In Michigan it is sometimes used on the sandy soils as a cover crop in peach orchards, although it frequently winterkills. It can not ordinarily survive the severe winters of the Northern States.[1]
[1] In such northern sections where a fall-seeded legume is desired it is suggested that hairy vetch seeded with rye be used instead. See Farmers' Bulletin 515, entitled "Vetches."
Fig. 1.—A single plant of crimson clover.
Crimson clover is a "winter annual," that is, it ordinarily makes its early growth in the autumn, passes the winter in a somewhat dormant but green state, makes a very early spring growth, and matures its seed and dies before summer. It makes little or no growth in very hot weather and therefore should not be sown in the spring, except in the extreme North, where it may make a satisfactory growth by autumn, so that & hay crop may be taken from it at that time.