PRACTICAL PAPERS—SANDY LAND. 
231 
without detriment, as cattle will avoid the ripened heads and 
feed on the tender grass below, unless pastured short. 
This clover sod should be turned under in the fall and the 
following summer cultivated in corn. When replowed and 
sowed to small grain it will be found to be abundantly seeded 
to clover. The farmer will secure the most successful results 
in this way. 
If it was not that clover was liable to winter kill after the 
second winter, it would be desirable to interpose a year of pas¬ 
turage upon the clover sod before turning over for corn; but 
it has this liability on any soil, and more especially on light 
soils. It is a biennial plant, and after reaching its matured 
growth the liability to winter kill is greatly increased, hence it 
will be safer to follow the three years’ course. ' 
Jf more pasture is needed, a portion of the clover must be 
devoted to it. In our sandy regions there is usually a wide 
range for stock, which furnishes excellent feed in the spring 
and early summer, but the farm must provide fall feed. This 
can be obtained by turning into the wheat and clover stubble. 
It is a serious disappointment in farm management to fail in 
getting a good stand of clover. To increase the probabilities 
of success, the ground must be plowed in the fall, in order to 
sow at the earliest practical moment in the spring. This is 
very essential to success. It is of but little use to sow small 
grains late, for they must get a good start before the heat and 
drouths of summer come on, and before their insect foes com¬ 
mence their depredations. Insect life rejoices in heat and dry¬ 
ness. Spring plowing leaves the earth mellow and chintz-bugs 
will breed in it without let or hindrance, but if the clover seed 
catches, the earth will be shaded by the branching leaves of 
the young plants, and the bugs will be held decidedly in check. 
It will be found easier to get a stand of clover on land 
where it has lately been grown, and the certainty will increase 
from year to year under the system proposed, as the ground 
will become filled with seed in a condition to grow. 
It is well known that clover sown in March on wheat or rye 
seldom fails to catch. The seed becomes swollen and ready 
