256 CLOVERS 



The seed crop is usually harvested in June north 

 of the Ohio and Potomac rivers, and southward 

 from these in the month of May. The yield of 

 seed runs all the way from 10 bushels per acre 

 downwards. The average crop is 4 to 5 bushels. 



Renewing. — Since crimson clover is an annual, 

 but little can be done in the sense of renewing it 

 on the same land without breaking the ground. But 

 in orchards, it is sometimes grown from year to year 

 by what may be termed a process of self-seeding. 

 When the seed is not quite ripe in the heads, or 

 even somewhat earlier, the orchard is plowed so 

 as to leave some of the heads standing up along 

 the line of the furrow. When these have matured, 

 the land is harrowed, which scatters the seeds in the 

 chaff, and from these another crop is produced. 

 But to this plan there is the objection that it allows, 

 the clover to draw too heavily on the moisture in the 

 soil before it is plowed under. 



Facts Regarding Crimson Clover. — i. When 

 crimson clover is sown so early in the season that it 

 has at least three to four months in which to grow 

 before winter sets in, the benefits to the land from 

 sowing the seed will usually more than pay for the 

 seed and labor, even though it should not survive 

 the winter. 



2. Prominent among the causes of failure where 

 crimson clover does not succeed are: (a) The seed 

 fails to germinate because of the want of moisture, 

 or having germinated the young plants are killed 

 by heat or drought; (b) they perish in the winter 

 from exposure to cold winds or frosts, or by alter- 



