86 



4 As a crop for green manuring it ranks high. It is turned under 

 in the spring as it makes its growth during the fall and winter months. 

 In this it differs from all other crops for green manuring. 



At Belvidere it is sown on a deep clayey loam impregnated with more 

 or less of the carbonate of lime, but it is not what may be called a cal- 

 careous loam. Crimson clover should be sown alone as it will need all 

 the land. For the feeding oi milch cows it is held in high esteem as it 

 induces a full flow of rich milk. Growing as it does in the fall, it pro- 

 longs the season of green food and so increases the profits of the dairy. 

 A co-operative creamery at Belvidere has its butter products largely in- 

 creased from the general habit of the farmers in the vicinity of sowing 

 crimson clover in the fall. 



This forage plant deserves more attention from the farmers of the 

 South for dairy purposes than it has heretofore received. 



It will yield from three to ten bushels of seed per acre. Mr. Ruch 

 says he has ma-de both these extremes. 



It is generally believed in those places where crimson clover has 

 been sown for a number of years that though not equal to red clover it is 

 a very good substitute. The farmers who have grown it once feel in- 

 clined to continue to grow it, especially when there is a failure of red 

 clover. 



A bulletin from the United States Department of Agriculture, recently 

 issued, has this to say in regard to a possible danger in the use of crimson 

 clover: 



"The introduction of the annual leguminous plant, crimson clover, 

 into the United. States is comparatively recent, but its use as a forage 

 plant and green manure is rapidly extending. This is easily explained 

 by the decided advantages this clover possesses of covering and protect- 

 ing the soil from washing and leaching during the winter, and of fur- 

 nishing a green manure for spring crops or a succulent and nutritious 

 food at a time when such food is likely to be scarce. It has been found, 

 however, that there is a danger in the use of the overripe clover, espec- 

 ially with horses, that should .be carefully guarded against. The small 

 hairs which occur in the heads of the clover are so constructed (when the 

 plant has passed the flowering stage) that they collect together and form 

 large, round, impervious balls in the intestines of horses, and many cases 

 have been reported in which these have caused the death of animals. 

 When the balls have once developed to such a size that they cannot pass 

 through the intestine no practical remedy can be suggested. But the 

 prevention of the difficulty is in most cases easy. The hairs of crimson 

 clover do not become stiff until the plant has passed the flowering stage 

 and begun to ripen. It should be made a rule, therefore, never to feed 

 crimson clover after the crop has ceased flowering, and especially never 

 to follow the pernicious practice of feeding stock with the straw of 

 crimson clover raised and threshed as a seed crop. By guarding against 

 improper methods of feeding there is no reason why crimson clover 

 should not continue to maintain its well-merited reputation and increase 

 in use as a forage plant and green manure." 



No reports from the farmers growing crimson clover in Tennessee 

 make any mention of having lost stock directly or indirectly by feeding it. 



