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short period which it occupies the ground. Nor is the shade so dense as from grains that grow taller. Oats are the least suitable of all the crops named as a nurse crop, since they are characterized by a dense growth of leaves, which shut out the sunlight too much when the growth is rank. Notwithstanding, the oat crop may well serve such an end. when sown thinly and cut for hay. Mixed grains grown together, as, for instance, wheat and oats, or a mixture of the three, answer quite as well for a nurse crop as clover and oats. The objection to them for such use arises from the fact that they are frequently sown more thickly than grain sown alone.

Clover may also be sown with flax or millet or mixed grains grown to provide soiling food. When the weather is moist, it is likely to succeed well with flax, as the latter does not form so dense a shade when it is growing as some other crops. But flax is usually sown so much later than these crops, that in some climates the dry weather following injures and in some instances destroys the young plants. The dense shade furnished by millet is also detrimental to the clover plants; nevertheless, owing to the short period which the former occupies the ground, under favorable conditions a stand of clover may be secured. But since millet is sown later than flax, it frequently happens that there is not sufficient moisture in the soil to sustain both crops. Mixed grains sown as soiling food are usually sown reasonably early, and as they are cut before maturity, the danger is so far lessened that the young

plants will perish from want of moisture, but since these crops are usually grown thickly and on rich land, owing to the dense character of the growth, the plants are much more likely to be injured by the dense shade thus provided.

Clover seed may also be sown with corn and certain other crops that are usually grazed down, as rape and mixed grains. When sown with corn, the seed is usually scattered over the ground just before the last cultivation given to the corn. Attention is now being given to the introduction of cultivators which scatter such seeds as clover and rape in front of them, and so preclude the necessity for hand sowing. From Central Ohio southward, this method of securing a stand of clover will succeed in corngrowing areas, the other conditions being right. North from the areas named, the young clover plants may be winter killed when the seed is sown thus. The less dense the shade furnished by the corn, and the less dry the weather subsequently to sowing the seed, the better will be the stand of the plants secured.

When sown with rape that has been broadcast, clover usually makes a good stand, providing the rape crop is not sown too late in the season. When the rape is grazed down, the grazing does not appear to materially injure the clover, and when the shade has been removed by such grazing, the clover plants may be expected to make a vigorous growth on such land. In northerly areas, clover seed may be sown along with rape seed as late as the end of May. If sown later than that time, the season may prove

too short subsequently to the grazing of the rape to allow the plants to gather sufficient strength to carry them safely through northern winters. When clover seed is sown with rape, the seeds may be mixed and sown together.

Clover seed in several of the varieties may be successfully sown on certain grain crops grown to provide grazing, especially when these are sown early. Such pastures may consist of any one of the small cereal grains, or more than one, or of all of them.

The seed may be sown in these the same as with any crop sown to furnish grain. A stand of clover may thus be secured under some conditions in which the clover would perish if sown along with the grain to be harvested; under other conditions it would not succeed so well. The former include soils so open as to readily lose moisture by surface evaporation. The tramping of the animals on these increases their power to hold moisture, the grazing down of the grain lessens its demands upon the same, thus leaving more for the clover plants, and they are further strengthened by the freer access of sunlight. The latter include firm, stiff clays in rainy climates. To pasture these when thus sown, if moist beyond a certain degree, would result in so impacting them that the yield of the pasture would be greatly decreased in consequence.

Medium red clover is quite frequently sown alone; that is, without admixture with clovers or grasses. It is always sown thus when it is to be plowed under, as green manure. It is also usually sown alone in rotations where it is to be cropped or grazed for

one year. But when grown for meadow, which is to remain longer than one season, it is commonly sown along with timothy. The first year after sowing, the crop is chiefly clover, and subsequently it is chiefly timothy. Orchard grass or tall oat grass, or both, may also be sown along with medium red clover, since these are ready for being cut at the same time as the clover.

When medium red clover is sown to provide pasture for periods of limited duration, it is frequently sown along with alsike clover and timothy. Sometimes a moderate amount of alfalfa seed is added. But in arable soils in the semi-arid West, these will provide pastures for many years in succession, if supplied with moisture. The same is true of much of the land west of the Cascades, and without irrigation. East from the Mississippi and for some distance west from it, much of the medium red clover will disappear after being grazed for one season, but the alsike, timothy and alfalfa will endure for a longer period.

In permanent pastures, whether few or many varieties of seed are sown, medium red clover is usually included in the mixture. It is sown because of the amount of the grazing which it furnishes the season after sowing, and with the expectation that it will virtually entirely disappear in the pastures in two or three seasons after it has been sown.

When medium red clover is sown for being plowed under as green manure, it is always sown. with a nurse crop. Some farmers, in localities well adapted to the growth of clover, sow more or less of

the medium red variety on all, or nearly all, of the land devoted to the growth of such cereals as rye, wheat, barley and oats, when the land is to be plowed the autumn or spring following. Reduced quantities of seed are used. They believe that the benefit from the young clover plants to the land will more than pay for the cost of the seed and the sowing of the same.

The amount of seed to sow will depend on the degree of suitability in the conditions for growing medium red clover. The more favorable these are, the less the necessity for using maximum quantities of seed, and vice versa. More seed is required when the clover is not grown with other grasses or clovers than when it is grown with these. When grown without admixture, 16 pounds of seed per acre may be named as the maximum quantity to sow and 8 pounds as the minimum, with 12 pounds as an average. With all the conditions quite favorable, 10 pounds should suffice. In New England and some of the Atlantic States, many growers sow much more seed than the quantities named, and it may be that the necessities of the land call for more. In Great Britain also, considerably larger quantities

are sown.

When sown in grass or clover mixtures, the amount of the seed required will vary with the other factors of the mixture, and the amount of each that is sown; that is, with the character of the hay or pasture that is sought. The seed is much more frequently sown with timothy than with any other kind of grass, and the average amount of each of

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