of the same will 

 cause much of the seed to sprout, and three or four 

 days will practically ruin the crop. 



Because of the ease with which the seed sheds off 

 the heads, it is better to cut the seed crop while it 

 is a little damp, or at least to refrain from cutting 

 during the greatest heat of the day. In some in- 

 stances it is cut with the mower and raked early 

 or late in the day, put up in small cocks and 

 threshed from these in four or five days after being 

 cut. But this method of harvesting, however care- 

 fully done, is attended with much loss of seed. It 

 is better to harvest with the self-rake reaper, the 

 rakes being so adjusted that the hay will be dropped 

 off in small gavels or sheaves, so small that in two 

 or three days they may be lifted without being 

 turned over. Much care should be exercised in lift- 

 ing the sheaves to avoid shedding in the seed, and 

 it should be drawn on wagons with tight racks. 



While it is not absolutely necessary to thresh the 

 seed crop at once, the work can usually be done at 

 that time with less outlay and with less loss of seed. 

 It is threshed with a huller or with a grain separator 

 with suitable attachments. Some attention must be 

 given to the arrangement of the teeth used in the 

 machine, lest many of the seeds, which are large, 

 should be split; and as it is not easy to separate the 

 seeds from the haulms, specially made riddles and 

 sieves must needs be used. 



