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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 
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CLOVER CULTURE 
 
 BY HENRY WALLACE. 
 
 1892: 
 Homestead Company. 
 
 Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
.:>*' 
 
 ft.*"^'' 
 
 Entered according to the Act of ('onoress. in 
 
 THE YEAR 1802, 
 
 By henry WALLACE, 
 
 in the office of the librarian of congress, at 
 Washington. D. ('. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The scientific facts pertaining- to agriculture, so far as 
 they have been discovered, are scattered through many books 
 and other publications, comparativeh' few of them being ac- 
 cessible to the ordinary farmer ; the practical experience in 
 the application of these facts, so far as knovs^n, is in the pos- 
 session of the thousands of widely scattered farmers and 
 larg"ely beyond the reach of the public. 
 
 It has occurred to us that we might do some service to 
 the farmers of the United States, and especially of the West, 
 by collating as man}' as possible of the facts that are accu- 
 rately and certainly known, and the experience of farmers over 
 as wide a district as possible, on the one subject of "Clover 
 Culture," and presenting- them to the public in compact form, 
 in language within the comprehension of ever}' farmer and at 
 an expense within the means of every man who grows an 
 acre of clover. We began the investigation of the subject 
 some years ago with the sole purpose of solving the difficulties 
 encountered in obtaining satisfactory stands of clover (m sev- 
 eral hundred acres of land in western Iowa. Discussion of 
 various phases of the subject throug-h the Homks'I'kad has 
 brought us hundreds of letters from farmers in many states 
 who were meeting the same or similar difficulties, and the 
 following pag-es are the condensed results of our study of the 
 subject, of the experience of our correspondents, of our own 
 experience and our observation both at home and abroad. 
 
As such wc submit it to the thf)Ug'htful reader. 
 
 The book is not written for the instruction of the scien- 
 tist, nor is it intended as an exhaustive discussion of the sub- 
 ject, but to place in the hands of the practical farmer such 
 information, both scientific and practical, as he needs on the 
 subject under c<msideration. We have therefore, wherever 
 possible, translated scientific terms into every-day Eng^lish 
 and have aimed to put the fodder in the rack where even the 
 lambs can reach it. Such has been the aim; how far we have 
 succeeded the reader must be the judg-e. 
 
 HENRY WALLACE. 
 
THE CLOVERS AND OTHER GRASSES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 In the very outset of our investigation of the subject of the 
 clovers, it is important to notice the distinction between these 
 and the other grasses. While in popular usage we apply the 
 term grasses to all kinds of herbage that is summer food for 
 the lower animals, botanically speaking clover is not a grass. 
 The term grass < pertains to plants with simple leaves, stems 
 generally jointed and tubular, husks or chaff, technichally 
 called glumes^ in pairs and seeds single. A slight observa- 
 tion will show that the clovers do not belong to this class. 
 The true grasses include all our commonly called grasses, the 
 clovers excepted, and besides nearly all our grains, such as 
 wheat, oats, barley and corn and also the sorghums. Clover 
 belongs to the LeguniiitoscB, or Pulse familiy, and to the same 
 family belong peas, beans, and vetches, sanfoin, lupines 
 and many others among what are popularly termed grasses. 
 It includes a large number of weeds such as wild indigo, 
 wild peas, shoestring, etc., also a. large number of shrubs 
 such as the Wisteria, Carragana, Robinia, etc., and forest trees 
 of which the locusts are the best known in the temperate 
 zone and logwood and mahogany in the torrid zone. There 
 are 6500 known species of LeguminoscB^ it being surpassed by 
 but one family, that of the CompositcB^ to which belong the 
 goldenrods, asters and sunflowers, and in the wealth of its 
 products for the supply of human wants the family of the 
 LeguminoscB surpasses all others. 
 
 The Clovers as a rule differ from the other grasses in theii 
 habit of root growth. Most true grasses throw out their roots 
 
4 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 horizontally, and while these often reach to great depths, 
 much further than those who have not particularly investiga- 
 ted the matter believe, they penetrate to these depths only af- 
 ter having exhausted the fertility of the surface, and then in 
 seoarate rootlets, while the cultivated clovers go down with 
 along, straight tap-root, some of them, as the alfalfa, reaching, 
 under favorable circumstances, to a depth of eight or ten feet, 
 and sometimes from fifteen to twenty, while three to four feet 
 is by no means an uncommon depth to be reached by the or- 
 dinary red clover. The most striking difference between the 
 clovers and the other grasses is in their power to increase the 
 fertility of the soil, and in a way which has, until recent years, 
 been unaccountable on any known scientific principles. 
 This power is now believed to be shared by the entire family 
 of plants called Legiiminosce^ of which the best known cul- 
 tivated varieties in America are j)eas, beans and the clovers. 
 
 This mysterious power of enriching the soil, while at the 
 same time taking from it large crops of the highest feeding 
 value, has been well known to practical farmers ever since 
 agriculture had a history, and no doubt for a long time before. 
 We find Virgil, for example, more tfian a century before the 
 Christian esa, singing in the first Georgic: 
 
 '*A.t least, where vetches, pulse and tares have stood, 
 And stalks of lupines grew (a stubborn wood) 
 
 The ensuing season in return may bear 
 The bearded product of the golden year. 
 
 For flax and oats will burn the tender field 
 And sleeping poppies harmful harvest yield." 
 
 — Georgic I st^ Drydeji' s Trans. 
 
 The fact that good grain crops may be expected after a 
 crop of Legumes was as well understood in those far-off 
 days as it is now, and it is only in very recent years that scien- 
 tists have been able to offer any adequate explanation. Flax 
 seems to have had as bad a reputation as a soil robber as it 
 has now, and we suspect our modern wise men know as little 
 of the real reason as did the ancients. We find Virgil giving 
 directions as to sowing the legumes in the following: 
 "Sow beans and clover on the rotten soil, 
 
 ******* 
 
 Vile vetches would you sow and lentils lean, 
 The growth of Egypt, or the kidney bean, 
 
 Begin when the slow Waggoner descends, 
 Nor cease your sowing till midsummer ends." 
 
 —Ibid. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 5 
 
 The old poet had some notions about clover as food for 
 dairy cows, for he sings: 
 
 "If milk be thy design 
 Bring clover grass. ' ' 
 
 —Ibid. 
 
 It is a matter of history well known to all students, that 
 the revival of English agriculture, which has made such won- 
 derful development mail lines in the last century, wassynclj^ron- 
 ous with the introduction of clover and turnips, the clover 
 enriching the soil in the material needed for the production 
 of turnips, and the turnips furnishing the winter feed that 
 has enabled Englishmen to bring to perfection their famous 
 breeds of live stock. Nor need we go to a remote age, nor to 
 foreign 1-ands to notice this wonderful distinction between the 
 clovers and the other grasses. 
 
 While it is generally conceded among intelligent farmers 
 that exclusive grain-growing impoverishes the soil, and that 
 grassculture must be resorted to in order to restore wastes of the 
 soil robber, it is not generally known, as it should be, that 
 this restoration comes almost exclusively through the medium 
 of the clovers. Hence, we find that wherever farming is con- 
 ducted on scientific principles, clover culture assumes a posi- 
 tion of prime importance. At first, farmers are disposed to 
 believe that grasses of any kind add to the fertility of the soil. 
 In a measure this is true, but mainly true because they are 
 grown in connection with some of the varieties of clover. The 
 discovery that the recuperative power of the grasses lies al- 
 most wholly in the clovers comes to some farmers as a very 
 great surprise, and often in connection with blasted hopes. 
 How often have farmers who have sown their lands to timo- 
 thy exclusively, and after mowing two or three years and then 
 plowing them up and planting them to corn, been grievously 
 disappointed in the results? It is a matter of common obser- 
 vation and remark that while timothy alone is a doubtful 
 and uncertain crop, when sown with clover it yields abund- 
 antly and nearly as much timothy is grown with the clover 
 as without and a fine crop of clover besides. The next year 
 it will be noticed that while the clover is said to be "frozen 
 out," but really dying out by the natural limitation of its 
 life, the timothy grows most luxuriantly, and the faith of the 
 farmers in this crop revives. The common explanation that 
 clover keeps the land moist or that it keeps it loose, is wide 
 of the mark. The true explanation is that clover feeds the 
 timo thy with nitrogen by means of its decaying roots. Farm- 
 
(. CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 ers have also noticed how difficult it is to maintain a blue- 
 grass sod for a series of years, unless it isaccompanied by white 
 clover. Blue grass maintains its selfish monopolizing policy 
 for a year or two, but is compelled to yield sooner or later to 
 the white clover and the two ever after grow together, for the 
 simple reason that the blue grass, being a greedy nitrogen feed- 
 er, and always nitrogen hungry after the natural resourcesof 
 the soil have been exhausted, is compelled to depend upon the 
 nitrogen furnished by the white clover. If blue grass were 
 used as a meadow grass, and the entire crop taken from the 
 soil, it would be clearly seen to be as exhaustive of fertility as 
 is timothy or grain crops. Every farmer understands that 
 all kinds of grain or grass crops grow more luxuriantly 
 when planted or sown with clover or on clover sod. This fact 
 points out the clear and wide distinction between the clovers 
 and the other grasses. All other grasses outside of the Le- 
 guminosae^ the principally cultivated classes of which in Amer- 
 ica are the clovers, are great nitrogen feeders and always ni- 
 trogen hungry and, having no means of obtaining nitrogen 
 except from the soil itself, are dependent either upon farm 
 yard or artificial manure or the clovers for their supply, when 
 once the virgin fertility of the soil in nitrogen is exahusted. 
 
 The most vital distinction, then, between the clovers and 
 the other grasses is this: that the clovers, together with other 
 v^xi^XA^soiLegianinosae^ are able to obtain a supply of nitro- 
 gen, the most costly element of fertility, from a source 
 quite independent of the stored fertility of the soil or of ap- 
 plied manure. It is important for the farmer to keep this dis- 
 tinction in mind in order that he may understand not only 
 the reason why the cultivation of the clovers has always ac- 
 companied the introduction of improved farming, but also the 
 bearing which their cultivation will have upon the develop- 
 ment of the resources of the West, and in fact of the entire 
 Nation. 
 
 The sources from which clover obtains nitrogen, the 
 relation which nitrogen sustains to the other two great ele- 
 ments of fertility in the soil, potash and phosphoric acid, and 
 the place which the clovers and other species of Leguminosae 
 occupy of necessity in any cheap and practical feeding ration 
 and their relation to the improvement of live stock as well as 
 to the production of grains which will be demanded by the 
 rapidly increasing population in America, will be discussed 
 in the concluding chapters of this work. It is enough now 
 to point out the facts which are clearly recognized by agricul- 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 7 
 
 tural students and which have in the last few years been 
 clearly demonstrated and for the first time really understood. 
 Our object at present is to call the attention of our readers to 
 the wide distinction betwixt the clovers and the other grasses, 
 and to point out the fact that the cultivation of some variety 
 of the Leguminosae is essential to any great improvement, 
 either in grain production, the production of livestock or the 
 conservation of the fertility of the soil. 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE CLOVERS. 
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 If the statement in the last paragraph of the previous 
 chapter be true that "the cultivation of some variety of the Le- 
 guvtinoscB is essential to any great improvement, either in 
 grain production, the production of livestock or the conserva- 
 tion of the fertility of the soil," then the distribution of the 
 legumes, and especially of the clovers, becomes a question 
 alike of great scientific and practical importance. A crop 
 that can not only supply itself with nitrogen, to a great ex- 
 tent independently of the nitrogen of the soil, but, by the de- 
 cay of its roots and haulm supply other crops with nitrogen, 
 is the very keystone of the arch of successful agriculture where- 
 ever its cultivation is possible. 
 
 The importance of the subject is greatly enhanced when 
 we take into consideration the relation it sustains to the fer- 
 tility of the soil, to growing crops and to the structure of all 
 animals. Nitrogen, while the most costly and an absolutely 
 essential element in soil fertility, in plant growth and in ani- 
 mal life, is one of the most abundant elements in all nature. 
 It constitutes about four-fifths of the atmosphere, where it 
 seems to be used merely to dilute the oxygen. It enters 
 into no chemical combinations with it, but co-exists simply 
 as a mixture, like sand in sugar. The process by which the 
 free nitrogen of the atmosphere is transformed into the ni- 
 trogenous compounds of the soil has long been a puzzle to 
 scientists, a puzzle all the more complicated and difl5cult of 
 solution because it has been held until quite recently by all 
 scientists and investigators that plants can not appropriate 
 free nitrogen from the atmosphere. It is a striking fact, how- 
 ever, that all the sources from which either the nitrogen of 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 9 
 
 ■commerce or that which enters into grain, grasses or the ani- 
 mal forms is drawn are either the sedimentary rocks, the 
 remains of animal or plant life, the soil in which plant life 
 Nourishes, or, finally the atmosphere itself. The sedimentary 
 rocks abound in animal and vegetable remains, and the 
 atmosphere before rains, and especially after protracted 
 drouths, contains available nitrogen in the form of ammonia 
 which the rains bring down. It is evident that this latter 
 form is a mere exhalation from decaying plant or animal life 
 on earth, a supposition rendered still more evident by the 
 fact that the amount of ammonia brought down by the rains is 
 greater near large cities where decey is greater than it is in agri- 
 cultural districts. Two methods alone have been suggested with 
 any show of proof, by which the nitrogen of the atmosphere 
 may be transformed into the nitrogenous compounds that 
 make up the fertility of the soil — the one the combination 
 called nitric acid, and believed to be a result of power- 
 ful electrical action in the air during thunderstorms, and the 
 other the action of the legumes through the microbes in the 
 tubercles on their roots. The last has been demonstrated to 
 be a fact, but the exact way in which it is done seems to be 
 as mysterious as ever. May it not be (and we put the ques- 
 tion merely as a suggestion, never having heard it advanced 
 by any scientific authority) that the supply of nitrogen for 
 the support of the life of the plant or animal is main- 
 ly, if not wholly, obtained from the legumes which alone 
 of all plant life have been clearly demonstrated to have the 
 power to procure it, in a way not yet explained, from the free 
 nitrogen of the atmosphere? 
 
 Speaking, more particularly of the place of nitro- 
 gen in the animal economy, it, or rather the albumi- 
 noids, (the form in which the nitrogen is appropri- 
 ated by the animal), forms the lean meat of 
 all animals, much of the blood, the white and yolk of 
 the egs, and is in fact the flesh-former and strength-giver of 
 the animal economy. Potash, lime and the phospates enter 
 into the bony structure, and to some extent into the flesh. 
 Carbon is the main element of the fat, but without the albu- 
 minoids there can be no muscular formation, and hence no 
 animal life. It is perfectly clear that the animal can receive 
 nothing into its organization except through the food it con- 
 sumes, and hence the flesh-forming element must be in the 
 plant, the grass, the grain, or new milk fed to the young, 
 and in the proportion adapted to the age of the animal — about 
 
10 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 one of nitrogen to four of carbo-hydrates in its >outh, and in 
 decreasing proportion after the muscular system has been 
 built up. It will be seen, therefore, that the great problem 
 of feeding lies in supplying nitrogen or albuminoids in this 
 proportion, and consequently in supplying foods which in their 
 combination have this proportion. On account of its relative 
 scarcity to the elements that make up bone, or that keep up 
 heat, it is always the most costly, and hence any plant or any 
 class of plants that can draw supplies from the atmosphere in- 
 stead of the soil becomes invaluable in the economy of the 
 farm and the economy of nature. It is this fact that makes 
 the distribution of the Leguminosce^ and especially of the 
 clovers, a matter of such great importance in agriculture. 
 
