78 CLOVERS 



the seed on clay soils that are worn would be to 

 throw it away, unless in a most favorable season for 

 growth. The same would prove true of the sandy 

 soils low in humus, since these do not honeycomb at 

 any season. Seed sown on honeycombed ground 

 falls into openings made in the soil, and is covered 

 by the action of the frost and the sun on the same. 

 The rule should be to defer sowing the seed where 

 the ground does not honeycomb until it can be cov- 

 ered with the harrow. 



In some instances the seed is sown successfully 

 just after a light fall of snow in the spring. The 

 seed is carried down into little crevices or fissures in 

 the soil when these are present, but the seed should 

 not be thus sown. Usually it is not quite safe to 

 sow clover seed where the winter snow still lingers 

 to any considerable depth, lest much of it should 

 be carried down to the lower lands by the sudden 

 melting of the snows. The chief advantage of sow- 

 ing before the ground can be harrowed arises from 

 the benefit which the young plants derive from the 

 plentiful supply of moisture in the soil at that sea- 

 son. They are more firmly rooted than plants sown 

 later, and, therefore, can better withstand the dry 

 weather that frequently characterizes the later 

 months of the summer. There is also the further 

 advantage that the labor of harrowing at a sea- 

 son that is usually a busy one is dispensed with. 



Various modes of sowing clover seed have been 

 adopted. Sometimes it is sown by hand. In other 

 instances a sower is used which is strapped to the 

 shoulder and turned with a crank. Sometimes the 



