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Italian red clover seed is frequently sold as Styrian seed. The former is readily 
distinguished from all other varieties by its bright yellow colour and the smallness of its 
seeds. Its germination is usually very high, but common impurities are Helminthia 
echioides, Gertn., and small pieces of sorghum and panic grasses. 
Red clover from southern France is known by the greyish blue colour of many of 
the seeds. The seeds of vervain (Verbena officinalis, L.), bristle grass (Setaria viridis, 
P. Beauv.) and many small stones frequently occur as impurities. 
Seed and amounts to be sown. The average purity of 1500 samples examined at the Seed quality. 
Swiss station was 96.7 °/o, and the germination 91.0%. Of the hard seeds one half were 
reckoned as capable of germinating. Good commercial seed should have 98 %/o purity and 
90 °/o germination. ‘The seed should be clean and free from dodder. One lb. of seed 
usually contains about 279,000 grains. One bushel weighs on an average 64 Ibs. The 
weight per bushel is of course higher when the seed contains sand or small stones. When 
the seed is kept for a number of years, the germination diminishes and the colour changes 
to a drab which afterwards passes into red. 
The amount of seed to be sown is, on an average, 18 Ibs. per acre equal to 15.84 Ibs. 
of pure and germinating seed. On dry, poor and badly tilled soil, more seed must be 
used than on well tilled and fertile land. If the sowing is too thick, the clover is liable 
to be laid and then readily becomes rotten. The price per pound is 6 to 10 pence; seed 
for one acre (18 Ibs.) costs about 10 to 15 shillings. | 
Red clover is usually sown in the months of March or April. Sowing should take 
place early enough to allow the seed the abundant moisture which is necessary for germi- 
nation, and to prevent the destruction of the young plants by the fly. If sown late and 
drought happens to set in, a great many plants are lost. Sometimes, but rarely, autumn 
sowing with winter wheat is resorted to. In that case, the soil should previously be 
lightly harrowed and afterwards rolled. The clover drill is very suitable for sowing red 
clover. 
A thickly sown cereal is easily laid, and the clover beneath is, to a large extent, 
killed from want of air and light. In such a case, when the cereal is cut, the clover ts 
very thin, and the land, in part, quite bare. To remedy this, a inixture of 90 °%/o clover 
along with 10% of Italian ryegrass and timothy may be sown on the bare patches. ‘To 
establish a first class clover ley, the clover should be sown with an oat-crop to be cut 
green. Clover can be grown quite well under flax or rape. 
Red clover is excellent as green fodder, but, as already mentioned, it is not so suitable 
for hay. If hay is desired a mixture with grasses is preferable to the pure clover as the 
crop is more certain and the yield larger. Where the clover by itself is uncertain, a 
mixture containing from 50 °%/o to 90°%o of clover should be grown. For temporary leys 
about 30°/o, and for permanency not over 10°/o of red clover should be used. 
Rotation and clover-sickness. In the old three years’ system of rotation clover took the 
place of the bare fallow. The rotation then was: 4. Wheat, 2. Barley, 3. Clover, On this system, the 
land becomes unclean, the cereal crop following the clover is poor and the clover itself does not suceed 
every third year. This led to the practice of putting clover into the same field every sixth year, a 
root crop taking its place in the third year after. the clover. This rotation is: 1. Wheat, 2. Barley, etc., 
3. Clover, 4. Wheat, 5. Barley, etc., 6. Root crop. This course of cropping is bad because two cereal 
crops — wheat and harley — following one another render land very unclean and poor. On the 
Amount 
to be sown. 
Sowing. 
Mixtures. 
Rotation. 
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