Clovers and How to Grow Them

by Thomas Shaw

Securing Seed.—Alsike is a great producer of seed. This arises in part from the relatively large number of the heads on the plants, and in part from the completeness of the pollinations, through the action of the honey bee. These are relatively much more numerous than the bumble bees, which alone among bees, it has been claimed, aid in the pollination of medium red and mammoth clover. Although the seeds are considerably less than half the size of those of medium red clover, as much as 8 bushels of seed have been secured from an acre. Frequently, however, the yields are less than 2 bushels. Good average yields may be stated as running from 3 to 4 bushels per acre. The best yields are usually obtained from the first crop, but under favorable conditions this clover may be cut for seed for two and even three years in succession. Better yields are usually obtained from crops of medium vigor than from those of excessive rankness. The latter lodge to such an extent as to reduce materially the yields of the seed, since the heads do not fill well. The cost of harvesting and threshing such crops is also greater, relatively, than of those of medium growth. To prevent such excessive growth in the seed crop, pasturing for a time is frequently resorted to. The grazing should begin reasonably early in the season before growth anywhere becomes so rank that the animals do not eat it in certain portions of the field, whereas, at the same time, they graze other portions of the field too closely. Rather close grazing, from the time that grazing begins, is preferable to grazing that leaves the crop uneven. When certain portions of the field are left ungrazed, or only partially grazed, the mower should be run over such portions about the time that the grazing ceases. If this is done a few days before the removal of the stock, they will eat much of the clover thus mown. Unless the mower is thus used, under such conditions the seed will ripen unevenly in the grazed and ungrazed portions of the same.

The duration of the grazing is much dependent on the soil and the season. The more moist and rich the soil and the more moist the season, the more prolonged should the grazing be. In Northern areas it seldom begins earlier than May 1st, and seldom extends beyond June 1st. If prolonged unduly and dry weather follows, the growth of the plants will not be enough to produce average crops of seed. Quite frequently on upland soils, the grazing should cease before the end of May.

Either cattle or sheep, or both, may be used in the grazing. Cattle do not graze quite so closely as sheep, which is so far favorable to subsequent growth. But sheep will glean weeds to a much greater extent than cattle. When the field is made to carry so much stock that the grazing is quickly and thoroughly done, the results are usually more satisfactory than when the opposite method is practiced.

It is important that weeds shall be prevented from maturing seeds in the clover. To prevent this, it may be necessary to run the mower over the whole field at the close of the grazing season. In crops that are not grazed, it may be necessary to use the scythe in clipping back weeds and in cutting off any stray heads of timothy that may be pushing up toward maturity. In some instances it may even be found profitable to use the spud in destroying weeds of more dwarfish growth than those which can be clipped with the scythe. It is more important, relatively, that weeds shall be thus dealt with in growing alsike clover than in growing clover of the larger varieties, since, owing to the small size of the seeds of alsike, it is more difficult to remove foul seeds with the winnowing mill. No kind of seed, probably, is more difficult to separate from alsike seed than timothy; hence, when the former is grown for market, these plants should not be grown together. If, perchance, they should be so grown and the crop cut for seed, it would be well not to try to separate the seeds, but to sow them thus, as even when thus mixed the seed has a considerable market value.

The crop is ready for being harvested when nearly all the heads are fully matured. The bloom will then have left them and they will be characterized by a reddish cast. The earlier heads will have turned a dark color, almost black. Some bloom may yet linger on the later and smaller heads, but harvesting should not be delayed until these mature.

The seed crop can best be cut with the self-rake reaper, which throws off the sheaves unbound. If cut with the grain binder, the sheaves should not be bound. A sort of box attachment may be fastened to the cutter-bar of the mower, which will enable the workmen to leave the hay in sheaves, but to do this an additional hand is wanted to rake or pitch off the sheaves. The sheaves should be laid off in rows, and by system, rather than at random, for convenience in storing.

Usually, the sheaves are not disturbed until ready for being stored, but in case of very heavy rain it may be necessary to turn the sheaves, to prevent the seeds which come in contact with the ground from sprouting. The sheaves should be carefully lifted, otherwise many of the heads will break off and be lost. Because of this, it may be wise, frequently, to refrain from lifting the sheaves for loading in the middle of the day. Large forks, which may be run under the bunches, are more suitable than ordinary forks.

When absolutely necessary, the seed crop may be harvested with the field mower, as ordinarily used, but when it is thus harvested, the crop should be cut with all promptness as soon as it is ready. It must then be raked into winrows and lifted as hay is usually lifted. All the work of harvesting should be done in those portions of the day when the heads will break off less freely, and when at the same time the dew is not resting on the seed plants in any considerable degree. When, however, a crop of alsike is thus harvested for seed, many heads will break off, howsoever careful the workmen may be.

The seed may be threshed at once or stored. Storing under a roof is preferable to storing in the stack, but the latter method will suffice, if the tops of the stacks are well protected with a covering of marsh hay or of some other suitable material. When the seed is not threshed at once it is usual to defer threshing until cold weather, as with medium red clover, as then the seed is much more easily removed from the seed pod. Ordinarily, the work can best be done by clover hullers, the same as are used in threshing medium red and mammoth clover, but grain separators, with certain attachments, will now do this work in good form. Much care should be exercised in winnowing the seed. It ought to be so cleaned that it will grade as No. 1, and so bring the highest current price. Due care in this matter will make the major part of even ordinary seed bring the best price.

Renewing.—When the stand of the alsike is but partial, as, for instance, when young plants have failed, or partially so, on the high land, and are sufficiently plentiful on the lower land, a full stand may sometimes be secured by simply scattering seed where it is needed so late in the fall that it will not sprout before winter, covering with the harrow and then top dressing with farmyard manure well decomposed. But where the winters are so mild that the clover might be sprouted during some warm spell followed by severe weather, the seed should not be sown then.