SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES 37 



Clovers are especially helpful in balancing the 

 ration where .corn is the principal food crop grown. 

 The protein of the clover crop aids greatly in bal- 

 ancing the excess of carbo-hydrates in the corn crop, 

 hence much attention should be given to the produc- 

 tion of clovers in such areas. 



Renewing. — Because of the comparatively short 

 life of several of the most useful of the varieties of 

 clover, no attempt is usually made to renew them 

 when they fail, unless when growing in pasture 

 somewhat permanent in character. To this, how- 

 ever, there may be some exceptions. On certain 

 porous soils it has been found possible to maintain 

 medium red clover and also the mammoth and al- 

 sike varieties for several years by simply allowing 

 some of the seed to ripen in the autumn, and in this 

 way to re-seed 'the land, a result made possible 

 through moderate grazing of the meadow in the 

 autumn, and in some instances through the absence 

 of grazing altogether, as when the conditions may 

 not be specially favorable to the growth of clover. 



It is not uncommon, however, to renew alfalfa, 

 by adding more seed when it is disked in the spring, 

 as it sometimes is to aid in removing weeds from 

 the land. The results vary much with the favor- 

 ableness of the conditions for growing alfalfa or 

 the opposite. 



In pastures more or less permanent in character, 

 clovers may be renewed by disking the ground, add- 

 ing more clover seed, and then smoothing the sur- 

 face by running over it the harrow, and in some 

 jnstcmces also the roller. This work is best done 



