CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



There is sad waste when high-priced clover seed 

 is put into land so sour that clover bacteria can- 

 not thrive, and there is ten-fold more waste in 

 letting land fail to obtain the organic matter and 

 nitrogen clover should supply. When land-owners 

 refuse to let their soils remain deficient in lime, 

 clover will come into a prominence in our agricul- 

 ture that it never has known. 



Methods of Seeding. It is a common prac- 

 tice to sow clover in the spring, either with spring 

 grain or with wheat or rye previously seeded in 

 the fall. This method has much to commend 

 it. The cost of making the seed-bed is trans- 

 ferred to the grain crop, and there is little outlay 

 other than the cost of seed. Wheat and rye 

 offer better chances to the young clover plants 

 than do the oat crop which shades the soil densely 

 and ripens later in the summer. The amount 

 of seed that should be used depends upon the 

 soil, the length of time the sod will stand, and the 

 purpose in growing the clover. When soil fer- 

 tility is the one consideration, 12 to 15 pounds of 

 bright, plump medium red clover seed per acre 

 should be sown. A fuller discussion of the prin- 

 ciples involved in making a sod and of seed mix- 

 tures is given in Chapters VIE and VIII. 



[48] 