 The LegiiminoscB as we have seen constitutes a very 
 large class of plants in all parts of the world, and in all con- 
 ditions of soil and climate. It embraces some of the largest 
 trees of the forest, especially in tropical countries, and, in the 
 temperate zone, one of the most distinctive varieties is that 
 of the locust, and the fact that the Leguminosae are able to 
 procure nitrogen from the atmosphere explains what has 
 doubtless been a puzzle to many readers, why grain crops can 
 be grown close to a locust tree while they refuse to grow for 
 rods around an oak, sugar tree or a walnut. They are found 
 in all wild pastures, both in the shape of weeds and grasses. 
 The wild indigo, the vetch and shoestring may be cited as 
 prairie illustrations. If, as we have suggested, it is mainly 
 through the LeguminoscB that the nitrogen of the air can be 
 appropriated for the use of vegetable life, it will be clearly 
 seen that the absence of the legumes would make plant lite 
 impossible. Whether this be true or whether science may 
 yet reveal other hidden secrets of nature, showing that she is 
 not limited to this class of plants, it is but reasonable to expect 
 that they should have a wide distribution in every soil that 
 is at all capable of supporting plant life. Without speaking 
 ofother leguminous plants, such as peas, beans, vetches and lup- 
 ines that have been highly prized by agriculturists in all parts 
 of the world, and in all ages, it is worth while to nptice that 
 there are in America more than forty native varieties of the 
 clovers, in addition to those introduced since the settlement 
 of the country, and that among these are species apparently 
 adapted to all climates and to all varieties of soir,^and all of 
 them noted for being nitrogen feeders ofother plants and re- 
 storers of the wastes created, in the first years of cultivation 
 in every country, by the soil robber. The clovers in some of 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 11 
 
 their varietres seem to be adapted to almost every soil where 
 the plow can provide the means of human existence. Were 
 nature as thoughtless as man, some portions ot the earth 
 would become a desert waste. She is ever aiming to build 
 up and restore, and much of the skill and success in agricul- 
 ture depends upon noting carefully her processes and working 
 with her instead of at cross purposes. 
 
 As an example of this we might note the fact that the, 
 Japanese clover, {lespedeza striata) sown by no human hand, 
 spreads over the abandoned fields of the South and restores the 
 wastes of the cotton planter, the robber of the Southern soils. 
 The Bur clover, {medtcago deiiticulata) and half a dozen varie- 
 ties of trifolia ,sown by the hand of Nature herself, gives rich- 
 ness to the pastures of California with its rainless summers; the 
 alfalfa, {medicago sativd) makes the desert bloom like the gar- 
 den of the Lord wherever the hand of man furnishes the life- 
 giving water; the white clover, {trifoliutn repens) follows 
 hard after the soil robber of the prairies and kindly binds up 
 the broken-hearted land; the alsike camps in the sloughs and 
 swales and along the bottoms, providing pasture for the bees 
 while reclaiming the marshes; the white sweet clover, {mel- 
 ilotus alba\ and the Bokhara^ a closely related variety, take 
 possession of the highways; the crimson clover, {trifolium in- 
 carnatum\ flourishes all along the line between the cotton 
 lands of the South and the distinctively corn landsof the North, 
 while the medium red and the mammoth {trifolimn pratense) 
 pre-empt the carboniferous and calcareous soils wherever there 
 is twenty inches of rainfall, mainly in the growing season. 
 None of these ever take a foot-hold in the soil without en- 
 riching it and none ever fellowship with other grasses with- 
 out increasing their luxuriance. 
 
 As this work is intended to be practical rather than scien- 
 tific, for the guide of the farmer and not the instruction of the 
 scientist, dealing in scientific facts and conclusions only in so 
 far as it is necessary for the farmer to understand them in or- 
 der to deal intelligently with clovers, we discuss the distribu- 
 tion of the clovers only in so far as it interests the American 
 farmer. The mammoth and common red have a very wide 
 distribution, and we group these together because they are 
 not different species, as many suppose, but merely an early 
 and late variety of the same species. This distinction is im- 
 portant, and because of the failure to note it carefully, many 
 farmers have been led into serious error in their methods of 
 handling mammoth, otherwise known as * 'pea-vine" or "sap- 
 
12 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 ling" clover. They regard the red as a species that produces 
 two crops in a year, and seed only in the second crop, and the 
 mammoth as a variety that produces seed in the first crop but 
 furnishes none in the second.' This is a mistake. The common 
 red does produce seed the first crop wherever it has an opportu- 
 nity of insect fertilization. We have cut on our own farms as 
 much as three bushels of seed per acre from the first crop and 
 from a thin stand, but ordinarily it is only the late blooms 
 that become fertilized. This is owing to the scarcity of 
 bumble bees, and to the fact that during the season of first 
 blossoming there is an abundance of preferred bloom which 
 prevents the Italian bees from visiting the clover. 
 Farmers have abundant proof of this fact when they cut tim- 
 othy for seed, in which they find more or less clover seed 
 when the common red is grown with timothy. The mam- 
 moth would yield a second crop if the season were long 
 enough. If a mixed crop of mammoth and medium red is cut 
 by the 15th of June, or even the 20th, and the season is 
 favorable, many plants of the mammoth will ripen seed, 
 and if they are both cut by the loth of June, a crop of seed 
 may be expected from both. As proof of this we cite the fact 
 that we have mown a meadow of mixed varieties for ten years 
 and the mammoth in this meadow holds its own, which it 
 could not do were it not annually ripening seeds. ' It has 
 never, except on one occasion, been mowed prior to the 4tb 
 of July. The mammoth is simply a late-maturing variety of 
 trifolium pratense^ the botanical name for both, its season of 
 growth being from two to three weeks longer for the crop 
 than that of the medium red. This distinction will be more 
 fully pointed out when we come to discuss the best methods 
 of the management of each. These two varieties ot the trifo- 
 lium pratense have a very wide distribution, being co-exten- 
 sive with the limestone and calcareous soils over the entire 
 continent,,. limited on these only by the amount of rainfall. 
 They grow luxuriantly on all the limestone soils of the East- 
 ern and Middle states and refuse to grow with a profitable 
 luxuriance wherever the rocks are deficient in the mineral ele- 
 ments peculiar to these soils. They reach far south on the 
 Appalachian range, and their limitation by soil formation is 
 most striking in Tennessee; They grow luxuriantly in Mid- 
 dle and East Tennessee, but whenever we pass west of the 
 carboniferous formations into West Tennessee, they there dis- 
 appear or fail to grow in desirable luxuriance.' They may 
 be found in North Alabama and Georgia, and even far south. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 13 
 
 •wherever the peculiar geolog-ical formation of the Appalachian 
 range appears, and they disappear with this formation. 
 
 The peculiar composition of the drift soil that covers the 
 prairies of most of the Western states gives these varieties a 
 very wide distribution. It is well known that most of these 
 soils are not made in situ; in other words, they are not the result 
 of decomposition of the rocks that underlie these states, al- 
 though in many places modified by them. This drift is the 
 result of the decomposition of rocks far distant and is min- 
 gled so thoroughly that scarcely any section may be found 
 in the Western states in which there is not abundance of car- 
 "boniferous or calcareous matter to develop a luxuriant growth 
 of clover. The calcareous soils of the Missouri Valley, the 
 deposit of the calcareous formations of the Upper Missouri, 
 furnish material for the growth of clover in the greatest abun- 
 dance. 
 
 We have for several years past been endeavoring to locate 
 in crude outline the western limit of the medium and mam- 
 moth clovers. Without coming to any very definite conclu- 
 sions and leaving the matter as yet undetermined, it is safe to 
 say that in ordinary seasons these varieties may be grown suc- 
 cessfully on fair soils as far west as the longitude 96° 40 m. west 
 from Greenwich, and in favorable seasons there is practically 
 no western limit; in other words, the limit is determined not 
 by the structure of the soil, which on good lands is favorable 
 for clover everywhere, but by the rainfall. Magnificent ex- 
 amples of common red and mammoth, white and alsike have 
 been sent us this year from the extreme western boundary of 
 Nebraska, longitude io2°3om., showing conclusively that the 
 soil conditions are of the best on the edge of what is known 
 as the desert, and all that is lacking is the rainfall. The 
 northern limit of the growth of these clovers has not yet been 
 determined. It is safe, however, to say that the reports of 
 the destruction of these crops by freezing during the severe 
 winters in many cases are the result of not understanding the 
 nature of the plant, which is that of a biennial or short peren- 
 nial and when used as a hay crop would naturally disappear 
 at the second year whether the winters were favorable or un- 
 favorable. * 
 
 The white, trifoliiim repens, has even a wider distribu- 
 tion than the mammoth and common red, {trifolium pratense), 
 
 * Note. — It is more than probable that under the name of common red 
 clover we have several varieties of tri/olium, some of which are biennials 
 and some short Derennials. 
 
14 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 being able to grow on soils on which the larger varieties do 
 not succeed and to grow on all soils in which they do. 
 
 Thealsike, {trifolium hybridiim) ^\s, distributed less wide- 
 ly, mainly because to grow a profitable crop it requires a 
 much larger amount of moisture and it is especially valuable for 
 wet lands where none of the other varieties succeed so well. 
 It takes its technical name from the mistaken belief of the 
 earlier botanists that it is a hybrid, or cross between the red 
 and the white. This has long since been ascertained to be an 
 error. The technical name is further objectionable because 
 the term "hybrid" is properly applied only to the results of 
 those violent crosses such as that of the ass and the horse, of 
 which Nature forbids the reproduction. Alsike is preferred 
 to the mammoth or common red, not only on wet sloughs, 
 but on soils where it is believed that these varieties winter- 
 kill. We are inclined to the belief that its preference in 
 northern latitudes is due not so much to any peculiar ability 
 to stand extreme cold, but to the fact that unlike the two 
 former, it is perennial, and hence does not ordinarily perish 
 at the end of the second year. The illustrations that will be 
 furnished when we come to discuss the best methods of the 
 cultivation of each will enable the reader to clearly distin- 
 guish these different varieties. 
 
 Alfalfa is the clover peculiarly adapted to the .semi-arid 
 regions and to the arid regions where irrigation is possible It 
 is entirely true that it can be cultivated on any good corn 
 lands, that are not underlaid with rock, hard pan or heavy clay, 
 provided it is protected during the first winter in northern 
 latitudes, but when thus grown is much inferior to' the mam- 
 moth or common red in latitudes where these can be grown 
 profitably, and hence its cultivation under these circumstances 
 is not advisable. It is, however, to be preferred to any other 
 in the regions of deficient rainfall, or where the rainfall, how- 
 ever abundant, in any given year, cannot be depended upon 
 for a succession of years. It has been grown very successfully 
 over Central and Western' Kansas, every county in the state 
 but three reporting more or less alfalfa, and these counties 
 lying in the eastern part of the state where red clover is 
 so pronounced a success that farmers do not need to look fur- 
 ther. The extreme length of its root enables it to go down 
 in the years of sufficient rainfall to depths where it is in a 
 measure independent of surface moisture, and the normal dry- 
 ness of the climate furnishes the condition for curing it into 
 excellent hay, a difficulty that is almost, insuperable in sec- 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 15 
 
 tions of the country which enjoy an abundant rainfall in the 
 months of June and July. It is therefore in the semi-arid re- 
 gions 4he best of all substitutes for other clovers. 
 
 The great value of alfalfa lies in its adaptability to the 
 arid lands of the mountains and the plains and the lands that 
 have a winter rainfall and summer drouth as on the Pacific 
 Coast. It is possible under these circumstances to cut three, 
 four and even five crops in a single year, irrigation furnish- 
 ing the moisture and the dryness of the atmosphere making- 
 the curing the crop entirely practicable. This will be more 
 fully explained when we come to discuss the proper method 
 of handling this crop. 
 
 Much has been said in recent years, and particularly by 
 the Bastern press, of the value of crimson clover, trifolium 
 incarnatum. This, unlike those previously mentioned, is an 
 annual clover, the seed being sown in July or August and 
 maturing early in the spring. It is therefore peculiarly adap- 
 ted to the soils along the latitude of 40 degrees and south, 
 and should not be attempted on the soils of the corn belt of 
 the Northern states. Utterly valueless as it is in these soils, 
 it is of very great value in its peculiar climate, as it can be 
 sown in mid-summer, and removed in the spring in time for 
 another crop. Its value as a forage plant is much inferior to 
 any of the other clovers, and it is therefore adapted only for 
 local cultivation in soils and climates specially suitable to its 
 growth. 
 
THE RED AND MAMMOTH CLOVERS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no agricultural subject in which the 
 farmers, especially of the Western states, are more deeply in- 
 terested than the cultivation of these two varieties of clover. 
 In taking this deep interest they are but following in the 
 wake of farmers in other countries. The cultivation of these 
 clovers comes in everywhere, apparently, in the wake of the 
 soil-robber. After lands have been exhausted of their virgin 
 fertility, their owners begin to enquire how the lost fertility 
 can be restored, and no means has yet been discovered so cer- 
 tain and reliable as the cultivation of red and mammoth clo- 
 ver. The Western states are now where the Eastern states 
 were forty or fifty years ago, and where England was in 1633. 
 In Sir Richard Weston's report on the Husbandry of Brabant 
 and Flanders, published by Hartlib in 1645, we' have some 
 interesting statements as to the cultivation of clover at that 
 time, both with regard to its object and methods, from which 
 we quote as follows: 
 
 "It thrives best when you sow it on the worst and barren- 
 est ground. The ground has to be pared and burned and un- 
 slacked lime added to the ashes. It is next to be plowed and 
 harrowed ; and about ten pounds of clover seed must be sown 
 to the acre in April or the end of March. If it is intended to 
 preserve seed then the second crop must be let stand until it 
 come to a full and dead ripeness and it will yield at least five 
 bushels per acre. Being once sown, it will last five years; 
 and then being plowed it will yield, three or four years to- 
 gether, rich crops of wheat, and after that a crop of oats, with 
 which clover is to be sown again. It is in itself an excellent 
 manure." 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 17 
 
 The cultivation of clover seems to have spread as rapidly 
 in England as it has in the Mississippi states of America in 
 the last few years, for in less than twelve years, that is, before 
 1655, its cultivation, exactly according to the present method, 
 seems to have been well known in England, and had also 
 made its way to Ireland. The little change that has been 
 made in the methods of cultivating clover in that country 
 would seem to indicate that those early farmers had hit ott 
 about the right method. When a method does reasonably 
 well, there is no inducement to change, and it is only when this 
 method fails that farmers are forced to a more profound study 
 of the principles involved. In the moist climate of England 
 and of Flanders, and in the comparatively moist climate of the 
 Eastern states, surface-sown clover, and especially when sown 
 on winter wheat or rye, in the months of February or March, 
 did reasonably well, but when it was tried on the lighter and 
 drier soils of the West, and especially on spring grains, sown 
 generally in April, the failures in securing a stand became 
 very much more frequent. Farmers in these newer coun- 
 tries have, therefore, been compelled to get hold of the great 
 principles that underlie the growth of clover in any and all 
 countries and apply them to tiieir own particular circumstan- 
 ces. Five things are essential to plant life: A soil that has 
 all the elements of fertility essential to the life ot that plant; 
 that soil in a proper physical and mechanical condition, and 
 in addition to these two, light, heat and moisture. No mat- 
 ter how fertile the soil, or how abundant may be the elements 
 of Tertility especially adapted to the plant, no plant will even 
 germinate in utter darkness. For this reason clover bedded 
 in a manure heap, with every element of fertility needed and 
 with abundance of moisture and heat, will not germinate ex- 
 cept where it lies near the surface and secures the proper de- 
 gree of light. No matter what may be the light, moisture, 
 or fertility, plants will not germinate at zero nor where the 
 temperature is continually below the point of freezing. No 
 matter how suitable the temperature, the sunshine or the fer- 
 tility, they will not germinate without sufficient moisture, 
 and no matter how CQmpletely all these elements are com- 
 bined they will not make a profitable growth unless the soil 
 is in a proper mechanical condition to meet the requirements 
 of the plant. It is only by the proper combination of all 
 these essentials that success is attained. 
 
 Of all the multitude of elements that enter into the com- 
 position of the clover plant, all soils have an inexhaustible 
 
IS CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 quantity, with the exception of three or perhaps four. These 
 are potash, phosphoric acid, nitrogen and perhaps lime. It 
 is, however, very hard to find a soil so deficient in nitrogen 
 that it will not grow clover. Clover has been grown in ex- 
 perimental pots of pure sand, from which every element of 
 fertility has been washed out, and to which potash and phos- 
 phoric acid in their proper proportions have been added, and 
 the only difference observable between their yield and that of 
 similar plots rich in nitrogen, as well as the other elements, is 
 during the brief period when the nitrogen in the seed has 
 been exhausted and before the action of the microbes in the 
 nodules or tubercles on the roots has been fully established. 
 These experiments, of which we shall hereafter have much 
 to say in detail, show conclusively that clover is less depend- 
 ent on the nitrogen in the soil than almost any other plant, 
 the only other exceptions in fact being other members of the 
 legiitninosae^ to which order, as we have before said, clover be- 
 longs. 
 
