Egyptian clover is sometimes made into hay, but it is not essentially a hay plant. Much care is necessary when it is being cured to prevent loss in the leaves, and when cured the stems are so brittle that it is difficult to prevent waste in handling the hay. It is pre-eminently a soiling crop, and the greater portion is fed in the green form. From 4 cuttings of the Muscowi variety as much as 25 to 30 tons of green fodder are harvested, and about 10 tons are produced by 2 cuttings of the Saida variety.
Egyptian clover has not been grown sufficiently long in this country to justify giving information based upon American experience that could be taken as authoritative, with reference to the best methods of harvesting the seed crop. There would seem to be no reasons, however, to suppose that the methods followed in harvesting alfalfa could not be followed with equal advantage in harvesting Egyptian clover. Nor can anything be said as yet with reference to which cutting of the series will furnish the best seed crop.
The best service, probably, which this crop can render to the United States is the enrichment of the soils on which the plants are grown. As the same bacteria which inoculate alfalfa soils will not answer for Egyptian clover, and as the requisite bacteria may not be found in soils where it is desirable to grow this clover, the conclusion that it will not grow sufficiently well in certain soils on which it is being tried should not be reached until the question relating to the presence or absence of the proper bacteria has been settled. If necessary to introduce bacteria from Egypt, the obstacles in the way of such introduction would not be at all serious, if undertaken by the Department of Agriculture.
YELLOW CLOVER
Yellow clover (Medicago lupulina) is to be carefully distinguished from Hop clover (Medicago procumbens), which it resembles so closely in the form of the leaves and the color of the bloom as to have given rise in some instances to the interchangeable use of the names. The latter is so named from the resemblance of the withered head when ripe to a bunch of hops. Its growth has been almost entirely superseded by Medicago lupulina, since the other variety was low in production and also in nutrition. Medicago lupulina is also called Black Medick, Nonesuch, Black Nonesuch and Hop Trefoil. In both England and Germany it is now more commonly grown than white clover. It is more or less recumbent in its habit of growth, but the stems do not root as do the runners in the small white variety. The stems, though tender in the early spring, become woody as the season advances. The flowers, as the name would indicate, are yellow, and the plants produce seed numerously. The roots, like those of the small white variety, are more fibrous than in some of the larger varieties.
Yellow clover is perennial. Owing to the power which the plants have to multiply through rooting and re-seeding, they can stay indefinitely in congenial soils. The growth is vigorous in the early part of the season, but less so later, and with the advance of the season the herbage produced becomes more woody in character.
This plant furnishes considerable pasture during the spring months, but in the summer and autumn it makes but little growth. Though palatable early in the season, it is less so later. Nevertheless, it may be made to add materially to the produce of pastures in which it grows. It also aids in fertilizing the soil, though probably not quite to the same extent as white clover.
Yellow clover is indigenous to Europe. It is grown to a considerable extent in pastures in certain areas in Great Britain, France, Germany and other countries. It has highest adaptation for climates that are moist and temperate. Although this plant is not extensively grown in the United States, it would seem probable that it will grow at least reasonably well in a majority of the States. The exceptions will be those lacking in moisture in the absence of irrigation. It will grow best in those that more properly lie within the clover belt; that is, in those that lie northward. It grows with much vigor in Oregon and Washington west of the Cascade Mountains. In Canada, yellow clover will grow with much vigor in all areas susceptible of cultivation, unless on certain of the western prairies.
Yellow clover has highest adaptation for calcareous soils. In certain parts of England it has grown so vigorously on soils rich in lime as almost to assume the character of a troublesome weed. It will grow well on all clay loam soils, and reasonably well on stiff clays, the climatic conditions being suitable. It has greater power to grow on dry soils than the small white variety.
Since yellow clover is usually grown as an adjunct to permanent pastures, it can scarcely be called a rotation plant. But, like other clovers, it enriches the soil, and, therefore, should be followed by crops that are specially benefited by such enrichment, as, for instance, the small cereal grains.