TREATMENT OF CLOVER MEADOWS 363 



is likely to result in loss from winter-killing. If sown after 

 grain or early potatoes, the land need not be plowed, but the 

 surface should be disked and harrowed so as to make it fine 

 and mellow. If clover is sown alone in the spring, under 

 favorable conditions a fair cutting of hay may be obtained 

 that season; if sown in the late summer after some other crop 

 is removed, a good crop should be produced the following 

 year. 



459. Inoculation. In sections where red clover is com- 

 monly grown, inoculation is not usually necessary, for the 

 soil is well stocked with the proper bacteria. In newly 

 settled regions where it is desired to introduce clover, inocu- 

 lation by means of soil from an old clover field or of pure 

 cultures of the proper bacteria may sometimes be necessary 

 for success. 



460. Treatment of the Crop. Clover is seldom given 

 any treatment from the time the seed is sown till it is cut for 

 hay the following year. It is sometimes possible to pasture 

 spring seeding the following fall, but close pasturing will 

 reduce the crop the succeeding year. Cattle injure the 

 young plants much less than sheep or hogs, because they do 

 not graze so closely. Clipping back the young clover and 

 the weeds a few weeks after the nurse crop is harvested is 

 often the most beneficial treatment which can be given. 

 This treatment is not advisable in the North, however, un- 

 less there is time before frost for the plants to make suffi- 

 cient growth to protect the roots from winter injury. A 

 top dressing of manure will greatly increase the yield, though 

 if the supply of manure is limited, it may be applied with 

 greater profit just before breaking up the clover sod for corn. 



The usual practice the second season is to cut the first 

 crop for hay as soon as it comes into blossom, cutting the 

 second crop either for seed or hay. Conditions are usually 



