Pasturing.—Japan clover is much used in providing grazing in the South. Some writers have spoken of it as being the most valuable grazing plant that grows in the South. Viewed from the standpoint of productiveness, this would be assigning it too high a place, since Bermuda grass produces more grazing, but taking productiveness and the probable influence exerted on soil fertility together, the estimate may be correct. The ease with which Japan clover may be propagated is also a strong point in its favor.
Since it starts late in the spring, it only provides grazing during the summer and autumn months, from May, June or July onward, according to the locality, and it fails with the appearance of the first heavy frosts. In moist situations, it will furnish grazing during all the summer and autumn, if not allowed to seed, but in time of drought, it may wither on dry, thin soils and come on again when the rains of autumn begin to fall. In order to keep the grazing tender and palatable, it should be reasonably close. If allowed to mature much seed before grazing begins, the plants will then die, to the great injury of the grazing.
That stock do not take kindly to it at first, as they do to alfalfa and some other plants, cannot be doubted. But they can soon learn to relish it. It has been praised both for milk and meat production; hence, the aim should be to have it in all permanent pastures. In some of these it may be necessary to sow a few pounds of seed per acre at the first. If the grazing is not too close, the plants thereafter will sufficiently re-seed the land. It has been found quite possible in short rotations to secure pasture from Japan clover without sowing it on land on which it has once grown. But to accomplish this effectively, the grazing must not be so close as to preclude a self-seeding. By growing such plants for winter and spring grazing, as turf oats and sand vetches, and then grazing the Japan clover, which will grow later on lands thus managed, grazing may be furnished indefinitely from year to year.
Harvesting for Hay.—Japan clover is a good hay plant when grown on strong soils. The quality is good also when grown under adverse conditions, but the quantity is deficient. On good soils, the yield is from 1 to 2 tons per acre, the average being about 1¼ to 1½ tons. The hay is also quite merchantable in Southern markets. It is considered superior to baled timothy—timothy brought in from the North—especially when fed to cows producing milk. Japan clover is best cut when the plants are in full bloom. But harvesting is frequently deferred to a period somewhat later where self-seeding of the land is desirable. Late cutting, however, lowers the quality of the hay, both as regards palatability and digestibility. Much that has been said as to the curing of medium red clover will also apply to Japan clover.
Successive crops of hay may be grown from year to year on the same land, as already intimated. (See [page 285].) But where other crops are wanted on the same farm, it would be wiser to grow these in some sort of alternation or succession with the clover crops, so that the former could feed upon the nitrogen brought to the land by the clover.
Securing Seed.—Japan clover is ready for being harvested when the major portion of the seeds are ripe. This is late in the season. The seed crop is more easily gathered when grown on good land, owing to the more upright habit of growth. The self-rake reaper is probably the best implement for cutting, since it lays it off in loose sheaves, and on well-prepared land it may be made to cut so low as to gather the bulk of the seed. But it may also be cut with the field mower as small white clover is frequently cut. (See [page 275].) Owing to the lateness of the season at which the seed matures, careful and prompt attention may be necessary to secure the seed crop without loss, owing to the moistness which characterizes the weather at that season.
When Japan clover is to be harvested for seed, care should be taken to prevent weeds from ripening their seeds in the same. With a view to prevent this, it will be found helpful in many instances to run the mower over the field some time after the clover has begun to grow freely in the late spring or early summer. Such clipping will also have the effect of securing more uniformity in the ripening of the seed.
The seed may be threshed in much the same way as other clover seed. (See [page 107].) The yields per acre should run from 3 to 8 bushels. It weighs 20 pounds per bushel.
Renewing.—Since Japan clover is an annual, it is not necessary to renew it, in the sense in which more long-lived clovers are renewed, as, for instance, the alsike variety. (See [page 216].) About the only renewal practicable is that which insures successive crops of pasture, hay or seed from the same land where the crop has once been grown. (See [page 285].) But the growth may, of course, be stimulated by the application of dressings of fertilizer, such as gypsum, or those that may be termed potassic in character.