pasture will be obtained if it can be allowed to make a good start in the spring, and if it is then kept grazed so short that the plants do not come into flower. Such treatment tends very much to prolong the period of grazing for the season. Should the grazing be so uneven as to admit of certain areas in the pasture pushing on into the flower stage, the mower may sometimes be profitably used to prevent such a result. Weeds should also be kept from going to seed in the pastures by using the mower or the scythe, or both. Nor should the fact be lost sight of that the tendency to produce bloat in alsike clover is much the same as in medium red clover.

Harvesting for Hay.-Alsike clover is ready to harvest for hay when the plants are just beginning to pass beyond the meridian of full bloom. Some of the first blossoms will then have turned brown and some of the smaller ones will still be deepening their tints, since the season of bloom is about the same as for timothy, and since alsike for hay is more commonly grown with timothy than with any other grass, both may be cut when at their best, especially when intended for cows and sheep. But when the hay is intended for horses, it should stand a few days longer than the stage indicated above, in order to have the timothy in the condition best suited to feeding horses. But the alsike, in the meantime, would lose something in digestibility.

If grown alone for hay, the process of harvesting would be much the same as in harvesting medium red clover. (See page 95.) But since the stems of alsike clover are finer than those of the medium

red, less time will suffice for curing it. It will also cure more quickly along with some other grass than if alone, since it does not then lie so closely in the winrow or in the cock. Grasses, as a rule, cure more quickly than clovers, and this also has a bearing on hastening curing in clover when the two are grown together, and also in lessening the degree of the fermentation after the crop has been stored. Ordinarily, when the weather is bright, alsike clover along with timothy may be cut in the forenoon, tedded once or twice soon after cutting, raked into small winrows the same evening and stored away the following afternoon. When thus managed, the hay loader may be used in lifting the hay from the winrows. Alsike clover growing alone could not be cured thus quickly. Nor would it be wise in showery weather to try and cure the crop without putting it into cocks, whether grown alone or with some other crop. When properly cured, the heads retain much of their bloom and the stems much of their greenness.

The yields of hay vary greatly with the soil. On dry, sandy uplands the yields of cured hay may not exceed 1⁄2 ton, while on rich loam soils it may exceed 3 tons. Ordinarily, on good soils a combined crop of alsike clover should yield from 11⁄2 to 2 tons per acre of very excellent hay. Some authorities speak of getting two cuttings per year, but this is not usual. Under quite favorable conditions it would be possible to get two cuttings for soiling uses, providing the first was taken when the plants. were coming into bloom. Usually, the growth of

the aftermath, when the hay has been removed, is very moderate.

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.

If

The seed crop can best be cut with the self-rake reaper, which throws off the sheaves unbound. cut with the grain binder, the sheaves should not be bound. A sort of box attachment may be fastened