238 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 19 
WESTERN CLOVER SEEDING. 
Notes From the Central West. 
If I had a rather poor piece of land to 
seed to clover I would commence by sow¬ 
ing first to cow peas, plow them under in 
Fall, sow wheat or rye. Tn March or April 
sow to clover, using 12 or 14 pounds of seed, 
and then if I should fail to get a good stand 
I would let the wheat or rye remain on the 
ground as a mulch and seed again in July 
or August, using the same amount of seed 
as I used in the Spring. On good land we 
sow with wheat or rye, using the same 
amount of seed as on poor land, sowing in 
March or April. Set your sower to sow 
just half the amount you wish to sow per 
acre, and go over the ground each way, 
or in other words, double-sow the land. 
Cobden, Ill. t. w. g. 
Clover seed in central Indiana is gener¬ 
ally sown on wheat around the middle of 
March. We watch for a time when the 
frost is coming out of ground, and a slight 
freeze throws the soil up, honey-combed 
we call it. At this time the seed will lie 
where it falls. The thawing will cover 
nicely any seed not worked into the fur¬ 
rows left by wheat drill. Sowing with oats 
also almost always gives a good stand, 
provided oats are not too thick and stand 
up well. Peas are grown here very large¬ 
ly for canning factory; clover seed sown at 
same time has proved very satisfactory. 
We use a broadcast machine for sowing 
and the general rule is four quarts of seed 
to the acre. w. h. f. 
Greenwood, Ind. 
Clover is sown here mostly with oats. 
Very little wheat or barley is grown. Oc¬ 
casionally Timothy and clover is sown 
without grain, and is the surest way for 
a catch. Timothy and clover are always 
sown together. Eight quarts of Timothy 
and four of clover are considered the right 
amount. We sow early in April on last 
year’s corn ground, without plowing. The 
oats are usually put in with a disk, but 
what we call a spader is better. It is like 
a disk, but instead of the solid wheels each 
wheel is three double knives or rather 
three pieces with a knife at each end with 
the proper twist, fastened together on the 
shaft. This does not ridge the ground. The 
clover and Timothy are sown before the 
last harrowing. The critical time is when 
the oats are removed. An early and small- 
sLrawed variety of oats gives best results. 
In 1900 and 1901 we lost all of our new 
seeding, but as a rule we are reasonably 
sure of a good catch, and clover is highly 
valued by our farmers. j. s. 
Corning, Iowa. 
My method for seeding is with Timothy 
after oats, sowing Timothy in Fall in oat 
stubble. I sometimes burn stubble and 
harrow after seeding, and if ground is too 
rough for good meadow bottom plow the 
ground and harrow 7 smooth, then sow seed; 
harrow lightly. If ground is smooth and 
not too much trash I prefer to sow in stub¬ 
ble and not harrow’, as the stubble makes 
a Winter mulch for the young grass. In 
March following I sow’ the clover, calcu¬ 
lating four quarts to the acre sown broad¬ 
cast. If the Timothy has failed to make 
a good stand from Fall seeding I give an¬ 
other seeding at this time. I have always 
made a practice of using seed liberally, 
and when I say four quarts per acre I in¬ 
tend to be sure of that much if it takes 
five quarts to do the work. I sow from 
eight to 12 quarts of Timothy seed per acre 
if seed is clean; if not, sow r more. As with 
the clover, I make sure to have enough. I 
like to sow clover seed while frost is yet 
in the ground, as I think the seed w'ill 
settle in the ground better, as w 7 e usually 
have rains that help to bury the seed 
while the ground is yet soft. a. s. b. 
Russell. Iowa. 
To insure a satisfactory stand of clover 
w’e sow the seed the last of February or 
first of March. There is not so much im¬ 
portance attached to the time as the con¬ 
dition of the land, which should be open 
and porous, that the seed may fall into 
the little holes and be covered. If much 
freezing, thawing or rain has taken place 
the surface is smooth and does not afford 
sufficient covering for the seed. In this 
section of Illinois the soil becomes crusty 
from the freezing and thawing process of 
Spring. Then to get a good stand the 
ground should be dry and the seed har¬ 
rowed in. I like the earliest sowang best 
if the conditions are right. Failures here 
most frequently occur when w’e sow clover 
on corn ground or ground which was not 
plowed in the Summer. In either case the 
surface is too hard, and the young plants 
die badly, unless it is very wet after har¬ 
vest. I like a bushel on every six acres 
best, though some use a bushel to every 
eight or 10 acres, but usually this is too 
thin, causing a poor stand. Some farm¬ 
ers use a gallon of Timothy seed with the 
wheat in the Fall and an equal amount of 
clover seed in the Spring. This makes a 
fine pasture or hayfield, but I like the 
pure clover best. The Cahoon seeder is 
preferred by some, while others sow by 
hand, or the horn seeder. e. a. 