 It will be noticed in the above extract from Weston that 
 clover apparently did best on poor soils, a fact then inexplica- 
 ble but which, it is well understood now, is not due to the 
 poverty of the soil, but to its ability to supply itself with ni- 
 trogen, of which these soils are deficient, from the great source 
 of nitrogen, the atmosphere. It is, therefore, one of the pecul- 
 iarties of t<fie clovers and one of their greatest merits, that 
 they are less particular about the first condition of plant life, — 
 the fertility of the soil — in nitrogen, than any other true grass- 
 es or grains. It is, therefore, almost impossible to find a soil 
 in the Western states so far deficient in nitrogen that it will 
 not grow clover, and it is almost as difficult to find one on our 
 drift soils so far deficient in phosphoric acid, lime or potash. 
 The question, therefore, as to whether the soil is rich enough 
 to grow red and mammoth clover may as well be dismissed. 
 
 In the matter of the mechanical or physical condition of the 
 soil, the red and mammoth clovers are as accommodating as 
 are the other grasses. None of them require the garden cul- 
 ture demanded by most grains. They go on reproducing 
 themselves in the pasture — where the plants are allowed to go 
 to seed — year after year, and thi sself-seeding in the meadow 
 or the pasture goes on successfully where careful seeding in 
 the well-tilled field often fails. In fact, we have often seen 
 clover sown on the wild prairie, when pastured closely with 
 cattle or sheep, make a perfect stand while it almost con:- 
 pletely failed when sown on spring grain, on improved land 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 19 
 
 adjoining, in the best possible condition for the growth of the 
 cereals. Why it is, we shall see when we come to speak more 
 particularly of the conditions of light and moisture. 
 
 Nor is there any difficulty in growing these clovers on 
 account of temperature. The season attends to that. The 
 success or failure in growing clover depends on skill 
 in regulating the mechanical condition so as to secure light 
 and moisture. 
 
 The reader may learn much on this subject by examining 
 the germination of clover seeds in an old stack of clover hay 
 in May and June. He will find that on the outside, no matter 
 how abundant the seed, it does not germinate, for the reason 
 that while it has light and heat, it has no moisture. By lift- 
 ing up the edge of the hay he will find that a certain distance 
 inward it germinates freely, but beyond that a certain distance 
 it does not germinate at all, simply because the proper com- 
 bination of light, heat and moisture is not present. Success 
 lies in getting the light and moisture in the soil in the combi- 
 nation supplied in the stack at the point where the germina- 
 tion is perfect. Given, then, almost any kind of soil that will 
 produce a moderate crop of spring grain of any kind, how 
 shall we secure a stand of clover that will hold against possible 
 drouth for the first ninety days? This is the point to be con- 
 sidered in determining the very first question in growing 
 these clovers, the depth at which they shall be covered. 
 After the first ninety days they are safe against anything ex- 
 cept the extreme drouths. We are satisfied that nine-tenths 
 of the failures in growing clover, about which we hear so 
 much, and especially on the lighter soils of the West, depend 
 upon the lack of proper covering in order to secure the condi- 
 tions requisite tor vigorous germination and the support of the 
 life of the plant during the first three months of its existence. 
 The management will, of course, depend upon the kind of 
 grain crop in the soil. If it is intended to grow on land al- 
 ready in winter wheat and rye, the custom of sowing early in 
 March can not well be improved. No matter how early it 
 may be sown, it will not germinate until the season gives the 
 right temperature. The freezing and thawing of the ground 
 gradually imbeds the seed in the soil and growth is all the 
 quicker because of the shallowness of the covering. Begin- 
 ning at the commencement of the growing season, it is able 
 to strike its roots deep in the soil and to stand any probable 
 drouth in the earlier part of the year. Success will be all the 
 more certain if the nurse crop is rye, for the reason that the 
 
20 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 narrow blades of the rye give the young clover plant plenty of 
 air and sunshine. There are few soils and few seasons in any 
 country, in which clover growing is practicable, in which a 
 fine stand of clover can not be obtained by sowing on rye 
 in March, and then pasturing off the crop with sheep, hogs 
 or cattle. The best success is obtained by pasturing with the 
 two former, and, if cattle are used, the lighter they are the bet- 
 ter. Some little damage will be done the clover by tramping 
 with heavy cattle, especially in wet weather, but we have found 
 by experience that the advantages in securing the more per- 
 fect covering of the seed by treading are much greater than 
 the disadvantages. Clover sometimes fails of a stand when 
 sown on winter wheat, for the reason that a crust is likely to 
 form on the top, especially if the month of March be dr}-, and 
 the ground deficient in moisture and the seeds therefore do 
 not become sufficiently imbedded. This may be remedied to 
 a very great extent by harrowing the ground after the clover 
 has been sown. In this way sufficient covering can be se- 
 cured and the benefits to the wheat will far more than com- 
 pensate for the labor. Success would be all the more certain 
 if in a dry time a heavy roller were used, thus compressing 
 the soil around the roots of the wheat as well as the seeds of 
 the clover. It requires, however, a good deal of sound judg- 
 ment and discretion to use the roller in a country subject to 
 high winds. 
 
 When sown with spring grain, the problem is much more 
 difficult. The season is necessarily later and care must be 
 taken at all hazards to bury the clover deep enough to secure 
 moisture, and not too deep to exclude light'. Just how deep 
 dover should be covered is a problem that can be determined 
 Duly by the farmer himself. Everything depends upon the 
 season and upon the nature of the soil. The lighter the soil 
 and the drier the season the deeper must the seed be covered. 
 Untold damage has been done to the clover interests of the 
 Western states by the publication in works that are regarded 
 as standard authority, and copied into the agricultural news- 
 papers, of the depths at which clover germinates best and re- 
 fuses to germinate. Prof Flint in his work on Grasses and 
 Forage Plants^ quoting from a treatise on grass by the Messrs. 
 Lawson, the noted seedsmen of Edinburgh, states that the red 
 clover germinates best at a depth of from nothing to one-half 
 inch; that half the seeds germinate from one and one-quarter 
 to one and one-half, and that none of the seeds germinate 
 when covered to the depth of two inches. This is no doubt 
 
CLOVER CULTURF. 21 
 
 line for the climate and soil of Edinburgh, and to some ex- 
 tent true in the moister climate of the Eastern states, but it 
 is entirely misleading and false on the light soils and driei 
 climate of the West. Acting upon this advice Western farm- 
 ers have adopted the methods of surface sowing common in 
 Europe and in the Eastern states and have been grievously 
 disappointed. Clover sown on our own farms by this method 
 has failed to germinate the first year, and sometimes the sec- 
 ond, coming up as a full crop in the third year where the 
 ground has been undisturbed, and that for the simple reason 
 that the supply of moisture was deficient, for the lack of suf- 
 ficient covering in dry seasons. The clover simply waited 
 until there was sufficient moisture to secure germination. 
 Mr. Jethro Tull, an English gentleman who wrote a book on 
 Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, published in 1731, has a paragraph 
 which incidentally refers to the depth of covering, which is 
 worth quoting. Speaking of his experience in drilling plants 
 in rows for the purpose of using the horse-hoe, he says: "I 
 was formerly at much pains and at some charge in improving 
 my drills in planting the rows at very near distances and had 
 brought them to such perfection that one horse would draw 
 a drill with eleven shares, making the rows at three and one- 
 half inches distant from one another, and at the same time 
 sow in them three different sorts of seeds which did not mix 
 and these, too, at different depths, x'ls the barley rows were 
 seven inches asunder, the barley lay four inches deep. A 
 little more than three inches above that in the same channels 
 was clover; betwixt every two of these rows was a row of san- 
 foin covered one-half inch deep. I had a good crop of barley 
 the first year; the next year two crops of broad clover, where 
 that was sown; and where hop clover was sown, a mixed crop 
 of that and sanfoin, but I am since, by experience, so fully 
 convinced of the folly of these or any other mixed crops, and 
 more especially of narrow spaces, that I have demolished 
 these instruments in their full perfection, as a vain curiosity, 
 the drift and use of them being contrary to the true principles 
 and practice of horse hoeing." 
 
 It will be seen from the above that even in the moist cli- 
 mate of England clover succeeded well when covered almost 
 an inch deep, and the practice was abundant, not on account 
 of the failure to grow clover but because the narrow spaces 
 between the drills of the different seeds did not allow the 
 practical operation of the horse-hoe. In view of the import- 
 .auce of this question at the present time in the Western 
 
22 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 states, we requested Prof. Wilson, of the Iowa Experiment 
 Station, at Ames, Iowa, to determine the depth at which clo- 
 ver grew best in the light soil of the College farm. He has 
 kindly furnished us the results of this experiment, as follows: 
 
 "The College Experiment Station sowed red clover at 
 different depths in the spring of 1892, to ascertain the effect 
 on germination. The spring was late, owing to repeated 
 rains that prevented seeding. The land used is a dark, sandy 
 loam that had been in barley the previous year, and had been 
 fall-plowed. Plots a rod square were used and the seeding 
 was done on the ninth of April. A plot was sowed broadcast 
 on the surface and raked in. A plot was sown in drills one 
 inch deep. A plot was sown in drills two inches deep, and 
 one three inches deep. The seed sown broadcast was above 
 the ground and a good stand April 25th; that sown an inch 
 deep was also a good stand April 25th; that sown two inches 
 deep was through the ground only partly on the 25th of April, 
 while that sown three inches deep was as good a stand as any 
 on the 27th of April. 
 
 The season was favorable to germination and growth of 
 grass seeds. Rains were abundant during both spring and 
 summer. On July 20th the four different plots were very 
 similar, being about eight inches high and ready to cut for 
 hay. That sown three inches deep was the most vigorous of 
 any. The plots were hoed between the rows and kept free 
 from weeds. Several other grasses were sown simultaneously 
 with the clover that showed quite different results, but depth 
 of sowing in this case raises no decisive objection to any of 
 the depths at which the seeds were sown. 
 
 It may be well to state that the soil used is entirely free 
 from any trace of clay, consequently it does not pack as much 
 as some lands in the state, while it is not as loose a soil as the 
 bluff deposit of the Missouri slope. Repeated experiments 
 must be made to determine the effect of different depths of 
 sowing in dry seasons. The indications so far, with the wet- 
 test season for some years, are that clover seed germinates as 
 promptly at a depth of three inches as at a depth of one inch 
 where the frost is out of the ground and the temperature is 
 the same, and further, that there is no evident weakening of 
 the young plants when the seed is sown three inches deep. 
 
 Contemporaneous with the foregoing it may be observed 
 that the station sowed peas from three to five inches deep, 
 and while the latter sowing was longer in coming up, yet at 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. • 23 
 
 this writiug, July 15th, there is no apparent difference in the 
 vigor of the sowings." 
 
 For two years past we have called attention of the farm- 
 ers of the West through the Homestead to this important mat- 
 ter, and their experience as reported from time to time largely 
 pletely verifies the results of the experiment above quoted. 
 The most successful clover growers in the West, and especial- 
 ly in the light soils of the Missouri valley, sow their clover 
 with their spring grain and give it the same depth of cover- 
 ing. The almost universal custom is to cover either with the 
 ordinary corn cultivator or with the disc cultivator, which in 
 farm practice would give clover a covering of from one-fourth 
 of an inch to two inches. The results of their experience, 
 however, are not uniform, the failures being the exception, 
 and success the rule. As an example of the very rare excep- 
 tions we give the following from Mr. George Geary, of Win- 
 terset, Iowa. In response to a letter of inquiry Mr. Geary 
 writes: 
 
 "In the spring of 1892 I sowed a field to clover about ten 
 days before sowing the oats. The oats were sown about the 
 3rd or 4th of April. It was disced twice, after the oats were 
 sown and then harrowed twice. I can not tell how deep it 
 was covered. The oats, however, all grew and none of the 
 clover except at the head-lands, which were not so well culti- 
 vated, where a few plants appeared. On the head-lands the 
 clover was not sown until after the discing was done. It was 
 then harrowed and floated. After giving the matter full con- 
 sideration I think the trouble was not in the deep covering, 
 but because the clover sod had sprouted before the ground 
 was cultivated, and this cultivation destroyed it. If this were 
 not the case, some of it would have grown, no matter how 
 deeply it was covered." 
 
 It is therefore extremely doubtful whether even in this 
 case the failure of the stand in this field was due to the deep 
 covering or to the fact that the clover had sprouted and was 
 then destroyed by the tillage. It should be stated in this con- 
 nection that many farmers who harrow in clover in corn 
 stalks sow the clover seed a week or two in advance, and 
 where the covering is not so deep as that practiced by Mr. 
 Geary they have had good success. The advantage in sow- 
 ing in advance is that it gives the clover time to take up 
 moisture and swell and secures a quicker germination than 
 when sowed with the oats or spring grain. In case of dry 
 weather at the time of cultivation, it might prove hazardous. 
 
24 • CLOVER CULTURE 
 
 Mr. Geary's farm lies on the edge of the timber and is, 
 therefore, a much heavier soil than the prairie lands in the im- 
 mediate vicinity. Besides, it rests on a very heavy bed of 
 limestone, and the conditions of that farm are somewhat simi- 
 lar to the conditions on the heavy clay soils of the Eastern 
 states. It is not, therefore, surprising that deep covering does 
 not always succeed on that or like conditions even in the 
 West. All this emphasizes the necessity of each farmer, no 
 matter where his location may be, determining by actual ex- 
 periment on his own farm the depth at which clover seed 
 germinates best in an ordinary season. This will vary with 
 the normal amount of rainfall in the spring months and the 
 mechanical condition and character of the soil. The lighter 
 the soil the deeper should clover be covered, and there are 
 many parts of the West in which it should not be placed at 
 less than two inches. 
 
 It must be remembered that in discussing the depths of 
 covering at which clover does best, we are speaking solely 
 with reference to land in cultivation in small grain, and 
 not with reference to land in other grasses, whether wild or 
 tame. A moment's reflection will convince anyone that deep- 
 er covering is required in soil in condition for the reception 
 of small grains than in soil that is already compacted by the 
 weather. For this reason clover requires a much shallower 
 covering when sown on winter wheat or rye than when sown 
 on newly cultivated land, on which spring grain has been sown. 
 
 We have devoted much space to the depth at which red 
 and mammoth clover should be covered when sown with spring 
 grain, for the reason that the proper depth of covering is one 
 of the first conditions of success, and we are persuaded that 
 most failures in growing these clovers have been due to the 
 fact that farmers have not fully comprehended the first prin- 
 ciples, and thus have failed to apply them to their particular 
 conditions and circumstances. 
 
 Whether common red or mammoth clover should be 
 selected for sowing depends altogether upon the rotation of 
 crops that he has adopted and the objects for which the clover 
 is grown. On good, rich land, where a crop of hay is desired, 
 and where fall pasture is an important consideration, the com- 
 mon red is to be preferred. This is especially the case in regions 
 where there are no insect enemies, such as the clover-root worm, 
 the clover midge, the thrips or the clover hay worm. In the ab- 
 sence of these pests, if it is desirable to secure a crop of clover 
 hay and the question of seed is less important than an abun- 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 25 
 
 dant aftermath, we advise in every case to select the common 
 red, as there are probably two or three varieties, different in 
 the coloi" of the blossom, in size and in maturity, and it would 
 not be difficult by selection to develop a variety with pure, 
 white blossoms, another with deep red and still others with 
 minor shades, and with essential differences in growth and 
 in the time of maturity. Possibly in the near future this may 
 be done. These differences would seem to indicate that the 
 mammoth was the original type, and that the different varie- 
 ties of common red are simply variations from this type, the 
 eflfect of soil and climate, or in other words, of environment. 
 
 As stated in a previous chapter, we regard the mammoth 
 simply as a late-maturing variety of the red, and not a differ- 
 ent species. The differences between them were regarded by 
 Linnaeus as sufficient to justify a different classification, and 
 he styled the common red, trifolium prateiise and the ms^m.- 
 \noth. trifolium mediuin. According to Prof W. J. Beal, of the 
 Chair of Botany in the Michigan Agricultural College, in his 
 standard work on the grasses, page 346, the two species 
 freely cross, and show all grades of intermediate forms. 
 This would indicate that the distinctions are not so great as 
 to justify the earlier classification. We have, therefore, in 
 this work, where minute scientific accuracy is not the aim ex- 
 cept in so far as it seems essential to the practical guidance of 
 the farmer, treated them as different forms of one species, 
 without presuming to settle the question as to whether the 
 distinction heretofore made is scientifically correct or not. 
 The original differences may be seen by comparing the illus- 
 trations on pages 28 and 29, as taken from Sudlow. It 
 might, however, be somewhat difficult to find in any field o 
 mixed Mammoth and common red clover two plants that vary 
 quite as widely as the two illustrations. 
 
