§4 CLOVERS 



frequently does, on rich ground, the clover plants 

 underneath the lodged portions succumb from want 

 of light; 3. Where the supply of moisture is low, 

 in the struggle for the same between the stronger 

 plants of the nurse crop and the weaker plants of 

 the clover, the former secures the larger share. As 

 a result, when the nurse crop is harvested, should 

 the weather prove hot and dry beyond a certain 

 degree, the clover plants will die. This is an ex- 

 perience not at all uncommon on the loose prairie 

 soils of the upper Mississippi basin. 



Injury from crowding and overshading may be 

 prevented, or at least lessened, by pasturing the 

 nurse crop with sheep for a time, at an early stage 

 in its growth. The lodging of the grain may also 

 be prevented by the same means. Injury from 

 drought may also be lessened by cutting the crop 

 at the proper stage of advancement, and making it 

 into hay, as in the ripening stage of growth it draws 

 most heavily on the moisture in the soil. The oat 

 crop is the most suitable for being thus dealt with. 



Clover seed may be sown with any of the small 

 cereal grains as a nurse crop, but not with equal ad- 

 vantage. Rye, barley, wheat and oats are probably 

 suitable in the order named. Rye shades less than 

 wheat and oats and is harvested early; hence, its 

 suitability for a nurse crop. Winter rye and winter 

 wheat are more suitable than spring varieties of the 

 same, since on these the crop may usually be sown 

 earlier, and the soil is likely to lose less moisture 

 from surface evaporation. The marked suitability 

 of barley as a nurse crop arises chiefly from the 



