2IO CLOVERS 



pasture will be obtained if it can be allowed to make 

 a good start in the spring, and if it is then kept 

 grazed so short that the plants do not come into 

 flower. Such treatment tends very much to prolong 

 the period of grazing for the season. Should the 

 grazing be so uneven as to admit of certain areas 

 in the pasture pushing on into the flower stage, the 

 mower may sometimes be profitably used to pre- 

 vent such a result. Weeds should also be kept from 

 going to seed in the pastures by using the mower or 

 the scythe, or both. Nor should the fact be lost 

 sight of that the tendency to produce bloat in alsike 

 clover is much the same as in medium red clover. 



Harvesting for Hay. — ^Alsike clover is ready 

 to harvest for hay when the plants are just beginning 

 to pass beyond the meridian of full bloom. Some of 

 the first blossoms will then have turned brown and 

 some of the smaller ones will still be deepening their 

 tints, since the season of bloom is about the same 

 as for timothy, and since alsike for hay is more com- 

 monly grown with timothy than with any other 

 grass, both may be cut when at their best, espe- 

 cially when intended for cows and sheep. But when 

 the hay is intended for horses, it should stand a 

 few days longer than the stage indicated above, in 

 order to have the timothy in the condition best suited 

 to feeding horses. But the alsike, in the meantime, 

 would lose something in digestibility. 



If grown alone for hay, the process of harvesting 

 would be much the same as in harvesting medium 

 red clover. (See page 95.) But since the stems 

 pf ^Isike clover are finer than those of the medium 



