62 



Thus no time is lost and the crop comes in rapidly. As 

 soon as the seed is planted the fertilizer should be §own 

 over the surface and left for the first rain to carry it into 

 the soil. 



Clover is the next crop in value to be considered 

 after fodder corn. This has the advantage that it may 

 stay m the ground two, three, five or more years, as it 

 may be rightly managed. On good land clover is a per- 

 ennial, while on poor land it dies out the third year and 

 i.s thus a biennial. The most profitable kind is the com- 

 mon red clover ; the annual crimson clover (Trifolium 

 mcarnatum) is useful in some sections, but only for green 

 fodder. It matures and ripens its seed the first year. 

 At the South it is sown in autumn and cut the following 

 spring. 



Clover may be sown alone or with aome grain crop, 

 or with turnips. It can be sown in April on well pre- 

 pared ground and make pasture or a cutting in the fall, 

 or it may be sown then with oats, or in July with buck- 

 wheat, or in the same month alone or with turnips. But 

 this crop will not succeed upon poor land, and it is a 

 waste of time and seed to try it. Fodder corn will do 

 better in such a case. But clover may be grown upon 

 well manured or liberally fertilized soil, well plowed and 

 thoroughly harrowed, with 500 or 600 pounds of super- 

 phosphate per acre and 300 pounds of plaster. One peck 

 of seed should be sown to the acre. 



When it is sown with orchard grass it becomes more 

 useful, and the two together yield three times as much 

 fodder or hay as the clover alone. If cut for hay, it 

 should be mown when in full blossom and before a head 

 has turned brown. It is then in its most nutritious 

 stage. The author's practice is to begin cutting as soon 

 as the dew has dried off, and cut up to three or four in 

 the afternoon. The clover is then gathered with the 

 horse rake into large windrows, where it is left until the 



