SWEET CLOVER: HARVESTING AND 

 THRASHING THE SEED CROP. 1 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



The crop to harvest for seed 



Time to cut the seed crop 



Loss of seed from shattering 



Machinery used for harvesting the seed crop. . 



Page. 



Stacking the sweet-clover seed crop 17 



Thrashing the sweet-clover seed crop 18 



Yields of sweet-clover seed 21 



Sweet-clover straw 23 



THE CROP TO HARVEST FOR SEED. 



White sweet clover and biennial yellow sweet clover are harvested 

 for seed the year following seeding. In localities where these species 

 will produce two cuttings the second year, either the first or the 

 second crop may be harvested for seed. As the plants die when 

 mature, only one cutting will be obtained if the first crop is permitted 

 to ripen. It is becoming a general practice in many sections of the 

 country to utilize the first crop of the second season for pasture, 

 ensilage, or hay, and the second crop for seed. As a rule, this is the 

 most profitable and economical way to handle sweet clover, as the 

 first crop will produce an abundance of nutritious pasturage or from 

 6 to 10 tons of ensilage or 1 to 3 tons of hay to the acre. The second 

 crop seldom grows more than 4 feet high when the first crop is pas- 

 tured or cut. The shorter growth of the second crop is a very desir- 

 able feature, as it may be cut with a grain binder without difficulty. 

 When the first crop of white sweet clover is permitted to mature, the 

 plants often make so large a growth that it is very difficult to handle 

 them \vith ordinary farm machinery. This trouble is experienced 

 more often in humid regions than in semiarid sections. 



As biennial yellow sweet clover seldom grows as tall as the white 

 species, little difficulty is experienced in cutting the first crop of the 

 second year for seed with a grain binder. Annual yellow sweet 

 clover, or sour clover, is seldom grown for seed, as a sufficient quan- 

 tity to supply the market is obtained from the screenings of wheat 

 grown in the Southwest. 



Sweet-clover seed ripens irregularly and shatters badly when 

 mature. On this account much seed is lost before and during 

 harvest, and ordinary harvesting machinery has not been entirely 

 satisfactory for handling the crop. 



1 This bulletin discusses only the harvesting and thrashing of the sweet-clover seed crop. The grow- 

 ing of sweet clover and its utilization are discussed in Farmers' Bulletin 797, entitled "Sweet Clover: 

 Growing the Crop," and Farmer's Bulletin 820, entitled "Sweet Clover: Utilization," respectively. 



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