MAMMOTH CLOVER 227 



in the content of humus, before a good crop of clover 

 can be grown, it may be necessary to supply humus. 

 But few soils are so deficient in fertility that they 

 will not grow clover if supplied with humus. Farm- 

 yard manure supplies both humus and fertility, but 

 in its absence, a crop of rye buried in the soil will 

 insure a stand of clover. In other instances it may 

 be necessary to follow with some kind of a crop that 

 has much power to gather plant food, as corn of 

 some hardy variety, and to graze or otherwise feed 

 it from the land. 



Sowing. — Much of what has been said about the 

 sowing of medium red clover will apply also to the 

 sowing of mammoth clover. East of the Mississippi 

 and north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, mam- 

 moth clover is usually sown in the spring, and for 

 the reason that the young plants are frequently 

 killed by the severity of the winter weather when 

 sown in the autumn. But when sown at that season, 

 the seed being mixed with winter rye and being 

 deposited by the drill as early as September ist, the 

 plants frequently survive the winter as far north as 

 Marquette County in Wisconsin. The rye in the 

 line of the drill marks provides a sufficient protection 

 for the clover. But this only occurs where the con- 

 •ditions are eminently favorable to the growth of 

 the clover. Around Puget Sound it may also be 

 sown with adA'^antage in the early autumn, as then 

 it should produce a full crop the next season, and the 

 same is true of nearly all the Rocky Mountain valley 

 region, but in these areas it may also be sown in 

 the spring. Between the Mississippi and the Rocky 



