234 FORAGE CROPS 
full advantage its capability of gathering nitro- 
gen. In many cases, particularly on soils that 
are likely to heave, a mulch of manure is very 
advantageous as a protection. 
Methods of seeding red clover 
The method of seeding most generally prac- 
ticed is to sow in March or April, on wheat or 
rye (which was seeded the fall previous), when 
the ground is still moist, and danger of very 
heavy freezing is past. By this practice, the light 
freezing and subsequent drying of the soil causes 
the seed to be covered, and it will then germi- 
nate and make a light growth previous to har- 
vesting. It is also seeded in spring with oats or 
barley; this is a common practice in regions 
which are cool and moist, as in many of the 
western states. 
The quantity of seed ranges from eight to 
twelve pounds per acre. The plants grow rather 
feebly until the grain is removed, when they 
usually come forward rapidly, sometimes permit- 
ting a fall cutting, but in any case they make a 
erop the following year. 
Recently, however,—especially where the plant 
is grown primarily for forage purposes,—the seed- 
ing is made in the latter part of August or early 
September, without nurse-crop, usually following 