Kinderhook, Ill. 
Farmers through this section do not 
usually find it necessary to make any spe¬ 
cial preparation of the seed bed in order 
to get a catch of Red clover. The common 
method is to sow r the clover in w’heat with 
a hand seeder, putting on 10 or 12 pounds 
per acre. This work is done in late Win¬ 
ter or early Spring. Many prefer to sow 
some morning following a light freeze, 
when the ground is thawing, as this helps 
to bed the seed just where it fell. No one 
can tell the best time to sow, because no 
one can forecast the season. February 
seedings are sometimes injured by a late 
freeze, and an April sowing stands in dan¬ 
ger of an early Summer drought. Of 
course this method of seeding in wheat 
sometimes results in failure, but it fits the 
clover in the crop rotation so nicely, and 
on average soil the failures are so far be¬ 
tween that it is practiced here more than 
any other. Clover is also much sown with 
the Spring seeding to oats, but in my ex¬ 
perience has not proven so sure a catch as 
with the wheat. Some also practice Sum¬ 
mer sowing along with last cultivation of 
corn. This, in my observation, has result¬ 
ed in giving a fair catch about three years 
out of five. This much for Red clover, but 
with Alfalfa belongs another story, as it 
seems to demand a seed bed prepared 
somewhat after the strenuous methods of 
Clark in fitting his land for grass. 
Central Indiana. f. m. 
My farm is a black sandy loam. To ob¬ 
tain the best possible catch of clover seed 
I take ground seeded to wheat or rye the 
previous Fall and sow broadcast on it 
clover seed, early in March, at the rate of 
10 pounds per acre, using a fiddle-bow 
seeder. The thawing and freezing that 
take place until the weather becomes set¬ 
tled is usually all that is needed to secure 
the necessary covering for the seed. How¬ 
ever, to be sure of this covering, when the 
soil is in proper condition, I go over the 
field once, thoroughly, with a slanting- 
tooth harrow. This harrowing, not only 
completes the work of covering the seed, 
but is of much benefit to the main crop. 
The only risk in this method is a growing 
spell of weather after seeding, and a sub¬ 
sequent freeze. But when I can sow clover 
on Fall-sown grain, I prefer to do so and 
take the risk. Having no Fall seeding, I 
intend this Spring to sow 30 acres to oats 
and seed with clover. This ground was in 
corn the past season .and has been pas¬ 
tured with stock through the Winter. The 
field will be cleared of stalks by breaking, 
raking and burning. As soon as the 
ground is in proper condition we will work 
it up with a two-horse corn cultivator, 
straddling the rows and cultivating both 
ways. With a broadcast seeder attached 
to the rear end of the box of a tw'o-horse 
wagon the oats w’ill be sown at the rate 
of tw’o to 2V 2 bushels to the acre, and well 
harrowed in, going crosswise of the last 
cultivation. We will then broadcast 10 
pounds of clover seed to the acre, and 
cross-harrow’ lightly. I have had very 
good success in getting a catch in this 
way. My 25 years' experience has been 
that 10 pounds of clover seed per acre is 
none too much, w’hile less than that is 
r.ot enough. The hot. dry weather in July 
and August is the most critical period for 
young clover. w. c. h. 
Wapello, Iowa. 
r *rv*.'\'**' 
r v* <>•.. 
to his field of Timothy, at the rate of 400 pounds per acre. He made 4,800 
pounds barn-cured hay per acre more than from a similar piece next to it, which 
had no Nitrate. The illustration is made from a photograph of the two fields. 
I want a farmer in every county in the United States to make this experi¬ 
ment on a smaller scale. I will furnish the Nitrate of Soda 
ABSOLUTELY FREE 
if the farmer will use it as I direct and report actual results to me. 
My object is to collect information about the value of Nitrate of Soda on hay 
production in every locality. 
Send name and complete address on PostCard for instructions, conditions 
and Bulletins on Grass and other Crops. None but Post Card replies considered. 
WILLIAM S. MYERS, Director, 12-16 John Street, New York 
35 Warren St.. New York. 
239 Franklin St., Boston. 
WATER. 
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Local agencies and complete repair stocks everywhere 
PLANO 
HARVESTERS 
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>■ 
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