 On farms where the main object m growmg clover is to 
 increase fertility, where it is not essential to secure a crop of 
 hay from every seeding of clover, and where it is desired to 
 procure a reasonably certain crop of seed as a money crop, the 
 mammoth should be preferred. The mammoth may also be 
 used with advantage on thin soils, and especially at their first 
 seeding, for the reason that on these soils it does not develop, 
 to the same extent at least, the objection that is urged against 
 it where on ordinary soils a hay crop is to be secured. This 
 objection is that it grows so rank and lodges so early that the 
 lower foot or eighteen inches of the stock becomes black and 
 entirely void of leaves and that the stalk is so coarse that it 
 
20 CLpVER CULTURE. 
 
 is difficult to cure and is largely rejected by live stock. These 
 objections do not apply where it is not desirable to secure a 
 hay crop. Many farmers are so situated that they prefer to 
 grow both in separate fields, the medium red for hay, after- 
 math and fertility, and the mammoth for securing with rea- 
 sonable certainty a crop of seed. In this case they sow timothy 
 with the mammoth and cut the first crop for seed, sometimes 
 mowing or pasturing it off until the first weeks of June for the 
 purpose of getting rid of the lower foot of the stalk and also 
 for the purpose of securing more abundant stooling. A crop 
 of seed is then taken about the ist of September and theafter- 
 math of timothy and clover is allowed to grow for the pur- 
 pose ot pasture. About two-thirds of the stalks of the mam- 
 moth clover die out the year after sowing, and the result is 
 usually a very heavy crop the next year, about two-thirds 
 timothy and one-third clover. The clover being at its best 
 at the same time as the timothy, the crop of hay resulting is 
 of a very fine quality, and comes in at a time when the best 
 <:onditions are usually present for curing it in its best estate. 
 It is very important, however, when growing timothy for 
 seed to secure seed free from admixture with the common 
 red and to sow it on soil not self-seeded with the latter 
 variety. 
 
 In sections of the country where the insect enemies of 
 clover are abundant it is advisable to discontinue the growth 
 of common red for a time and- take the mammoth in prefer- 
 ence, with all its disadvantages. All the insect pests with 
 which we are acquainted that infest the blossoms of clover, 
 produce two broods in the season, the first at the time of the 
 first bloom of red clover, and the second at the time of the sec- 
 ond bloom. By using the mammoth the fly of these pests 
 has no opportunity to deposit its eggs, and hence no second 
 crop is possible on that field. This is likely to be a very im- 
 portant consideration in the West when the growth of clover 
 is fully established. 
 
 While the mammoth is far inferior to the medium red as 
 a hay crop, and therefore we do not advise its cultivation 
 where a hay crop is the main object, it has very important ad- 
 vantages to the farmer who has exhausted the fertility of his 
 land by long years of cultivation in wheat, corn, oats oxjlax^ 
 and who is not in shape either to buy live stock or to provide 
 the shelter necessary to keep them at a profit. In such cases 
 as this we advise the sowing of mammoth clover with every 
 crop of spring grain, even though it be the intention to plow 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 zi 
 
 it up the succeeding yea-r. The seed crop of mammoth clo- 
 ver is about as certain as any other farm crop, while the seed 
 crop of the common red is one of the most precarious of crops, 
 unless the first cutting be made at the right time. It is rea- 
 sonably certain when the first crop is cut the last ten days of 
 June. Under Western conditions this is not always, nor in- 
 deed usually, possible. It is also liable to be greatly injured 
 by an early frost. 
 
 These objections do not apply to the mammoth which 
 matures its seed crop about the ist of September in the lati- 
 tude of Central Iowa and Nebraska, and, owing to the high 
 temperature of the season, can be cured rapidly and threshed 
 easily. The yield is from two to six bushels per acre, which 
 at present prices is equal as a cash crop to any other. The 
 farmer, therefore, can by the use of mammoth clover restore 
 the fertility ot the soil for the time being without incurring 
 the expense of investing in cattle, fences or barns, and to him 
 it is invaluable. Where the object is pasturage, we would 
 prefer sowing mixed seed in about equal proportions for the 
 obvious reason that, plants beingat their best about the period 
 of bloom, the season of continuous bloom is prolonged, mam- 
 moth clover coming in bloom two or three weeks later 
 than the^common red. By using this method there can be a 
 constant succession of clover bloom from May until frost. 
 Keeping in mind these two peculiarities of the two different 
 varieties, the reader will be able to determine for himseli 
 which is best adapted to the soil, climate and the character 
 of his farm operations. 
 
 The question of the amount of seed per acre whether 
 alone or mixed with each other, or with other grass seeds and 
 the best method of sowing will be discussed fully in a subse- 
 quent chapter. 
 
28 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE! 
 
 COMMON RED CLOVER. {7 ri/ol mm pretense.) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 29 
 
 MAMMOTH CLOVER. {Tn folium medium.} 
 
ALFALFA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 While the red and mammoth clovers are justly regarded 
 ^s the sheet anchor of the farmer in the sections of country to 
 which they are adapted, there is a point westward where, 
 by reason of deficient rainfall, their cultivation ceases to be 
 practicable or profitable. There is also a southern limit be- 
 yond which, by reason of the deficiency of lime in the soil and 
 of the long continued summer heat, they cease to be reliable. 
 We have before noted — so important does she seem to consider 
 the clover family to the welfare of the race — that Nature 
 provides some member of the family to meet the wants 
 of almost every soil and climate adapted to either tillage or 
 pasturage. This want is met to a very great extent, on the Paci- 
 fic coast of America, in the mountain valleys, on the great 
 plains, and on the Southern and along the Eastern Atlantic 
 coasts round to where it meets the red clover, by the alfalfa. 
 While not belonging to the same species as the ordinary clo- 
 vers, it has the same general characteristics and economic 
 values. It has the same three-cleft leaf and characteristic 
 pea blossom, as will be seen by the illustration on the follow- 
 ing page, the same power of assimilating nitrogen from the 
 atmosphere, an even higher ratio of albuminoids to carbo- 
 hydrates and therefore a similar feeding value. It is not a 
 trifolium but a medicago and belongs to the same class as the 
 bur clover of California and the western plains. 
 
 In its origin it antedates history. It has been traced 
 back to the ancient kingdoms of Media and Persia and we 
 have no doubt that when Nebuchednezzar was testing the 
 value on Daniel and his companionsof the legumes or "pulse," 
 as food for young statesmen, alfalfa was growing luxuriantly on 
 the royal farms on the banks of the rivers of Babylon. It was 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 31 
 
 ALFALFA. {Medicago sativa.) 
 
32 CLOVER CULTUKll.. 
 
 brought to Greece during the Persian war about 470 B. C, 
 thence to Italy; and it naturally followed the march of the all- 
 conquering legions to France, Spain and Portugal. The 
 Spaniards brought it with them to the new world and it soon 
 became established along the La Plata and in Chili in South 
 America, whence it was brought to California. Its very great 
 value under irrigation having been recognized, it soon be- 
 came established in the mountain valleys and on the plains. 
 Of late years farmers are beginning to recognize its value as a 
 substitute for clover on lands that are not susceptible of ir- 
 rigation, and now it may almost be regarded as a maxim that 
 where clover ends alfalfa begins, limited only in the practical 
 application of the maxim to soils that have a sub-soil suit- 
 able for alfalfa. 
 
 Alfalfa has travelled under various names. While its bo- 
 tanical name ismedicago saiiva it is knownin European coun- 
 tries as "lucerne," from the city of Luce»ne, in Switzerland, 
 where it is largely cultivated. The Spaniard named it alfalfa, 
 a name said to be ot Arabic origin and this name has natur- 
 ally followed the plant to the new world. It has some strik- 
 ing peculiarities, one that its stalk is very small in proportion 
 to its root, the former growing under favorable conditions 
 about two feet in length, the latter measured only by the dis- 
 tance to water. It may be anything from five feet to twenty 
 feet. 
 
 It has been used for so many ages for the specific purpose 
 of a meadow and forage plant that it does not adapt itself 
 readily to pasturage, and in order to secure the best results, re- 
 quires to be cut as a hay crop whether it be long or short, 
 about the time one fourth of the flowers are in bloom, other- 
 wise the stalk becomes woody and the value is very greatly 
 reduced. It need scarcely be said that a grass cut with such 
 an excess of sap is difficult to cure in a climate of great sum- 
 mer rainfall, and for this and many other reasons is not adapt- 
 ed to the soil and climate wliere clovers can be grown success- 
 fully. Thic difficulty of curing the hay is not the only ob- 
 stacle in the way of its adoption by farmers who can grow the 
 other clovers to perfection. It must have- room to stretch 
 out its roots and- hence will not succeed on lands where the 
 moisture is near the surface, for the same reason it will not 
 succeed on lands that have a subsoil of heavy, impervious 
 clay or are underlaid with rock. Requiring several years to 
 attain its maxim of usefulness, it does not fie readily into the 
 rotations especially the short ones which are so essential to 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 33 
 
 diversified agriculture and of which the red and mammoth 
 clovers are so integral and essential a part. It cannot endure 
 cold winters in soils saturated with water or covered with ice 
 during the winter season, and hence, while having a wider 
 range than the ordinary clovers, it is almost as rigidly exclud- 
 ed from their domain as they are from the domain of alfalfa. 
 
 Alfalfa then has two leading uses, one, and the main one 
 as a forage crop in the regions where irrigation is possible, 
 and the other as a substitute for the ordinary clovers where 
 they fail from lack ot summer moisture. It is the peculiarity 
 of arid soils and to a certain extent of the semi-arid, that the 
 conditions under which they are deposited prevent the forma- 
 tion of heavy clays, thus removing one of the main obstacles 
 to the growth of alfalfa. These soils have also comparatively 
 rainless summers and therefore provide the conditions for 
 curing with dispatch this clover which seems to have been 
 designed especially for their benefit. The discussion of the 
 growing of alfalfa naturally divides itself into two parts, its 
 culture under irrigation and its culture as a substitute for 
 other clovers, on soils and in climates where irrigation is not 
 practicable and where the latter are not a reliable crop. 
 
 When it is remembered that over more than one third of 
 the United States perennial grasses can be grown only by ir- 
 rigation the importance of the position sustained by alfalfa 
 will be readily recognized. It will grow steadily in popular 
 favor when irrigated lands lose their virgin fertility, as they 
 will in time, and when therefore it becomes necessary to find 
 some method of restoring the wastes of the soil robber. The 
 farmer on the plains and mountain valleys and on the Pacific 
 coast will then be compelled to call on alfalfa to do for him 
 what red clover does for the farmer in the Eastern states and 
 on the prairies. 
 
 In the Pacific states and in the mountain valleys it is 
 possible, by irrigation, to produce, on suitable land, from ten 
 to fifteen tons of alfalfa hay per annum. This alfalfa hay has 
 a higher feeding value than that made from any other k^own 
 grass grown in the United States. This immense yield is se- 
 cured in the southern sections by four or five cuttings dur- 
 ing the season; the first crop is taken off" early, the land being 
 flooded immediately afterward and soaked to the depth ot sev- 
 eral feet. The alfalfa then grows with wonderful vigor and 
 in a few weeks is ready to cut again, the extreme dryness of 
 the atmosphere and freedom from summer rains rendering it 
 possible to handle the crop and secure it in the best condi- 
 
34 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 tion at almost any time during the season. In the more 
 northern sections, fewer cuttings are possible and of course 
 the yield is less per acre. The hay crop is taken when the 
 plant is just coming into bloom and before the stems have 
 been converted to woody fiber, to a great extent indigestible. 
 When a seed crop is desired one of the latter growths is al- 
 lowed to ripen, the yield sometimes reaching as high as ten 
 bushels per acre. 
 
 While alfalfa is in the main a forage crop and its princi- 
 ple use that of a permanent meadow, it can be pastured with 
 safety after it has become well established and its roots have 
 penetrated to great depths. It is largely used in this way in 
 connection with the ranches of the mountain states, furnish- 
 ing, as it does by its last growth, a means of ripening the 
 vast herds of cattle that have been carried through the sum- 
 mer on the wild grasses of the ranges. It has proven equally 
 valuable on the great plains wherever there are suitable facili- 
 ties for irrigation, or where by reason of the nature of the 
 subsoil the roots ca'i reach down in a year or two to perma- 
 nent moisture. It is not at all uncommon, in regions where 
 the sheet water or the underflow of the rivers of the plains, 
 such as the Arkansas or the Platte, is within reach, to find 
 alfalfa flourishing without irrigation after the second or third 
 year, or, in other words, after the roots have reached a perma- 
 nent supply of water. 
 
 In sowing alfalfa for cultivation under irrigation the soil 
 must be well prepared. Alfalfa tolerates no slovenly culture. 
 There being no heavy clays in this region and the under soil 
 being, to a very great depth, as rich as the -upper, this is a 
 comparatively easy matter. The seed is usually sown broad- 
 cast at the rate of from fifteen to twenty pounds per acre and 
 covered sufficiently to insure germination. 
 
 Should weeds threaten to smother the young plants 
 they should be clipped, setting the mower high, and in this 
 way the plants are allowed free access to air and sunlight. 
 In order to prevent weed growth, alfalfa is sometimes sown in 
 drills twelve or fifteen inches apart, and cultivated until per- 
 manently established. This is the English method of alfalfa 
 culture. 
 
 A stand once secured, it lasts for many years with proper 
 care and management. It must not however be either mow- 
 ed or pastured until it has become well established. Some- 
 times, under very favorable conditions, one or two crops can 
 be taken the year it is sown and the second season three, but 
 
ClyOVER CULTURE. 35 
 
 it is better to allow, as in the case of the other clovers, a good 
 start before making any demands on the crop. While alfalfa, 
 like all the clovers, is a fertilizing crop and increases the sup- 
 ply of nitrogen in the soil, while at the same time producing 
 an enormous quantity in the forage, it is not a suitable crop 
 for poor, wornout land. It requires good land to start with-. 
 Arid and semi-arid soils nearly all have abundant fertility^ 
 (owing to the fact that they have not been subject to the leach- 
 ing process, so far as nitrogen is concerned , inseparable from 
 a sufficient annual rainfall,) to secure vigorous plant life, and 
 therefore the main consideration is a proper mechanical con- 
 dition of the soil and an abundant artificial supply of mois- 
 ture. In soils that are not capable of irrigation the growth 
 must be rapid in order that the roots may speedily reach per- 
 manent moisture and for this reason the land must be in good 
 heart. 
 
 It is easy to see from the above statements what a veri- 
 table godsend alfalfa has been to the arid regions of America. 
 When the irrigated wheat lands have lost their virgin fertility, 
 which is only a question of time, its culture will be greatly 
 extended. It will then be used as a rotation grass, as well 
 as a source of hay and pasture, the rotation being of necessity 
 a long one, on account of the number of years required to se- 
 cure a crop that will give the best results. 
 
 Of late years farmers in the semi-arid regions are begin- 
 ing to realize the value of alfalfa as a substitute for the clo- 
 vers usually grown on regions of sufficient permanent rain- 
 fall. It is not easy to locate on the map what, for the purpose 
 of this work, should be called the semi-arid region, using the 
 term as we do to describe the region west of the Missouri 
 where the ordinary clovers cannot be grown as a reasonably 
 reliable crop. We have in view that large region east of the 
 Rocky Mountains where the methods of farming followed 
 over the greater part of the Mississippi Valley, as for instance 
 in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and the eastern 
 portions of Kansas and Nebraska, cannot be followed with 
 success. This region may be said to be approximately bound- 
 ed on the east by a line which, on the southern border of 
 Kansas, begins near the 98th meridian of longitude west from 
 Greenwich, and passing thence west of north crosses the Ne- 
 braska line near the 100 meridian and continuing in the same 
 direction some seventy-five miles into that state, it changes a 
 little to the east of north and thence extends into the Dako- 
 tas. In this region the limitations as to what crops can and 
 
36 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 what cannot be grown successfully, whether of grain or grass, 
 have not been fully determined. It is quite clear that corn 
 cannot be depended upon as a paying crop, and the same is 
 true, as a rule, of the clovers and other grasses grown farther 
 east. The experience of farmers has already determined their 
 unprofitableness except in certain favored localities. 
 
