Another method of preventing the injurious effect of the hot sun of late summer is to make a light seeding of cowpeas at the same time that the crimson clover is seeded. The cowpeas germinate promptly, and being rather thin on the ground do not injure the stand of clover, but on the contrary afford sufficient shade to prevent the soil from becoming as hot as it otherwise would. In addition, the clover plants receive some protection from the direct rays of the sun. There is ordinarily not enough time for the cowpeas to mature, so they are either mown for hay or left standing to catch the snow during the winter and protect the stand of clover. In seedlings made by the writer half a bushel of cowpeas per acre, broadcasted, gave vary satisfactory results, the seeding being made August 1 on sandy ground near Washington, D. C. The clover and cowpeas were sown broadcast on early-potato ground and covered from one-half to 1 inch deep.
If a light seeding of turnips be made with the clover, the turnip plants will afford some protection to the young clover plants and at the same time will ordinarily yield a fair crop of turnips. About 1 pound of turnip seed and 15 pounds of clover seed should be sown to the acre. If the seeding of turnips be at all heavy the coarse-growing turnip plants will choke out too many of the clover plants. The Cow Horn turnips appear to be especially adapted for seeding with crimson clover.
CRIMSON CLOVER IN MIXTURES WITH OTHER LEGUMES AND GRAIN.
When crimson clover is seeded alone on good soil it is likely to make so rank a growth as to lodge. To overcome this difficulty it is a common practice to seed some small-grain crop with the clover at seeding time. South of the Potomac River winter oats are ordinarily very satisfactory, especially when seeded with the late white-blooming strain of crimson clover. In Delaware and eastern Maryland wheat is commonly used. In addition to wheat and oats, rye or barley is sometimes used. The customary rate of seeding is about 15 pounds of clover seed and 30 pounds of grain per acre. The accompanying illustration ([fig. 5]) indicates the appearance of a field seeded to a mixture of crimson clover and wheat. The grain prevents the clover from lodging, facilitates the curing of the clover hay, and, in addition, forms a valuable constituent of the resulting hay crop. The yield of the mixture is ordinarily somewhat more than when the clover is seeded alone. The Alabama State Agricultural Experiment Station secured as the average for two years' experiments the following yields of hay:
| Yield per acre. | |
| Crimson clover seeded alone | 2,836 pounds. |
| Crimson clover seeded in mixtures: | |
| Barley and crimson clover | 3,695 pounds. |
| Wheat and crimson clover | 3,771 pounds. |
| Oats and crimson clover | 4,228 pounds. |
Fig. 5.—Crimson clover and wheat in mixture. In the foreground the crop has been cut and fed green to stock. The remainder was cut the next day for hay. The grain prevents the crimson clover from lodging.
The grain is usually well headed but is in the milk or soft-dough stage when the clover is ready to cut. The presence of the grain hay makes the clover hay more easily cured. With winter oats it is usually best to seed the late white-blooming variety of crimson clover, as the oat crop matures somewhat later than the ordinary crimson clover. Another advantage of this mixture is that if either should fail the other will be present to serve as a cover crop during winter and bring some return the following spring.
Crimson clover may be seeded in mixtures with vetch, shaftal clover, trefoil, or, in fact, any winter-growing legume which has a growing season similar to crimson clover. Since most of these legumes are not upright in their growth it is usually necessary to seed some grain crop with them to serve as a support and to prevent the plants from lodging. The grain is ordinarily a surer crop than the legumes and practically insures the ground being covered with some crop during the winter and spring months.