236 



CLOVER 



CLOVER 



bushels. Six bushels per acre is a good yield, and 

 eight bushels a large yield. The price for the 

 past five years has varied from four to thirteen 

 dollars per hundred pounds. Good seed can seldom 

 be bought for less than five dollars per bushel. 

 Chicago, Cincinnati, Toledo and Detroit are the 

 large market centers for this crop. The price is 

 usually higher in Chicago than in the other cities 

 mentioned. 



Color. 



Fresh red clover seed of good quality has a 

 bright plump appearance. The seeds vary in color 

 from dark violet to yellow, with all intermediate 

 shades. Sometimes green and brown or black seeds 

 are found in greater or less abundance. The vio- 

 let and yellow seeds are produced in about equal 

 abundance and are generally considered equally 

 valuable for planting. The dark seeds are heaviest, 

 followed by the variegated, and the average of 

 these is still heavier than the lighter-colored seed. 

 The predominating color of the seed sown usually 

 predominates also in the resulting seed-crop. Euro- 

 pean investigations show a higher yield of leaf and 

 stem from yellow than from violet seed. 



Size. 



In size, red clover seed varies from twelve mil- 

 lion to twenty -five million seeds per bushel, the 

 average for American seed being sixteen to eigh- 

 teen million per bushel. M'Alpine points out, as a 

 result of English experiments, that small seed may 

 produce more forage than a like weight of large 

 seed, because more plants are produced. The rank 

 early growth produced by large seed sown with 

 grain is of no importance, since a hay crop is not 

 cut until the following year, when the weaker 

 plants from small seed may compete in size with 

 plants from large seed. 



Grades. 



Several grades of clover seed are usually on the 

 market. The value of a sample of seed depends on 

 its cleanness, the percentage and vigor of germi- 

 nation, size and origin. Generally speaking, north- 

 ern-grown seed is superior to southern seed. 

 American seed gives much better results in the 

 United States than European seed, which is some- 

 times imported. 



Clover seed is seldom clean. Besides dirt, weed 

 seeds are found in greater or less abundance ; the 

 cheaper grades of clover seed frequently contain 

 enormous quantities, amounting to 80 or 90 per 

 cent. Old seed or weathered seed does not germi- 

 nate well. Green-colored seeds make weak plants. 

 The vigor of germination of brown seeds decreases 

 rather regularly from light brown to dark brown 

 or black. The presence of any large quantity of 

 brown or black seeds indicates low grade. Alsike 

 and timothy seed are rather generally found in red 

 clover seed, and, while not injurious, lower the 

 grade. Farmers should buy their clover seed con- 

 siderably in advance of the time it is needed for 

 sowing, and examine it for purity and germinating 

 power. The United States Department of Agricul- 



ture and many of the state experiment stations will 

 also examine the seed free of charge if requested. 

 Adulterated clover seed is the chief source of new 

 weeds on the farm. 



Seeding, 



In growing clover for seed, sow clean seed on 

 clean land. Upland soil of only medium fertility 

 gives the best results. The crop is seeded either 

 alone or with grain, as is usual for hay, but must 

 not be mixed with other grass seed. Eight to fifteen 

 pounds of clean seed per acre should be used, de- 

 pending on the aize of the seed and its percentage 

 germination. 



Harvesting. 



The first crop is usually cut for hay in most 

 clover-growing sections, and thg second crop of the 

 same season cut for seed. If the first crop is left 

 for seed, new growth springs up before the first 

 plants mature. The plants which mature first fall 

 down, producing a tangled mass, the field remains 

 in bloom six to eight weeks instead of twenty or 

 thirty days, and the results are generally very un- 

 satisfactory. These remarks apply particularly to 

 the first year. They do not apply when the field is 

 grazed or cut back about the middle of June. In 

 a few sections, as northern Michigan, which has 

 lately become an important clover seed section, 

 the first crop of each season is the one used for 

 seed. The second crop there matures too late for 

 seed. The yield secured from the first crop averages 

 close to six bushels per acre, and one instance of 

 twelve bushels per acre from mammoth red clover 

 has been reported. A. D. Hopkins states that in 

 West Virginia the first crop is as well filled with 

 seed as the second. 



Another reason in most sections for using the 

 second crop of the season for seed is that if it 

 does not fill well with seed, the- first hay crop has 

 paid for the use of the land. 



Again, bumble-bees and other insects which are 

 believed to be essential for the cross-fertilization 

 of clover flowers and the production of seed, are 

 more abundant late in the summer than during the 

 period when the first crop is in bloom. Darwin first 

 pointed out the relationship between bees and 

 clover seed. He covered 100 heads with matting. 

 These produced no seed, while 100 heads exposed 

 to insect visits produced 2,700 seed. A very large 

 number of pollen-collecting insects work on red 

 clover and effect cross-fertilization, but bumble- 

 bees are the most frequent visitors. It is still an 

 open question whether or not red clover is self- 

 fertile. Experiments in England by Garton and in 

 the United States by W. J. Beal and by the writer 

 seem to indicate that it is in part at least self-fertile. 



It is often a question whether to cut the crop 

 for hay or to save it for seed. The hay is certain ; 

 the seed-crop speculative. If left for seed the crop 

 is spoiled for hay. As a rule, if the heads selected 

 at random contain twenty-five to thirty seeds each, 

 it will pay to save the crop for seed. In a test by 

 the writer, twenty -five heads gathered from a 

 twenty -acre field of first -crop clover averaged 