 With these important crops stricken from the list, the 
 entire aspect of farming changes. Other crops suited to the 
 climatic conditions must be found, and even the methods of 
 work to which the farmer has been accustomed in other lo- 
 calities and under other conditions, materially changed. 
 There is no plant that gives promise of greater usefulness to 
 the farmers of thatregion than alfalfa, and with a view to giv- 
 ing our readers the most reliable information on the subject 
 we have requested Prof. Georgeson, of the Kansas Agricul- 
 tural College, to contribute to these pages the results of his 
 valuable experience and observation, which he has kindly 
 consented to do in the following: 
 
 As has been noted elsewhere, alfalfa is a perennial plant. It sends its 
 roots deep into the ground, and onco established in a suitable soil, it will 
 yield profitable crops for an indefinite number of years. Because of its 
 deep rooting nature, it is less dependent upon the rainfall than almost any 
 other farm crop. Its wonderful roots, which in some instances have been 
 traced thirty feet deep, reaching down far below the influence of loca 
 showers and the solar heat, and pumping up moisture from below, sus 
 tain the plant in periods of drouth. This feature is greatly in favor of 
 alfalfa for that region But what is more to the point, it has been proved 
 to be a success both with and without irrigation in this semi-arid region — 
 with irrigation producing magnificent yields, and on the uplands withou* 
 irrigation, producing an occasional good crop of hay, and at all times bet 
 ter pasture than the native grasses afford. In Kansas there are instance 
 of its successful culture in nearly every one of the- western counties. 
 Particularly is this the case in Ford and Finney counties, where efforts in 
 this direction have been more persistent than elsewhere. Along the Ar 
 kansas valley in these counties It grows to perfection. 
 
 The prospect of alfalfa growing in the West may be studied under three 
 conditions. First, under irrigation. This aspect of the case requires but 
 little notice here. With irrigation, whether on upland or lowland, it is 
 one of the surest as woll as one of the most profitable crops that can be 
 raised, and its 'successful Culture is not at all problemati al. 
 
 Second, on the lowlands without irrigation. Under this condition it is 
 also grown successfully, as is testified by thousands of acres now in alfalfa 
 in western Kansas. But the success, that is, the yield, varies with the 
 situation. A very large proportion of the bottom lands in that reation 
 have a porous, sandy subsoil, through which the water of the streams 
 percolate with ease for long distances, forming what i> known as "sheet 
 water." This water is, in some places, very near the surface, in others it 
 is ten, twelve, or more feet below. On such lands, where the roots pene- 
 trate with ease to the water, alfalfa is successfully grown without irriga- 
 tion. 
 
 Third, on uplands and without irrigation. It is especially this aspect 
 of the case that commands our attention, because, at best, but a small 
 fraction of the country is made up of valley lands of the above character. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 37 
 
 There are a hundred acres of dry upland 'o one of bottomland. Land 
 that Is in Itself very fertile, wifh a beautiful, gently undulating surface, 
 but which is hopelessly beyond the reach of any system of irrigation, and 
 which Owing to the dry climate with an average rain fall of less than 
 twenty inches, cannot be cultivatea as farms are cultivated further east. 
 Can alfalfa be grown here? The answer is a qualified affirmative. Actual 
 trials in many placos have demonstrated that alfalfa can be grown on 
 these dry uplands, but the yield in forage is not to be compared with the 
 yield in the lowlands. In the first place, the obtaining of a good stand is 
 attended with more difficulties. If the rain in the early part of May is 
 sufficient only to terminate the seed, but not enough to sustain the young 
 plants till they get a foot hold, the stand will be light, and at times it may 
 require two or more seedings before the crop is well launched. Again j 
 the growtli the first year is feeble, and nothing, either in the way of pasj 
 ture or hay, can reasonably be expected from it the first season; no pas- 
 ture, because it would kill the crop to turn the stock on it, and no hay 
 because the growth is too light. The second, third and succeeding years 
 it will > ield increasingly good pasture, but it is only in favorable seasons 
 that it will produce fair hay crops. Under the conditions named it is, 
 however, a great thing for the plant to live and yield pasturage, for as 
 pasturage it far exceeds the wild grasses both in quantity and quality. 
 There is no better pasture for horses, hogs and sheep, nor indeed for cat- 
 tle, except that it sometimes causes them to bloat. This upland alfalfa 
 has one other good feature — it yields seed of superior quality, even though 
 only in moderate quantity. Combining these features — good pasture, an 
 occasional hay crop and a sure producer of good seed — and add to this 
 its manurial properties, which, as we shall see, is by no means its least 
 virtue, we have in alfalfa a better forage plant for the western plains 
 than any other parenniil that hns yet been brought to our notice. 
 
 The claims here made are moderate. Oftentimes it will exceed the re- 
 sults here promised. In favorable seasons the crop may be started with 
 ease even on the unbroken prairie. The Hon. R. P. Kelly, of Eureka, 
 Kansas, who is a close observer and an accomplished scientist, informs me 
 that he has seen a ca?*^ in point which is worth noting here. On a large 
 ranch in Meade county, ai/out three hundred acres of creek bott'^m were 
 sown to alfalfa. It grew well and yielded abundantly. On one occasion 
 thp crop was cut late, part of it having matured seed. This hay was fed 
 to a large herd of cattle during the fall and winter, and for that purpose 
 was spread over quite a large area of the adjoining slopes and upland. To 
 the surprise of the owners, as well as to -all others who subsequently saw 
 it, the seed thus scattered on the pra'rie sod took root the following spring 
 and made a good and permanent stand of alfalfa. Another almost iden- 
 tical case happened in another place and has been related to me by the 
 owner of the pasture. If such accidents lead to success, what is to hinder 
 the same results being attained with the judicious use of proper imple- 
 ments and a good supply of seed ? 
 
 There are places where alfalfa cannot grow, regardless of climate. 
 Wherever there is an impervious clay, the so called "gumbo," or a layer 
 of hardpan, or rock within a few feet of the surface, it will be a total 
 failure if on the uplands, and but a very indifferfint success on the bot- 
 tom lands. Likewise on the bottom lands, where the soil water stands 
 too near the surface, or where it is overflowed for considerable periods, 
 alfalfa should not be sown. 
 
 For successful seeding prepare a good seed bed by whatever m'-ans 
 may ho found most expedient In most cases I should prefer to plow in 
 the fall; or, in sections of lieht soil with dry and windy winters, early in 
 spring. Pulverize the surface well, and do not sow the seed in this ele- 
 vated western region until the latter part of April, or the beginning of 
 M.iy. Late frosts are liable to occur here, and these sometimes nip the 
 
38 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 young plants severely if they germinate too early. On the uplands 1 
 would sow not less than twenty- live pounds "f seed to the acre, and on 
 the low lands, twenty pounds. &ow broadcast, either by hand, or with a 
 grass seed attachment to a drill or disc harrow. )ver the seed well with 
 some implement that suits the nature of the soil. If sown by hand the 
 di<»c harrow, run shallow, will afford the ""est covering; then apply a 
 heavy roller. On the uplands it should always be sown by itself. If 
 sown with oats, barl'y, or the like, the young plants are apt to be killed 
 by exposure to the sun aftT the "nurse crop" has been removed. On 
 Irrigated land ther < is but little danger of this kind, and the seed Is gen- 
 erally sown with some spring crop. I p'^efer, in all cases, to sow broad- 
 cast. When young or n'lwly cut the gi'ound is not then so exposed to the 
 scorching sun as when it stands in rows. 
 
 The first year is always the most precarious period. No stock should 
 ever be allowed on it that year and care should be taken that it is not 
 choked out by weeds. To kill these run over the ground two or three 
 times with the mower during the season and set the finger-bar high, 
 especially the first time, to avoid injuring the young plants. On the 
 uplands a second year of this treatment may occasionally be necessary. 
 Wh«n pastured, care should be taken that it is not over-stocked; for, if 
 In addition to a drouth and a weary search for water on the part of the 
 roots, It is kept grazed to the ground, the crop will be brought to an 
 untimely end. It makes one of the best pastures for hogs imaginable, 
 but for the good of the crop they should not be put on till it is thoroughly 
 established. They should be prevented from rooting by ringing their 
 noses and they should not be kept on long enough at. a time to injure it. 
 
 For hay the crop should be cut every time it comes in bloom, no mat- 
 ter what its height may be. It does not grow any taller after it begins to 
 bloom, and if allowed to go to seed it will drop its leaves, and, moreover, 
 will make little or no growth after that for the rest of the year. Cut it 
 when about one-fourth in bloom. The hay is very brittle, and the leaves, 
 the best part of it, break off easily in handling. To diminish this waste 
 it must be cured with care. The best practice is to rake in the afternoon 
 what has been c it in the forenoon, put it into good sized cocks and let it 
 cure there thoroughly before it is stacked. If the crop is light and the 
 sun strong, the rake may follow soon after the mower. If dried too 
 much in the swath, the'*e will be little besides the dry stalks left when 
 the crop is raked. To keep alfalfa hay well the staci must be covered, 
 or it must be housed. It does not shed rain well and a single soaking 
 rain will cause it to mould and spoil. Growers of alfalfa in western Kan- 
 sas prefer, for these reasons, to dispose of the crop as soon as possible 
 after it is secured. It sells* usually in the towns to local consumers for 
 about 83.00 a ton. Some of ic is baled and shipped to other points, but 
 the frieght rates are so high as to make this impracticable, unless it can 
 be sold to unusual advantage. On low lands, or when under irrigation, 
 the fields are usually cut three times and sometimes four during the 
 season. It is a usual practice to take two crops of hay and to let the 
 third crop go to seed. Sometimes, however, an early frost will catch this 
 crop before the seed matures, and, of course, blast the prospects of 
 seed. So, to make It sure, the second crop is often taken for seed. The 
 seed can be threshed and cleaned on an ordinary separator. The y'eld 
 on thi bottom lands is reported to have fallen off in late years. ^Vhen 
 first started the alfalfa crop frequently yielded from ten to twelve bushels 
 of seed to the acre; now it is said to average only between five and seven 
 bushels. This is for the vicinity of Garden City. On the uplands the 
 yield is nearly as good. There is a large demand for the seed from seed- 
 men and it sells at from $3.50 to $4.00 per bushel, and these prices are 
 likely to remain stationary for some years to come until the supply has 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 39 
 
 'been largely increased. At present the increase in demand Is equal to 
 the increa^'e in production. 
 
 As regards its nutritive qualities there are but few other plants that 
 •can compare with alfafa. Red clover Is the best known and most uni- 
 versal leguminous crop. For the sake oif comparison I quote the follow- 
 ing analyses of the two from Wolf's tables. The Ggures refer to the 
 digestible nutrients in each ease: 
 
 
 Red clover. 
 Quality very good. 
 
 Alfalfa. 
 Quality very good. 
 
 
 Hay. 
 
 Green. 
 Inblcssom. 
 
 Hay. 
 
 Green. 
 In blossom. 
 
 Crude Protein 
 
 8.5 
 
 38.2 
 
 1.7 
 
 5 
 
 1.7 
 8.8 
 0.4 
 5.7 
 
 12.3 
 
 31.4 
 
 1.0 
 
 2.8 
 
 3.2 
 
 Carbohydrates 
 
 8.1 
 
 Fat 
 
 3 
 
 jS'utritive ratio 
 
 3.1 
 
 It will be here seen that alfalfa, either as hay or green, contains more 
 of the most valuable nutrient (protein) than red clover, and the nutri- 
 tive ratio indicates that it is nearly as narrow. The figures speak for 
 themselves. Further argument on that point is unnecessary.* 
 
 What place, then, can alfalfa take in western farming? It is grown 
 with excellent success on the bottom lands and under irrigation. It can 
 be grown, and is grown, with comparative success on the uplands. But 
 this is not all. As a fertilizing agent of the soil it is fully equal, if not 
 superior, to red clover. It is a nitrogen gatherer of the first magnitude, 
 and its habit of growth renders it peculiarly efficient as a renovator and 
 enrlcher of the soil. The long roots draw up ash elements from depths 
 where no other crops could feed, and store them until, by their decay, 
 they again give them up to succeeding crops. By their penetration into 
 the subsoil it is on their decay rendered more porous; it Is aereated more 
 perfectly than by other crop?; the water will drain through the soil bet- 
 ter for the openings they leave and thus store more water beiow which 
 can again be raised more easily through the capillaries they have formed. 
 These are all beneficial features. 
 
 Alfalfa, however, has some drawbacks. Owing to the fact that it tikes 
 so long to develop its full powers it can never take the place in a short ro- 
 tation that clover occupies farther east. For that purpose we must look 
 to some other leguminous crop which can thrive in that region, and it 
 seems probable that the soy bean will meet the want. But alfalfa can be 
 used in a longer rotation. If it is allowed to stand five years and then 
 plowed under, it will have served for pasture or meadow at least three or 
 four years and at the same time will have developed a large root growth 
 for the benefit of the soil. Many would hesitate to break up a good alfalfa 
 field, but by breaking up a portion and seeding an equal portion every 
 year the acreage could be maintained, and there would be no loss of feed. 
 I should consider this the safest practice. It will not do to allow the 
 soil to lose fertility. Our western farmers must resort to renovating 
 crops of some kind, and, used in this manner, alfalfa will answer the pur- 
 pose. Tf, in the course of a few years, farmers in the section of country 
 above described, find themselves tilling an exhausted soil in addition to 
 the precarious circumstances which now mark the situation, their lot will 
 
 * It should be remembered, however, that it is customary to cut alfalfa when one- 
 fourth lu bloom, while red clover is usually cut for hay after it is full bloom and one- 
 third or more of the heads have turned brown. It should also be remembered that the 
 relative supply of protein decreases rapidly in all plants after lilooming has commenced. 
 Unless these facts are borne in mind the above comparison is in danger of mislead- 
 ing. — The Author. 
 
40 CLrOVER CULTURE. 
 
 be hard Indeed. But this need not happen. They have already discov- 
 ered that land which has been in alfalfa far out yields adjoining land of 
 equal original fertility. And I already hear of instances where compar- 
 atively young alfalfa fields are broken up to be followed with wheat be 
 cause of the increased yields itey afford. This is right and should b& 
 encouraged. While permanent and exclusive stock farms with alfalfa the 
 main if not the only crop will of course be numerous, and while stock 
 raising must always be a prominent feature of agriculture in that region, 
 the vast majority of the farmers must engage more or less in mixed hus- 
 bandry. They must grow wheat, barley, oats, Kaffir corn and such other 
 crops as will prove to be certain and profitable, and this system leads to 
 certain exhaustion of the soil and consequent ruin of the farmer-; unless 
 some renovatiuK crop keeps up the balance of fertility. Eastward clover 
 is that crop; in the West alfalfa can and doubtless will take the same 
 function, if not exactly in the same manner at least with the same result. 
 
 The above from Prof. Georgesoii so completely covers 
 the ground in the territory and under the conditions indicat- 
 ed that every reader who knows the character of his soil and 
 subsoil can determine with reasonable accuracy at. once 
 whether it will pay him to grow alfalfa. We have recently 
 made a careful personal investigation of the conditions in tlie 
 territory indicated, and our observations coincide with the 
 conclusions of jProf. Georgeson in every particulci.. It is our 
 object to make this work a reliable guide to the farmer in 
 growing clovers best adapted to his own particular soil and 
 climate; and for this reason we have supplemented our own 
 studies and observations with the experience of other men 
 who have made the growing of the clovers a matter of special 
 study and experiment in the several sections of the West. 
 We have no doubt that there are very considerable areas of 
 country east and south of the district indicated in which it 
 will pay to grow alfalfa without irrigation. In fact, subject 
 to the conditions of subsoil indicated by Prof Georgeson, we 
 believe it may be regarded as a maxim that where clover 
 ends, alfalfa begins. The Creator has made no mistake in 
 providing leguminous plants for every country where he in- 
 tended the farmer to prosper. 
 
