CAc RURAL NEW-YORKER 
723 
Crimson Clover in Northern New Jersey 
About one year ago the country club 
near us bought about GO acres of laud to 
add to their golf grounds. On account of 
the war and lack of food, they agreed to 
let me put corn on 25 acres of it, and I 
promised, as compensation for use of the 
ground, to sow Crimson clover at last cul¬ 
tivation for them to plow under as a fer¬ 
tilizer. Scarcely any of the clover showed 
up and they are quite inclined to accuse 
me of never sowing any. I can’t make 
them think I tried to do the square thing. 
Would you print a short article, giving 
your experience with Crimson clover and 
some of the plant’s peculiarities? F. M. c. 
Union Co., N. ,T. 
We have had something like 25 years’ 
experience with Crim.son clover. South of 
Philadelphia, and especially down through 
the Delaware Peninsula, this clover is a 
great .success, and unquestionahly has 
done much to build up the soil in that lo¬ 
cality. North of Philadelphia we do not 
consider it reliable, although there ai’e 
cases where with superior steed and a 
heavy growth in the Fall it will come 
through. On our farm in Northern New 
.Ter.sey the clover proves more or less of 
a failure five times in seven. Sometimes 
it is completely killed out. This usually 
happens in March. The rapid succession 
of freeze and thaw, followed by high dry¬ 
ing winds, lifts out the clover on most of 
our soil and destroys it. The Crimson ii. 
not firmly anchored to the ground, and 
with us heaves out easier than any other 
kind of clover. We never think of .seeding 
it alone now, but usually sow atout three 
I)ounds of Alsike clover seed along with 
the Crimson. With this combination we 
seem to be able to hold the Crimson clover 
better, and in any event there is a fair 
growth of the Alsike even when the Crim¬ 
son is entirely killed out. During the 
past few years there has been great com¬ 
plaint about Crimyon clover seed. Appar¬ 
ently there has been quite a large sale of 
dead seed, which gives a very low rate 
of germination, and it is quite likely that 
what you used was something of this de¬ 
scription. There ought to he at least a 
few plants growing here and there to show 
what it will come to, but from our own 
experience we are not surprised that most 
of the crop was killed out. We have not, 
for some years, advised our readers north 
of Philadelphia to Meed Crimson clover, ex¬ 
cept in connection with Alsike or some 
other variety. We have generally used 
rye along with the Crimson, and .this has 
helped to develop and protect the crop, j 
hut the truth is that Crimson is not adapt¬ 
ed to your locality, although generally it 
makes growth enough in the Fall to more 
than pay the cost of labor and seed. In 
your case it ought to have, made growtli 
enough last Fall to prove that you seeded , 
it properly, but the clover is not well I 
adapted to any locality north of Philadel- | 
I)hia, and any success with it there will be 
unusual. 
Alfalfa in New England 
To answer the queMtion whether Alfalfa 
.should be grown in New England, four 
points must first be considered. 1. The 
success of the crop. 2. The cost of rais¬ 
ing it. 3. Its value as a feed. 4. Its 
effect on soil fertility. 
Success with Alfalfa in New England 
.lepends upon good drainage, sweet soils 
(plenty of lime), abundance of decaying 
organic matter or humuM, enough available 
pota.sh and phosphoric acid, and good 
inoculation (nodules on the roots). Fail¬ 
ure is often due to weeds and grasses 
crowding it out, and to winterkilling. All 
of these conditions can be fully con¬ 
trolled except the last two, which can 
only be partially avoided. Winterkilling 
doe.s occur in some years and one never 
knows when it will be severe. Grass and 
weeds can be kept down fairly well for 
three to five years b.v harrowing. Al¬ 
falfa is grown in New England with 
varying degree of success. On farms 
where clover thrives Alfalfa Is usually 
successful. A real Alfalfa enthusiast 
‘“beareth all thing.s, hopeth all things, and 
endureth all things,” and tries all things 
that will increase his succe.ss with Al¬ 
falfa. 
Expense of raising Alfalfa depends upon 
the rnethod.M used, but probably it is more 
expensive than clover. The greater ex¬ 
pense, however, is justified by a larger 
yield and feeding value. The Connec¬ 
ticut Experiment Station (New Haven) 
in Bulletin 192 estimates the co.st at 
slightly less than ipG per ton for four years 
with a yield of four tons per acre. Al- 
falf.a hay is certainly worth more than 
three times this cost to any dairyman. 
