298 CLOVERS 



in which it is usually gathered. The more common 

 method of saving the seed, as given by Mr. A. H. 

 Beattie of Starkville, Mississippi, is to first rake off 

 the dead vines so as to leave the burrs on the 

 ground and then sweep them together with a suit- 

 able wire or street broom. It is then lifted and 

 run through two sets of sifters of suitable mesh 

 by hand to remove the trash swept up in gathering 

 the seed. It is probable that other methods more 

 economical of labor are yet to be devised when har- 

 vesting the seed crop. As much as 100 bushels of 

 burrs have been obtained from an acre, but that is 

 considerably more than the average yield of seed. 



Renewing. —Since this plant is an annual, it can- 

 not be renewed in the sense in which renewal is pos- 

 sible with a perennial. But as has been shown above 

 (see page 294), it may be grown annually for an 

 indefinite period in the same land and without re- 

 sowing by hand. It has also been shown that by 

 sowing the seed in certain crops at the proper sea- 

 son, from year to year, it may be made to grow from 

 year to year where the rotation will admit of this. 

 (See page 295.) When the ground is well stored 

 with seed, the plants will continue to come up freely 

 in the soil for at least two or three years, even 

 without any re-seeding of the land. 



As a Fertilizer — The growing of byrr clover 

 exercises a beneficial influence on the land. Its 

 value for this purpose, since it can be grown as a 

 catch crop, is probably greater than its value in pro- 

 viding food for stock. Like all plants that are more 

 or less creeping in their habit of growth, it shades 