 In traveling over Kansas and Nebraska for tlie special 
 study of the problem of growing the clovers, we were im- 
 pressed by the failures of many alfalfa growers because of the 
 lack of reliable information as to the best methods of grow- 
 ing alfalfa, under their present conditions. With a view of 
 giving the reader of the far West definite and reliable informa- 
 tion on this point we requested Prof C. L. Ingersoll, of the 
 Nebraska State University to contribute to these pages the 
 results of his wide observation and special studies on the sub- 
 ject of alfalfa under irrigation. Prof Ingersoll has special 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 41 
 
 qualifications for this work. He was for five years connected 
 with the Colorado Experiment Station, and during these five 
 years made alfalfa under irrigation a matter of special study 
 and experiment. He has kindly consented to give the reader 
 the benefit of his knowledge and experience. In the follow- 
 ing pages he so completely covers the ground that the reader 
 in this district, whether in Nebraska or the states further 
 West, who carefully studies and follows his instructions, can 
 scarcely be said to be experimenting with the plant: 
 
 The subject of alfalfa culture in the United States has received great 
 impetus within the last fifteen or twenty years because of its peculiar 
 adaptation to culture in the more arid regions, and the excellent results 
 obtained. The plant itself is not a modern one, but has been cultivated 
 for several centuries. It is perennial, and when once successfully estab- 
 lished in a soil, will remain and grow vigorously for years. In this 
 respect it is quite unlike its congener — the red clover, which usually 
 lasts but'two, or at most three years without reseeding. On this account 
 the alfalfa is, therefore, of special value. 
 
 The plant has been known by the Spanish name, alfafa, rather than 
 by its French name, lucern, because it has come to us by the way of 
 South America and California, where, with a bpanish speaking popula- 
 tion, it would naturally be called by its Spanish name. Its botanical 
 name is Medlcago sativa, and it is supposed to have been raised by the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans to some extent, as long ago as the Christian 
 era. Indeed the name Medicugo, applying to the genus, is derived from 
 the Greek word signifying forage or forage plant. Other persons have 
 supposed that the name was derived from the Province of Media, where 
 it was supposed to have been cultivated in early times. Some of the 
 Roman writers have memtioned it in their writings. In its introduction 
 into America, it seems first to have found its way into the countries of 
 South America, where there is little rainfall and where irrigation has 
 been practiced to some extent. From these countries and especially Chili, 
 it has found its way into some parts of Mexico, and also into Southern 
 California, from which place it has spread into the states and territories 
 lying to the eastward and reaching as far as the Missouri river. Agricul- 
 ture in these regions on account of the physical conditions occasioned by 
 lack of rainfall, must be carried on almost exclusively by means of irri- 
 gation, and whi'e varied crops could be grown successfully, it was with 
 ■difficulty that eood stands of grab's or the ordinary clover could be ob- 
 tained under this system. In alfalfa, then, those farmers seemed to have 
 secured the plant with all the conditions necessary to supply them with 
 forage. They found that it was a plant easily raised, provided proper 
 care were used to put the soil in proper condition, that it grew thrifty, 
 that it maintained its hold upon the fields, was strong and did not kill 
 easily by winter exposure. They found that a given area would produce 
 a much larger cutting of forage of good quality, than one set of grasses or 
 ordinary clover. Although they were liable to be prejudiced against it 
 because of th" prevailing systems in the East, they soon found that al- 
 falfa was valuable in flesh producing compounds, and that animals soon 
 learned to love it and thrived upon it. They also found that it was an 
 excellent milk producer, and that when fed to sheep it produced a good 
 quality of wool. All of these things combined to induce farmers of this 
 region to forego their former experiences, and to learn, as it were, the 
 new agriculture, with alfalfa as t/ie forage plant as the basis. 
 
42 CLOVER CUIyTURE. 
 
 Alfalfa is adaptPtl to all the soils found upon the slope of the mountaiDs 
 In the above mentioned reRion, such soils as a whole being made up of 
 the disintegrated rocks of the region lying above them. In the erosion 
 of the rocks, and in the distribution of the material we find considerable 
 variation, Iqi;, In the lirst place, the rocks vary somewhat in character 
 and hurdness. 
 
 It is not u-<ual to sow this crop upon prairie land broken for the first 
 time, although this is sometimes done. The best results are usually at- 
 tained when the land has been cultivated in two or three crops, such as 
 wheat, barley or oats, and then to have the land well prepared the fol- 
 lowing spring for the seed bed. In ordinary cases we are to suppose a 
 deptH of plowing varying from five to seven inches. Great depth of plow- 
 ing, however, is non-essential, as the roots of the plant penetrate in ordi- 
 nary soils to many feet in depth, the plant having one well marked tap- 
 root which thrusts itself downward into the soil and largely sustains it, 
 while the lateral roots that are thrown off are few in number and only 
 contribute a small portion to the nutrition of the growing plant. One 
 might suppose that it would be labor wasted to plow the ground again 
 after a crop, unless he were to raise another crop of grain, but it has 
 been ascertained that the best way to secure a nice even stand of alfalfa 
 under irrigation is to raise it without other crops. This may seem like 
 losing the use of the land for a season, but the farmer will find that he 
 is well repaid in the end by the strong and better growth of the alfalfa, 
 during the year, making it strong to pass the first winter. Therefore, 
 where best results are expected, the ground should be plowed in the parly 
 spring or late in the previous fall, and as soon as danger from frosts is 
 passed, in April or May, the seed bed should be carefully prepared. This- 
 must be done by repeated harrowings and the use of the roller or a plank 
 smoothing arrangement, so that there is a well pulverized seed bed 
 of one to two inches upon the surface. The ground should be moist, or 
 at least moist enough to sprout and grow the S'-ed successfully without 
 Irrigation. If there is not this degree of moisture in the land, it should 
 be irrigated before the seed bed is prepared. A3 alfalfa seed is about the 
 size and has the same appearance as red clover, it can be sown in approxi- 
 mately in the same manner, either broad-cast or drilled, but more seed Is 
 generally used than of red clover. Various quantities are stated as be- 
 ing used by successful farmers in the arid region, and with equally good 
 results. One of the finest fields the writer has seen was prepared as 
 above stated, and the seed drilled in about one inch in depth in two direc- 
 tions, making cro's checks, using twenty-five pounds of good seed per 
 acre. The field produced one of the finest stands of forage that we have 
 ever seen. 
 
 Alfalfa will grow at almost any elevation below 7,000 down to sea level; 
 above that the winters seem too severe and the nights in spring o- early 
 summer too cold and frosty for the plant to thrive well. The number of 
 cuttings of foragi which alfalfa produces is marvelous. In northern Col- 
 orado and this parallel extending east and west at an elevation of .5,000 
 feet, the usual number of cuttings in a single season is three, while in ex- 
 ceptional seasons, four and even five cuttings have been made. In south- 
 ern Colorado and northern New Mexico, four, five and six cuttings are 
 quite usual, and the yield at each one of these is as great as the yield of 
 good meadow' gras*. If the total growth of the plant during one season 
 were taken, it would be found to vary from nine to fifteen feet in length; 
 this varies, of course, with the soil, local circumstances, latitude and the 
 elevation above sea level; in this case we are supposing a proper amount 
 of water for irrigation. 
 
 The irrigation of alfalfa is comparatively easy after the young plant* 
 are started, but sometimes the ground, if not well sloped and smoothed, 
 will tend to wash and some cf. the seed will be covered too deeply by soil 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 43 
 
 which is conveyed in other places, and in other cases the entire seed and 
 soil may be washed away. Much care, then, and labor must be used in 
 order to prevent this condition of thing and have a free and equal distri- 
 bution of the water upon the field. The second irricration, a few weeks 
 later, will be much easier, while the third irrigation will usually cost little 
 or no effort. The water should be turned upon the alfalfa, after the first 
 year, as early in the spring as it can be obtained from the canals, and the 
 growth of the plant will thus be pushed very early and an accordingly 
 larger growth made. The experience with reference to later irrigation 
 varies somewhat. Some good farmers prefer to turn the water upon the 
 field just before it is ready to be cut, and then as soon as the soil has be- 
 ■come reasonably dry to commence the haying; others prefer to make the 
 hay and turn the water immediately upon the stubble. Both methods have 
 their adherents and advocates, and both obtain equally good results as far 
 as Q,ur observation extends. It is usual to irrigate at least once for each 
 cutting; sometimes an extra irrigation would be valuable if the weather be 
 ■extremely hot and dry. A late irrigation just before the ground freezes is 
 desirable to give moisture for winter. 
 
 We have alluded to the yield of alfalfa as a forage plant. It is no un- 
 usual thing to take six or eight tons of forage from a single acre, and that 
 upon large areas, so that a man who has a comparatively small area well 
 set in alfalfa is master of the situation as far as forage is concerned. We 
 mu-t remember that in this region corn cannot be successfully raised in 
 large quantity; and if alfalfa is to be the great forage plant in this region, 
 it must successfully take the place of corn in the agriculture at low eleva- 
 tions. The amount of forage which it furnishes per acre gives us the first 
 great factor in this comparison and makes it especially valuable. The 
 farmers of Colorado especially have found alfalfa to be a very strong nu- 
 tritive plant for feeding, and in some instances It has been used success- 
 fully in the fattening of beef steers for the market without the addition 
 of a single ounce of grain ration. We have seen the fattening of nearly 
 one hundred and fifty in one bunch that was conducted in this way, and 
 the animals brought the highest price in the Denver market. Perhaps a 
 statement of the composition of the alfalfa plant at this point might not 
 be out of place. The green alfalfa contained 39 11 per cent, of dry mate- 
 rial and G0.89 per cent, of water. The alfalfa hay contained 9.59 per cent, 
 of water, 11.90 per cent, of ash, 3.85 per cent, of fat, 12.87 per cent, of al- 
 buminoid nitrogen, 18.01 per cent, of crude fiber and 43.78 per cent, of 
 nitrogen free extract 
 
 This was for alfalfa cut when the bloom was half turned, showing that 
 it was rapidly ripening. Experiments at several of the experiment sta- 
 tions in the United States have shown that this is the proper time at 
 which to cut grasses and clovers in order to have them retain the greatest 
 amount of nutritive qualities. Alfalfa, like other clovers and grasses, 
 should be carefully cured for hay. As the leaves are somewhat smaller 
 than those of other clover, and the climate of the arid region is exces- 
 ■sively dry, it should be secured before the hay has cured too much so as 
 "to prevent the breaking off of the leaves and leaving the hay largely of 
 bare stems. A very little experience will teach one what is best in regard 
 to this. Again, if the plant stands too long and becomes too ripe, the 
 seed begins to form and there is too much woody fiber in the stalk, and 
 much of it is quite indigestible, even when eaten by stock. It is cus- 
 tomary in many places, however, to cut one crop of hay, then to take a 
 crop of seed and to pasture for the remainder of the year. In cases of this 
 kind we have known three tons of good hay to be secured, and eight 
 bushels of fine seed per acre, beside the pasture. It is thus readily seen 
 that a plant, which, under irrigation, will produce such results as those 
 mentioned, Is extremely valuable to the farmer who practices irrigation, 
 and that in the agriculture of the west, at an elevation of from 2,500 to 
 
44 CLOVER CULTlJKb. 
 
 7, 000 feet, there is no other plant we know of that can take Its place. 
 
 We have often been asked what was our opinion relative to alfalfa for 
 the state of Nebraska. We have always replied that it would be valuable 
 for a large portion, if not for all the state. If a line were to be drawn 
 from Sioux City, Iowa, southwest, passing through Grand Island, in HalJ 
 county, extending to the south line of the state, all lying west and north- 
 west of that line would, in our opinion, be benefitted by raising more or 
 less of this plant for forage. In the more eastern and southeastern 
 counties, the propriety of its general growth might, perhaps, be ques- 
 tioned; but even there, in small areas for special purposes, it misbt be 
 valuable. In many places farmers have made the mistake of sowing thfs 
 plant upon low ground, where it was but a short distance to water. It 
 should be grown where its roots would be obliged to go some distance for 
 water and where there is no impervious sub-soil. When grown with too 
 much moisture the plants turn yellow, having a feeble, sickly appear- 
 ance and usually die In one or two years. The same appearance is found 
 when the roots of the plant cannot penetrate shaly sub-soil. In summing 
 up this whole matter of alfalfa growing, we believe that no single plant 
 has been introduced in the weslern part of the United States that is oi 
 such great utility and value as alfalfa. 
 
WHITE AND ALSIKE CLOVER. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 White clover sustains the same relation to permanent 
 pastures on dry calcareous or carboniferous soils, and alsike on 
 pastures of slough, marsh or other wet lands, that the red 
 and the mammoth sustain to the meadows in the carbonifer- 
 ous soils in the northern and western states that have rain- 
 fall of twenty inches and over, and that alfalfa sustains to 
 the deep, sandy or other light soils in the Pacific states and 
 territories and other arid or semi-arid regions where irriga- 
 tion is possible. The relation is not merely that of a source 
 ot an abundant supply of pasture and forage on the one hand 
 or of hay and forage on the other, but each is a hand-maid, a 
 help-meet, as a source of nitrogen to whatever other grasses, 
 non-leguminous, may be associated with them. There is no 
 true grass that we know of that will not flourish better and 
 produce more abundantly when associated with the clovers, 
 whether in the pasture or in the meadows. 
 
 It is unnecessary for us to enter into any detailed descrip- 
 tion of the white clover nor is any illustration needed to 
 identify a plant so widely spread and generally known. It 
 is called trijoliuni repens, or the creeping three-leaf plant, 
 because of its creeping habit of growth. Its deficiency in 
 length prevents it from being of much value as a meadow 
 grass, although the analysis of its hay shows it to be equal, if 
 not, indeed, superior, to either the red or the mammoth clover. 
 It differs from the red and mammoth in many particulars. 
 
 First. It is perennial ; that is, it grows from the same root 
 year after year, while the others are for the most part, biennial 
 
46 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 I 
 
 that is,growiag two years, or at most short perennials, which 
 they are said to become if prevented from flowering by con- 
 tinued pasturage, and thus last for three or four years. It is 
 probable that there is ground for the statement made by 
 English botanists, and at which we have hinted in a previous 
 chapter, that there are at least two varieties known as tlie 
 common red clover, one of which is strictly a biennial and 
 the other a short perennial. Another point of difference is 
 that when the creeping vines of white clover are allowed to 
 grow long, they throw out rootlets along the vine which 
 give it an ability to stand prolonged summer drouths better 
 than the red or mammoth varieties with their longer tap 
 roots. 
 
 White clover seeds abundantly, the seeds growing four 
 and sometimes six in a pod. It secretes a great abundance of 
 nectar and being easily fertilized by the common bee, and 
 therefore independent of the bumble bee, it yields a far more 
 certain crop of seed. It is a common saying among farmers 
 that white clover never fails to produce a seed crop. When 
 we come to examine the ash of the plant and compare it with 
 red clover, the white contains nearly twice as much phosphoric 
 acid, nearly four per cent, more lime, and potasli in the 
 proportion of two to five. It will therefore flourish on soils 
 that are deficient in potash, while it requires more phosphoric 
 acid than the red clover. Both, however, by reason of the 
 bacteria in the nodules or tubercles on t^ieir roots, obtain their 
 nitrogen to a very large extent from the atmosphere. 
 