The value of Alfalfa as a feed needs 
no detailed proof. It is common knowl¬ 
edge. Director E. II. .Tenkins in the above 
mentioned bulletin writes aM follows: 
In the present state of our knowledge 
it is not too much to assume that the 
feeding of a ton of Alfalfa hay supplies 
about 100 pounds of digestible protein 
more than a ton of meadow hay supplies, 
and thereby reduces the need for diges¬ 
tible protein in boughteu feeds by ap¬ 
proximately that amount. Let us see what 
that would mean. Cottonseed meal con¬ 
tains abcut 34 per cent of digestible pro¬ 
tein. It would follow, then, that in¬ 
creasing the protein in “roughage” by .Mub- 
stituting Alfalfa hay entirely for meadow 
hay should decrease the need for protein 
in concentrates by about the equivalent of 
294 pounds of cottonseed meal for every 
ton of Alfalfa fed. These 294 pounds of 
cottonseed meal at present prices cost 
more than $7. 
Alfalfa increases fertility when plowed 
under by adding vegetable material, con¬ 
taining nitrogen taken largely from the 
air. Simply growing and cutting Alfalfa 
will not improve the .soil greatly,^but when 
the roots and sttibble are plowed in the 
crops following are benefited. Alfalfa re¬ 
quires liberal amounts of lime, potash and 
phosphoric acid. It is not a “poor land” 
crop, but its growth means better crops 
and more feed for the dairy. 
Alfalfa is well worth thorough trial in 
New England. Because it .succeeds i-ea- 
sonably well if properly started, it is 
worth much more than it costs if succe.ss- 
ful; it is the most nutritious I'oughage 
that can be grown; it helps to maintain 
Moil fertility if used in the cropping sy.s- 
tem on any farm. The following dairy 
farm rotation for Alfalfa is Suggested 
Alfalfa for three or four years, followed 
by corn for one or two years, then oats 
and peas for hay with Alfalfa seedwl in 
August of the sjiine year. 
Connecticut. ben.i. g. .soutuwick. 
Seeding to Sudan Grass 
Will you advise proper method of ad¬ 
justing grain drill for sowing Sudan 
grass seed; also number of pounds per 
acre,for best results? J. H. a. 
Howard Co., Md. 
Set the grain drill for two pecks of 
wheat per aci’e. That will give about the 
right amount of Sudan seed, or about 20 
pounds per acre, as it is considerably 
lighter than wheat, and probably 20 
pounds of STidaii would be about equal to 
two pecks of wheat. Twenty pounds of 
Sudan is ample seeding where you put it 
on with a grain drill. I n fact, a less 
amount would be all right if you could 
get the drill to deliver a less amount. 
Per.sonally, however, I do not believe that 
i.s the best way to put in Sudan. I be¬ 
lieve it is better to put it in rows like 
corn and cultivate it. Putting it in this 
way, you would use about four or five 
pounds of seed per acre and put it in 
with an ordinary com drill, using either 
the smallest corn plate or a special kafir 
or cane seed plate, provided such a plate 
is furnished with the drill. We have had 
good success using the smallest of the 
ordinary corn plates. Out We.st the com¬ 
mon method is to use a beet seed drill 
and sugar beet cultivator. This spaces 
rows about 22 inches apart, and cultivat¬ 
ing is very easy with special beet tools. 
I understand that by this method they use 
anywhere from five to 10 pounds of the 
seed per acre. 
A peculiar thing about Sudan is that 
it makes the same yield per acre, no 
mutter how much seefl is used. We have 
used amounts varying from two pounds 
to 40 pounds of seed per acre, and the 
yield was practically tlie same in all 
cases. When the seed is planted thin, 
the plants stool out and fill the space full. 
il. F. 
Why Clover Dies Out 
Can you tell me why clover dies out 
after two seasons crop? I cannot keep 
it longer than that. My ground waM well 
limed and plenty of fertilizer. Cut two 
crop.s each season. The third Spring had 
to plow it up and reseed. Also I top- 
dressed well with good manure each 
Spring. M. H. F. 
New York. 
Unlike Alfalfa, clover is a biennial; 
that is, it lasts two years. After produc¬ 
ing .seed the mission of the clover plant is 
ended. If you can cut it early, before the 
seed forms you can keep it growing longer, 
but the nature of the plant is to die after 
two years’ growth. Plants like corn or 
potatoes are called annual, and they live 
naturally only one year, while Alfalfa is 
called a perennial, as it grows moi'e than 
two years and develops successive crops 
of seed. 
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