8 LEAFLET 17 6, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



supporting a thick stand of clover have been disked, harrowed, and 

 rolled early in the spring without doing serious damage to the stand, 

 and this practice has enabled the seed to be cut with a horse-drawn 

 mower. 



Several farmers have followed the practice of grazing the clover 

 until the first of June, when the animals are removed. This permits 

 additional growth to be made, followed by blooming and seed for- 

 mation. They claim that this practice reduces the amount of weed 

 growth, which often handicaps seed-harvesting operations and reduces 

 seed yields. 



The seed crop should be cut when the majority of the seed capsules 

 or envelopes are^Iight brown in color (fig. 3). An examination of the 

 maturing seed is recommended to see whether it is ripe. If cut too 

 early, the seed will be shrunken and immature. Close grazing up to 

 the time of blooming will not prevent blooming and seed production, 

 but the heads wijjfform close to the soil and can only be harvested by 

 hand-picking. When the clover is grown in soils strongly saline pre- 

 ceding and during the blooming period, the heads are also short- 

 stalked and cannot be cut with a mower. 



Because the heads of strawberry clover shatter readily when ripe, 

 it is advisable to cut and handle the crop when the heads are slightly 

 damp, as then the seed envelopes will be tough. 



The crop may be harvested with a mower and later picked up from 

 the swath or windrow. The use of mowing machines equipped with 

 windrowing attachments and bunchers closely set reduces the num- 

 ber of times that the crop must be handled and in turn the possibility 

 of excessive shattering. Harvesting by means of vacuum machines 

 has been unsuccessful. 



The seed crop may be cured in and threshed from the windrow or 

 stack by clover hullers, grain separators, or combines equipped with 

 hulling attachments. The seed coats of strawberry clover seed are 

 hard ; even after hulling, as much as 40 to 75 percent of the seed often 

 remains hard. Such seed should be scarified before being sown, to 

 obtain more complete germination. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 193S 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. ... - Price 5 cents 