 The history of white clover is somewhat obscure. It is 
 probably indigenous to the Eastern states of America, and is 
 said, on what authority we do not know, to have been domes- 
 ticated, by cultivating the seeds of the wild plant, about the 
 beginning of the last century. It is recorded of a farmer in. 
 one of the Eastern states at that time that he "sowed the wild 
 white clover which holds the ground and decays not." In 
 Sir John Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, printed in 1607 and 
 re-printed in 1618, we find the growing of "clouer grasse or 
 the grasse honey suckle (white clover) with other hay seeds" 
 advised. This would indicate that it is probably indigenous 
 to England, and that the attention of the farmers was called 
 to its merits a hundred years earlier in England tha^i in 
 America. It precedes the introduction of red clover from 
 Europe almost fifty years. It is not. so far as we have 
 observed, indigenous, that is a natural product of the soil, to 
 the West. It seems to have come in as did blue grass {poa 
 
ULrUVKiK CUiy'iUKl*.. 45 
 
 pratensis\ with the introduction ot" lawn grasses into the 
 villages, and from this it spread with the blue grass in all 
 directions following naturally the main traveled roads, and 
 especially the ridge roads that meandered over the unbroken 
 prairie. We have usually observed blue grass gaining a foot- 
 hold, where the prairie grass had been tramped out, three or 
 four years in advance of the white clover; and after the white 
 clover had become established in connection with the blue 
 gTass, it always retains its footing. These two grasses seemi 
 to be united by a marriage bond stronger than that of squire 
 or clergy, and one which no court has sufficient jurisdiction to- 
 dissolve. There are two obvious reasons for this close and inti- 
 mate relation between blue grass and white clover. The blue 
 grass needs the white clover to supply it with nitrogen which 
 it requires in large quantities, and the period of growth of 
 each is such that neither interferes seriously with the other. 
 The blue grass has thrown up heads and blossoms and its 
 seed is well on the way to maturity before the white clover 
 is ready to make its push for the occupancy of the ground. 
 The latter then has the field mostly to itself until the blue 
 grass is ready to make its fall growth, hence, in mid-summer 
 farmers sometimes claim that the white clover has taken the 
 blue grass and ar^ disposed to mourn over the fact. An 
 examination of the same field in the fall will show that blue 
 grass occupies the ground almost wholly and they are dis- 
 posed to wonder where the white clover has gone. It is for 
 these two reasons that these plants are found inseparable in 
 the permanent pasture. 
 
 The place for white clover is in the permanent pasture. 
 It should never be sown in any pasture that is not intended 
 to remain undisturbed for three years or more, and it should 
 be as far as possible carefully excluded from all meadows and 
 from lands intended for rotation of five years or less. The 
 reason need scarcely be stated. If sown on lands that are 
 intended for meadows, it will very soon crowd out timothy and 
 the larger clovers, and thus greatly reduce the yield of forage. 
 It is liable to springup evervyear in lands cultivated in corn 
 or other tillage crops, and hence becomes a weed, compara- 
 tively harmless, but at the same time useless, while the 
 amount of nitrogen it may supply in its brief life as a weed 
 among cultivated crops is not worth mentioning. 
 
 Like most other good things, and we might add good 
 people, it has its faults. In the earlier part of the sea- 
 son cattle take the larger clovers and other cultivated grasses 
 
48 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 in preference, probably on account of some particular flavoi 
 which they prefer. This objection, however, is speedily 
 overcome as the season progresses, and it is never found that 
 a crop of white clover is necessarily wasted. Another and 
 more serious objection is that in certain seasons, and par- 
 ticularly during the months when the seed is ripening, it is 
 believed to slobber stock, particularly horses and occasionally 
 hogs, the so-called salivation being believed to be produced 
 by the supposed pungent character of the seeds. It is, how- 
 ever, extremely doubtful whether the white clover is justk' 
 blamed for this result. If the salivation is produced by the 
 seeds, there is reason to believe that the seeds of the other 
 clovers are equally to blame. It is at least possible that the 
 slobbering is due to wild plants in the pasture. The whole 
 subject should be thoroughly investigated by the various 
 E.xperiment Stations. It is worthy of notice, however, that 
 whatever may be the objections of farmers ou this question, 
 they always disappear with the first season of real drouth. 
 The same objections made to this plant ten or fifteen years 
 ago from the State of Iowa now come to us from Kansas and 
 Nebraska where it is being introduced as a grass essential to 
 the permanent pastures. It might be well to remark that in 
 Scotland where it has been grown for nearly three hundred 
 years, many of the best authorities claim that the proportion 
 of white clover in a good permanent pasture should be kept 
 up. to twenty or thirty per cent, of the total grasses. This 
 fact shows the high favor in which white clover stands where 
 it has been cultivated the longest. Farmers, .therefore, in 
 the newer parts of the West should not hesitate to sow it, and 
 more especially as but little seed, a pound or two ptr acre, 
 is all that is necessary. This will not only sieed the ground 
 in a year or two, but the seeds will be carried by birds and 
 live stock into all parts of the farm and adjoining farms, and 
 will spread over the adjoining country until it ceases to 
 be necessary to seed at all, even where a stand in connec- 
 tion with blue grass is desired. The seeds are about bne- 
 ihird the size of those of the red and mammoth clover and 
 hence the small amount per acre above suggested. 
 
 When it is desired to sow white clover as a part of the 
 permanent pasture, it is always best to sow it witn as great a 
 variety of grass seed as possible, and the mixture should 
 include varieties that will for the first year or two give an 
 abundance of forage. If we were making a permanent pas- 
 ture in which white clover was expected to bear a prominent 
 
CJ.OVER CULTURE. 49 
 
 part, we would sow red and mammoth clover in about equal 
 proportions, the usual amount of timothy, more or less blue 
 grass, and, south of latitude 42, more or less orchard grass, 
 and on all wet lands and sloughs in dry lands, we would sow 
 alsike clover. The reason for this suggestion is that the blue 
 grass, which forms a prominent part in all permanent pas- 
 tures where it does well, can not be expected to be ready to. 
 completely occupy the ground inside of three years. Dur- 
 ing this time the land should be producing to its full capacity 
 and hence should be occupied by the larger clovers and other 
 grasses which can afford less resistance to the growth of blue 
 grass than white clover would if a full stand were sown with 
 it. This subject will be more fully discussed when we come 
 to speak in detail of grass mixtures suitable for diflferent ro- 
 tatiorks and parts of a rotation. 
 
 In sowing the smaller seeds such as blue grass and white 
 clover the depth, of covering which is so necessary for the 
 larger clovers in a light soil and a dry climate is not required. 
 It is not sale, however, in the drier and lighter soils to trust 
 to surface sowing, and white clover, while it grows when 
 seeded naturally on the surface, yet has the advantage of the 
 freezing and thawing of the soil in winter to enable it to im- 
 bed itself in the soil. This imbedding on land under tillage, 
 such as is necessary for grain crops can be secured by the use 
 of a common smoothing harrow and it were better still if this 
 were followed by a light brush harrow, or, where the condi- 
 tions are suitable, light rolling. 
 
 One of the varieties most recently introduced into the 
 West is alsike or Swedish clover, {trifclmni hybridu7n^) an 
 illustration of which will be found on the following page. Its 
 botanical name {hybridimt) was given by the early botanists 
 Linnaeus, who believed it to be a cross or hybrid between the 
 white and the red. This, however, has long since been dis- 
 coyered to be a mistake. It is a distinct species, native over 
 a large part of Europe, and is believed to have been first cul- 
 tivated in Sweden, deriving its name from the village of 
 Syke in that country. It was first introduced into England 
 in 1834 and into Germany in 1854, where it is said to be large- 
 ly grown not only for its forage but also for the seed. Our 
 attention was first called to it some ten or twelve years ago. 
 We instructed the tenant on one of our farms to sow some 
 fowl meadow grass, (/»ca serotind) on a small patch of wet bot- 
 tom land, and to sow a small quantity of alsike for experiment 
 on a piece of dry, corn land. Instead he sowed the two together 
 
50 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 ALSIKE. ( Trifolium hybridiim.) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 51 
 
 on the wet land, and the seed of the fowl meadow proving 
 worthless and so reported, we paid no further attention to the 
 plot until a year later, when, driving near it, our attention 
 was called to the hum of the bees apparently among the 
 slough grass surrounding the patch. We found on examina- 
 tion that the alsike was growing luxuriantly and was a favo- 
 rite with the bees, and it then occurred to us that we had 
 thus accidentally found the grass for wet sloughs that would 
 not, at the prices of tile in that locality, pay for drainage and 
 yet should be made productive in some way. We therefore 
 began sowing alsike as an experiment at the heads of sloughs 
 and learned, after the experience of a year or two, that an 
 ■excellent stmd could be secured by burning ofFthe slough grass 
 in the fall, 3%wing the seed in March and then mowing the 
 slough early in June in order to allow the alsike abundance of 
 air and sunlight. We have ever since recommended it 
 through the Homestead and it is now sown quite extensively 
 especially east of the grand divide in Iowa, and where our 
 farmers find it difficult to secure a profitable crop of anything 
 else from the sloughs so common in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 A.lsike differs from both the red and mammoth and the 
 white. It grows, when supported by other grasses, taller than 
 the red but not so tall as the mammoth and is more slender 
 in the stalk, more succulent and hence makes even^better 
 hay. It has fuller heads, on long stems and intermediate in 
 size between the white and red. It differs from the white in 
 its habits of growth, the stalks when lying down not throw- 
 ing out rootlets at different points, and hence it is unable to 
 stand extreme drouth, and does not succeed well on the drier 
 lands. It partakes in its root growth somewhat of the habits 
 of both the red and the white, throwing down, in connection 
 with its main root, similar, but not so long as the red, a 
 number of fibrous roots. Its seed differs in color both from 
 the white and the red, but in size is similar to the white. Like 
 the white it is a perennial. It spends its main strength on the 
 production of the seed crop and throws up but little aftermath 
 in dry ground or in a dry season. It is, therefore, peculiarly 
 adapted to marsh lands, swales, sloughs and bottoms subject 
 to overflow, succeeding in lands of this character better than 
 any clover as yet introduced, but on the whole inferior to red 
 or mammoth for lands capable of regular cultivation, or what 
 in the west are termed "corn lands, "and inferior to the white 
 on the high, dry soils. Like all the clovers it doets best on 
 calcareous or carboniferous soils. Like the white, when once 
 
52 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 introduced, its seed stays iu the ground. In the fall of 1891 
 we plowed under a bottom field ofalsike. On account ol 
 continuous rains in the spring of 1892, corn planting was 
 necessarily delayed and by the loth of June the entire field 
 was covered with a rank growth ofalsike that had grown up 
 from the seed that had been lying in the soil. We have known 
 lands that have been overflowed for a sufficient length of time 
 to destroy all the tame grasses, covered, after the waters had 
 receded, with a vigorous growth of alsike, the seeding of for- 
 mer crops. The value of alsike, therefore, lies in its adaptation 
 to lands, whether bottom, marsh or slough, which on account 
 of lack of drainage or possible drainage facilities, are not 
 capable of cultivation inregular rotation and will not produce 
 profitable crops of other tame grasses. On lands of this kind 
 it is not at all difficult to secure a stand on the following 
 plan: First, burn off, the fall preceding, all wild grasses 
 that may have grown on the land. In March of the following 
 year sow from four to five pounds of alsike, mixing the seed 
 with sand so as to secure an even cast. Then either pasture 
 closely or else early in June mow off whatever grass may be 
 growing on it, first leveling the ant hills and removing what- 
 ever obstructions to the mower that may exist. This will 
 secure light and air to the young plants and the entire crop 
 of alsike and wild grass may be mown in the fall as a grass 
 crop. The next year, unless either the land or the season be 
 very wet, but little will remain save the alsike, which may be 
 used either as a hay crop or for seed. The effect of seeding in 
 this manner will be somewhat surprising. On wet lands where 
 the coarser varieties of slough grass grow, tlie growth of the 
 alsike will be accompanied by the decay of the roots of the 
 coarser grasses, they being smothered out by the rank growth 
 of the alsike. This will have the effect in time of allowing the 
 water to sink away that has heretofore been held by the mass of 
 roots of the wild grass, and especially if the land be pastured after 
 the first and second year' s mowing, the entire surface will be com- 
 pacted by the tramping of cattle, and if a slough, the water con- 
 fined to the center. It will then be possible in the course of two or 
 three years to sow white or red clover or blue grass, the result 
 of drier conditions. In fact, we know of no way ot reducing 
 the width of a slough and limiting it to a narrow channel sa 
 effective as sowing with alsike and treating in the manner 
 above indicated. 
 
 We are not advised as to the climatic range of alsike 
 clover. Manifestly its cultivation is not practicable in the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE 53 
 
 drier Western states, nor is it likely to be very popular where 
 dry draws take the place of sloughs. The fact that it was 
 first cultivated in Sweden indicates that its northern limit will 
 be beyond that of the red and mammoth clovers. It is worthy 
 of experiment as far South as the carboniferous and calcare- 
 ous soils extend, and anywhere in the region covered by the 
 drift when there is sufficient moisture. It is not likely to be 
 in favor in the Eastern states, nor do we recommend it on 
 well-drained soils anywhere, as under these conditions red 
 clover or mammoth would be preferable. Within the limits 
 indicated, farmers who allow their wetter lands to grow up in 
 coarse slough grass or their sloughs to become an eye-sore 
 ■either through lack of ability or unwillingness to drain, will 
 find it greatly to their advantage to sow them to alsike, thus 
 drying and narrowing them and preparing the way for blue 
 grass, t mothy and other clovers. 
 
 Wherever farmers keep Italian bees, which everyone 
 should for the purpose of fertilizing red clover if not for the pur- 
 pose of procuring the one pure sweet, distilled by Nature her- 
 self, they should sow or induce their near neighbors to sow 
 a few acres of alsike clover even on lands that will produce a 
 greater crop of red or mammoth clover. As a honey plant 
 it probably has no superior. In addition to this it should, 
 whether on dry or wet land, form an ingredient in the mixture 
 for hog pastures, if for nothing else than for the sake of great- 
 er variety and more continuous bloom. When sown with other 
 grasses, it should be given the same covering suggested in 
 the former part of this chapter for white clover. It is, as will 
 be seen from the above, a special-purpose grass. The illus- 
 tration on page 50 will enable our readers to identify it 
 readily. 
 
MINOR VARIETIES OF THE CLOVERS. 
 
 CAHPTER VI. 
 
 While the red and mammoth clovers {trifolium prate use) 
 the alfalfa {medicago saliva) the white or Dutch clover (/rz- 
 folium repens)2iX\d\hQ a\s\ke.{irifoliumhybridum)aiXQ. the clo- 
 vers most valuable in the eastern, northern and north-western 
 states, there are a number of other varieties of no little local 
 value. Some of these will grow in what is usually known 
 as the "corn and grass belt," but being inferior to the varie- 
 ties just mentioned, are properly neglected or regarded as 
 weeds. Of these is the melilotus a/i^a, commonly Igiown as 
 sweet clover, which can be found growing in gardens, whence 
 it escapes to the highway, vacant lots, especially in cities, and 
 to neglected fields. A sub variety of it is known as Bokhara 
 clover. It grows to the height of six or eight feet on good 
 land when not cropped, and its only value, on lands that will 
 grow red or mammoth clover profitably is as bee pasture. For 
 this purpose it will pay apiarians to sow. it along the road- 
 sides or in the vacant corners and other neglected lands. In 
 the drier portions of the West and in the South this clover 
 has very considerable value. It is proving a valuable forage 
 plant and also one of the renovating crops greatly needed in 
 some of the more southern states. An illustration of this 
 variety will be found on next page. Trials at the Mississippi 
 Agricultural College and by planters in that state seem to 
 have established this fact beyond question. Like all the 
 other clovers it has the capacity of appropriating nitrogen 
 from the atmosphere and thus enriching the land and prepar- 
 ing it for the profitable production of other crops. Where it 
 has been found impossible to grow the better varieties of clo- 
 ver it is worthy of trial, and experiment stations in those 
 states where the better varieties are not a success should 
 make a still more careful and thorough investigation of its 
 merits. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 5S 
 
 SWEET CLOVER. {Melilotus alba.) 
 
56 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 Scarlet o^^ crimson clover. Within thejast lew years 
 i\ good deal has been said in the eastern and southern papers 
 with reference to scarlet or crimson clover {trifolunn incariia- 
 iuni) an illustration of which may be found on next page. This 
 is sown in midsummer or early autumn, and blooms, in the 
 latitude to which it is adapted, early in May. It grows from 
 t\vent\' inches to twenty-eight inches in height, and is harvested 
 in time to prepare the ground for another crop. It has a 
 long slender head brilliant scarlet in color and yields large 
 crops which can be cut from the tenth of May to the first of 
 June, according to the latitude. The Delaware Experiment 
 station has recently been carrying on experiments with a view 
 of determining the value of this crop and reports that it yields 
 ■easily eight tons of green fodder per acre, if cut between the 
 5th and loth of May, that its roots run down four feet in 
 iavorable locations and that it is superior to the ordinary red 
 or mammoth clover in two respects: i. Its ability to flourish 
 on relatively poor soils. 2. Its capacity for growth during 
 the tall, spring and in open winters. It also reports that it can 
 not be seeded with winter grain owing to the fact that it 
 ^rows when winter wheat or rye seem dormant and as the 
 result, one crop or the other would be destroyed. -It is 
 specially valuable for soiling and for plowing u-nder as a 
 ^reen crop instead of rye, European writers mention five 
 varieties of this clover, differing to some extent from each 
 other in their relative powers to withstand winter conditions, 
 and :t may be that some variety may yet be introduced that 
 will be able to withstand the rigours of a northern winter. 
 Until this is done the crimson or scarlet clover must be 
 regarded as a crop especially adapted to the southern and bor- 
 der states. We tried it one year, on our own farms in south- 
 ern Iowa, sowing after harvest on wheat stubble, and the next 
 spring we failed tofind a single stalk that had survived the win- 
 ter. Similar experiments were made at tlu- Iowa Agricultural 
 College, and in Ikinois in the latitude of North Missouri, .so 
 that any variety known in America must be regarded as 
 adapted only to the latitudes of the southern border states. 
 Having the same power of appropriating nitrogen from the 
 atmosphere, it will no doubt prove of great value where its 
 cultivation is practical, and especially to truck farmers who 
 fitter the removal of their crop can sow the land to clover and 
 plow it lender or use it for hay and turn the roots in time for 
 ii profitable crop on the same land next season. 
 
