Clovers and How to Grow Them

by Thomas Shaw

Soils lowest in adaptation to the growth of alsike include infertile sands and gravels, and the vegetable soils of the prairie so light that when cultivated they lift more or less with the wind. On such soils the growth of alsike is short and feeble, and any lack of moisture renders it increasingly so.

This plant not only requires much moisture to insure the most vigorous growth, but it is also able to thrive under conditions of soil saturation such as some of the useful forage plants could not endure. When the weather is cool, it may be covered with shallow water for several days in succession without apparent injury. The possession of this characteristic makes it possible to grow alsike clover in sloughs not yet drained, but which are dry certain portions of the year.

Place in the Rotation.—Much of what has been said about the place for medium red clover in the rotation may also apply to alsike clover. (See [page 70].) On upland soils its place in the rotation will be very similar to that of the other variety, but with the difference that the rotations will be longer, because of the perennial habit of growth in the alsike. It will be best sown, therefore, on clean land which has produced a crop that has been cultivated the previous year. Consequently, it may follow such crops as corn, potatoes, field roots and beans in the North, and the same crops in the South, with the addition of cow peas, soy beans and the non-saccharine sorghums. But it may be sown after other crops when necessary, especially when it is to be pastured. One chief objection to sowing it thus for hay is that the hay will be less free from weeds.

On upland this crop may be followed with any kind of a crop requiring much nitrogen. No crops can be made to follow it with more advantage, however, than corn and the sorghums, or potatoes. Rape will feed ravenously on the overturned sod, and wheat and the other small grains will also feed similarly.

On low lands, especially when they partake of the nature of sloughs, the rotation is different. In some instances alsike may follow the natural grasses produced by the slough in the drained or undrained form, as the case may be, and may be made to supersede them without breaking the land, but more commonly on these it is sown after the natural sod has been broken and has decayed somewhat, by growing on it some such crop as rape or flax. On these lands it is usually grown in long rotations for pasture and also for hay, and when the sod is again plowed, it is followed by corn, potatoes, rape, and grains grown for soiling uses, since such land has naturally high adaptation for these. Flax also is a favorite crop to sow in such situations after alsike clover.

Preparing the Soil.—The preparation of the land for alsike clover on ordinary soils is the same as for medium red clover. (See [page 74].) Usually, that degree of fineness in the pulverization which best prepares the soil for the nurse crop with which alsike clover is sown, will also best prepare it for the alsike. But there may be some instances, as in strong clays, when a fine pulverization that would suffice for the needs of the nurse crop would be advantageous to the alsike. This finer pulverization can only be secured by the judicious use of the roller and the harrow. In loose-lying soils, more especially in areas where the precipitation in winter comes in the form of snow, and, therefore, does not wash the land as it does when it falls as rain, if the land on which alsike is to be sown is plowed in the fall, and only harrowed in the spring, or cultivated and harrowed when preparing it, the moisture will be better conserved than if it were plowed in the spring. When thus managed, strong clays in the area under consideration will usually have a much finer pulverization than can be obtained from spring plowing. When the preceding crop has been given clean cultivation, to plow land subsequently before sowing to alsike would bring up many weed seeds to the surface, where they would at once begin to grow. On slough lands, where water saturation is present during a portion of the year, even to the extent of appearing for a short interval over more or less of the surface, the seed may be sown without any previous preparation of the land, and in some instances successfully. In other instances it will fail should the following summer prove adverse. The stand is rendered much more certain in such instances by first burning off the grass, sowing the seed upon it, covering it more or less with the harrow and running the mower over the ground, say, twice in the season, to let in sunlight to the young plants. The grass thus mown may be left as a mulch. Pasturing, but not too early in the season, will in some instances give results equally good. In such situations the sowing should be done, and also the harrowing, before the frost has left the ground, except for a short distance from the surface, or the horses may sink too deeply when doing the work. The success is dependent in no small degree on the denseness or want of denseness of the root growth of the grass plants already covering the soil. The more dense these are, the less easy is it to obtain a stand, and the more peaty the soil immediately underneath the surface, the greater is the danger that the young plants will perish in a time of drought.

When alsike seed is sown on drained sloughs, the aim should be to reduce the excess of coarse vegetable matter, if present, and to secure a smooth surface, such as will facilitate the easy mowing of the crop. More especially should this be the aim if the alsike is sown to produce hay. This can be most easily and speedily done by growing on it some reducing crop, as flax or rape, and then smoothing the surface by implements best suited to such work, as, for instance, some form of plow leveler.

Sowing.—The time at which alsike clover may best be sown is the same as that for sowing the medium red variety; that is to say, the early spring. (See [page 75].) Since it is hardier than the medium red variety, the danger is less that spring frosts will destroy the plants after they begin to grow. As with medium red clover, it may also be sown at sundry times, from the opening of spring until the late summer when the opportunity offers, and when the conditions for growth are favorable. For instance, there may be seasons when alsike clover, and, indeed, any kind of clover, will succeed along with a catch crop sown for pasture or to provide soiling food. But it should not be sown in the autumn unless where the winters are mild, or the young plants will not survive their rigors.

Alsike clover is more commonly sown with a nurse crop. As with medium red, the crops with which it may be best sown are the small cereal grains, as winter rye, barley, wheat and oats, favorable in the order named. But it may also be sown with flax, with rape, and with grain crops that are to be cut for soiling or to be grazed down.

The method of sowing alsike clover is virtually the same as that followed in sowing medium red clover (see [page 78]); that is to say, it may be sown by hand machines, with a grass-seeder attachment to the grain drill, or with the ordinary tubes of the grain drill and along with the grain. The seed is very small, and, consequently, may not admit of being buried so deeply as medium red clover, but in the open soils of the prairie it will sometimes succeed as well sown along with the grain as when buried less deeply, but in many soils the roller will provide a sufficient covering. Especially is this true in climates that are moist.