 Our object in experimenting with it was to ascertain 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 57. 
 
 SCARLET OR CRIMSON CLOVER. ( TrifoUum incarnatum. > 
 
58 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 whether the Western farmer could sow it in his corn fiefds at 
 the last plowing or on the stubble after harvest and turn the 
 ■crop under in time for a crop of corn the next year. If some 
 variety could be procured that would endure the northern 
 winters this might be done, and it would then prove of great 
 value in sections of the West whare corn is the leading crop 
 and where it' is necessary to supply nitrogen at a very cheap 
 rate. The amount of seed necessary is from fifteen to twenty- 
 five pounds per acre, which should be sown broadcast and 
 covered the same depth at which red or mammoth clover suc- 
 ceeds best in the latitude where it is sown. 
 
 Japan Clover^ {Lespedeza striata.') In some unknown 
 way there was introduced a variety of clover into the South 
 Atlantic States from Japan about forty-five years ago that has 
 proved of no little economic value, known as Japan clover, 
 {Lespedeza striata^) an illustration of which will be found on 
 next page. It was little noticed before the late civil war, but 
 during the war it extended south and west and has spread 
 rapidly over a large district of country, especially along road- 
 sides, in abandoned fields and in open woods. -• Like nearly 
 all clovers in climates ot great and long continued summer 
 heat, whether the rainfall be deficient or not, it is an annual, 
 growing up every spring, and is killed by frost in the fall. 
 The seeds begin to ripen about the ist of August and con- 
 tinue to mature until the close of the season. It reproduces 
 itself from seed on the same ground year after year, and 
 hence by mistake has frequently been regarded as a peren- 
 nial. It will grow on poor soils, but prefers clay, and only 
 on rich bottom lands does it obtain size sufficient to justify 
 cutting it for hay. It may be found in the situations above 
 mentioned in many of the Southern states, driving out broom 
 sedge and even Bermuda or Johnson grass in some localities, 
 but it does not withstand drouth soweli-as th-e Bermuda. It 
 is likewise easily killed by frost. It has proven agreat bless- 
 ing to the Southern farmers, a good Samaritan, providing its 
 own charges, sowing itself wherev»«' there is an abandoned 
 field and thus binding up the broken-hearted l^nd. It ranges 
 from the Atlantic Coast to Tennessee, Missi ..ippi, Alabama, 
 •Georgia and as far West as north-eastern Texas. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to over-estimaie the economic 
 value of this plant to the Southern farmer, and it is only 
 since the recent discoveries of the power which all clovers 
 and all legumes possess of fixing nitrogen in the soil by ap- 
 propriating it from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 JAPAN CLOVER. {Lespidcza striata.) 
 
*0 CL,OV£.K CULTURE. 
 
 that its value has become fully uuderstood, even by the most 
 intelligent farmers. Any plant that will of its own accord 
 restore the wastes of the soil, robber must grow in popular es- 
 limation year after year. It should be sown at the rate of 
 half a bushel to the acre and covered to a depth sufficient to 
 give it the same degree of light, heat and moisture which it 
 secures when self-sown on uncultivated fields or commons. 
 It must ever be borne in mind that all seeds on loose, well- 
 cultivated soils require a deeper covering than when self- 
 sown on unplowed land. 
 
 Biir Clover. {Medicago denticiilala.) This clover is 
 next in economic importance, and grows largely in California. 
 This, too, is a foreigner, which was early introduced in that 
 state, and has given itselt a wide distribution, having spread 
 over the lower lauds in the southern and central counties and 
 on some of the high lands as well. It has also been tried 
 with success in some parts of Texas and Mississippi. We 
 have seen thousands of sheep feeding in mid-summer on lands 
 in California apparently almost as bare as the highway. The 
 sheep seemed lo be in good condition, and by inquiry we 
 found they were feeding on the seeds of the bur clover. The 
 seed remaining begins to grow with the winter rains and 
 hence this clover furnishes a winter pasture in the leaves and 
 a summer pasture in the seeds. The only objection that can 
 be made to it as a forage plant for sheep is that the seeds be- 
 ing in the form of burs, (hence the popular name,) injures the 
 market value of the wool to a greater or less extent. Bur clo- 
 ver, like the white, of the northern states, has a growing 
 mate in W\&al/ilaria{erodium cicularium)^ prox^ounccd al-fi-la- 
 res, the local name beingstork's bill, pin clover, pin grass and 
 filaria. The alfilaria is neither a grass nor a clover, but be- 
 longs to the geranium family and the two grow together for 
 the same reason that white clover and blue grass are a wedded 
 pair, bound together by a tie which no court can dissolve, the 
 bur clover evidently supplying the alfilaria with nitrogen. 
 
 A closely related variety of bur clover {medicago macu/a/a) 
 is found in Western Nebraska, and no doubt over other por- 
 tions of the plain region. Nature is careful in her distribu- 
 tion of the legumes, and especially of the clovers, and provides 
 some variety of this invaluable plant for almost every soil and 
 climate. 
 
 Besides the foreign species above enumerated, there are 
 in the United States some forty species of native clovers, most 
 of them belonging to the Pacific Slope and the mountain 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 61 
 
 ftrgion, and a few belonging to the southern states and tht 
 plains. These clovers are mostly annuals. We give the fol- 
 lowing description of the most prominent of them taken from 
 the report of Dr. Geo. Vasey, botanist of the Department of 
 Agriculture for the year 1886, with illustrations showing the 
 varieties described, which will be found at the conclusion of 
 this chapter: 
 
 Trifolium Fucatum. 
 
 This is one of the largest and strongest growing of our 
 native kinds, and is 'found on the Pacific coast. Under favor- 
 able circumstances it attains a height of two or three feet. 
 The stem is decumbent, smooth, thick, and juicy. The stip- 
 ules at the base of the leat are half an inch to an inch long^ 
 ovate, broad. and clasping the stem. The leaves are trifoliate, 
 with stems or petioles three to six inches long; the leaflets 
 vary from roundish or oblong to obovate, thickish, strongly 
 veined, three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, 
 and with numerous small, sharp teeth on the margins. The 
 flower heads are large (one to two inches in diameter), larger 
 than those of the common red clover on naked peduncles 
 (stems), which are longer than the leaf-stalks (sometimes five 
 to six inches long). There is a conspicuous green involucre 
 surrounding the base of the flower head deeply divided into 
 seven to nine ovate, entire, and pointed lobes, which are 
 about half as long as the flowers. The heads contain com- 
 paratively few flowers (about eight to ten), but these are about 
 an inch long, thick and inflated, the calyx about one-fourth 
 as long as the caroUa, which varies from pink to purple in 
 2olor. Mr. S. Watson, in the "Botany of California," says 
 oi this: "A common species in the Coast Ranges and in the 
 foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, through the length of the 
 State — in some places very abundant and affordmg good 
 pasturage." It would seem very desirable that this species 
 should be given a fair trial in cultivation. 
 
 Trifolium megacep-halum (Large-headed clover). 
 
 A low species, seldom reaching a foot in height, but 
 robust and with strong, deeply penetrating roots. A number 
 of stalks usually proceed trom one root, but these stems are 
 unbranching, somewhat hairy, and terminate with a single 
 large head. The leaves mostly proceed from the base of the 
 stem, there usually being but one pair on the stalk near the 
 middle. The lowest leaves are long-stalked, and with five or 
 seven leaflets instead of three, as in most clovers, but the 
 upper ones are sometimes reduced to three leaflets. The 
 
62 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 leaflets are an inch longf or less, somewhat wedge-shaped or 
 obovateand blunt at the apex, and with very fine, sharp teeth 
 on the edge. The stipules at the base of the leaves are large, 
 mostly ovate in form, and sharply toothed or deeply cut. The 
 heads are mostly terminal, about one and one-half inches 
 long, on a naked peduncle, and without an involucre. The 
 flowers are large, purplish, about an inch long,and very com- 
 pact and spicate in the head. The calyx with its long, 
 plumose teeth, is half as long as the corolla. This species 
 grows in the mountain region of California, Oregon, Wash- 
 ington Territory, Nevada, and Montana. It is not as large 
 as the common red clover, but experiments are needed to 
 determine its possibilities for pasturage. Its large, showy 
 heads and its peculiar leaves would make it an interesting 
 ornamental species. 
 
 Trifolium Involucratum. 
 
 This is an annual species, presenting a great variety of 
 form, but under favorable circumstances reaching one and 
 one-half or two feet in height and of vigorous growth. The 
 stems are usually decumbent and branching below, very 
 leafy, and terminating with one to three heads on rather long 
 peduncles. The leaves are on stalks longer than the leaflets, 
 which are in threes, one-half to one inch long, of an oblong or 
 obovate form, smooth, and with very fine, sharp teeth on the 
 margins. The stipules are large, ovate, or lanceolate, and 
 usually much gashed or deeply toothed. The heads are long- 
 stalked, about an inch long, the purplish flowers closely 
 crowded, and surrounded with an involucre, which is divided 
 into numerous long-toothed lobes. The flowers are half to 
 three-fourths of an inch long, slender, with a short, striate 
 <ialyx, the teeth of which are very slender, entire,and pointed, 
 and little shorter than the corolla. This species has a wide 
 range of growth in the western part of the continent, pre- 
 vailing from Mexico to British America through the moun- 
 tain districts. Under cultivation it would probably produce 
 a good yield of fodder, but has never been subjected to experi- 
 ment so far as known. ^ 
 
 Trifolium Stoloniferum (Running buffalo clover). 
 
 This is a perennial species, growing about a foot high; 
 long runners are sent out from the base, which are procum- 
 bent at first, becoming erect. The leaves are all at the base, 
 except one pair at the upper part of the stem. The root 
 leaves are long-stalked, and have three thinnish obovate 
 leaflets, which are minutely toothed. The pair of leaves on 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 63 
 
 the stem have the stalk about as long^ as the leaflets, which 
 are about one inch long. The stipules are ovate or lanceo- 
 late, pointed, and entire on the margins, the lower ones nearly 
 an inch long, the upper ones about half as long. There are 
 but one or two heads on each stem at the summit, each on a 
 peduncle longer than the leaves. The heads are about an 
 inch in diameter, rather loosely flowered, each flower being 
 on a short, slender pedicel, or stem, which bends backward at 
 maturity. Each flowei has a long- toothed calyx about half as 
 long as the corolla, which is white tinged with purple. This 
 species is found in rich, open wood-lands and in prairies in 
 Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and westward. It is smaller iu 
 size and less vigorous in growth than the common red clover. 
 Trifolium Carolinanum (Southern clover). 
 A small perennial clover, having much resemblance to the 
 common white clover. It usually grows from six to ten inches 
 high, somewhat pubescent, the stems slender, procumbent, 
 and branching. The leaves are trifoliate, on petioles of 
 variable length. The leaflets are about half an inch long, 
 obovate, wedge-shaped at base, and somewhat notched at the 
 summit. The stipules are nearly as long as the leaflets, ovate 
 or lanceolate, and slightly toothed above. Each stalk has 
 usually two long-stalked heads, proceeding from the upper 
 joints. The roundish heads are from one-half to three-fourths 
 of an inch in diameter, without an involucre, and with numer- 
 ous crowded, small flowers on slender pedicels, which become 
 reflexed in age. The long lanceolate teeth of the calyx are 
 slightly shorter than the small, purplish, pointed corolla. 
 The pods are ususlly four-seeded. This species occurs in all 
 the Southern States and in Texas. It is too small to be valu- 
 able for fodder, but is worthy of trial as a constituent of pas- 
 tures in the South. 
 
64 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 {TrifoUum fiicatii /;/.) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 65 
 
 LARGE HEADED CLOVER. [TrifoUum mcgaccphahim.) 
 
66 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 ( Irijoliiini invohicratum.) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 67 
 
 RUNNING^BUFFALO CLOVER. ( Vri/W/um stoloniferum. 
 
^ 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 SOUTHERN CLOVER. {.Tnfolmm Carolinanum: 
 
PRACTICAL CLOVER GROWING. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 In previous chapters we have described the general range- 
 of the clovers, and discussed somewhat in detail the varieties 
 usually grown in different sections of the country. In this 
 we take up the best methods of practical management. These 
 methods will vary in different localities, often in the same 
 neighborhood, and on the same farm. The first question 
 for the farmer to decide is the variety or varieties he can use 
 with profit in his latitude and longitude, and in connection 
 with the system of farming which he has adopted. While it 
 is well for the enterprising farmer to experiment with new 
 varieties, but always on a small scale, it is folly to devote any 
 considerable part of his farm to a variety thathas not been found' 
 entirely reliable and reasonably well adapted to his section of 
 the country and to his system of farming. By "entirely reli- 
 able" we do not mean a variety that will grow well enough; 
 in an occasional wet year, or that will survive an unusually 
 mild winter, but one that can be depended upon fromyear to^ 
 year as a part of a regular rotation. While latitude and lon- 
 gitude must always be taken into account, the rainfall, the 
 rotation and the nature of the soil must be considered as welL. 
 
 The next thing to be determined is the object in view in 
 growing clovers. If the object is to secure hay and fall pas- 
 ture, and store up fertility for future crops of corn and other 
 grain, his reliance in all sections where it is a sure crop, must 
 be on the common red clover. If his object be mainly fertil- 
 ity in connection with a cash crop of clover seed, then the 
 mammoth should have the preference. If the object be- pas.- 
 ture as an ultimate end, to be grown year after, year, bn the- 
 same land, and always ready to be plowed under for a eonu 
 
70 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 crop, should circumstances seem to justify it, then he can use 
 to advantage in the North, both the red and the mammoth; 
 and, if his lands are unusually moist, the alsike. If he wishes 
 to lay down his lands in permanent pasture, not to be broken 
 up for an indefinite number of years, he can use all these and 
 the white clover in addition. If he is located in sections 
 where the above varieties are not reliable, and he wishes a 
 permanent clover meadow, or a crop for summer soiling, his 
 main reliance must be alfalfa, provided always that he has a 
 soil that is not immediately underlaid with impervious clay, 
 gumbo, hardpan or rock. If he has land under irrigation 
 there is no forage plant that will take the place of alfalfa as a 
 permanent meadow. If he resides in the mountain or Pacific 
 coast states and cannot irrigate his land, he must use the 
 annuals native to that region; if in the extreme Southern 
 states, his main reliance must be on the Japan, and if in the 
 border states, where the winters are sufficiently mild, he can 
 use to great advantage the crimson. Bearing in mind the 
 uses and fitness of each variety, every farmer must make a 
 selection for himself. 
 
 The object in view in growing clovers having been clear- 
 ly determined and a judicious selection made after a thorough 
 study of the resources of the country and of the particular 
 farm, the next practical question is the determination of the 
 mixture to be used, either of the clovers by themselves, or in 
 connection with other grasses. Much harm has been done 
 by the recommendation by seedsmen and some agricultural 
 papers, of grass mixtures selected on purely theoretical 
 grounds, and without reference to the wants. of either the sec- 
 tion of the country or the individual farmer. Many of the 
 mixtures seem to have been taken from English works, and 
 are frequently made up of grasses which have generally failed 
 wherever tried in the Western states, and where they have 
 succeeded, have proved inferior to the grasses and clovers in 
 common use that have been demonstrated, after years of ex- 
 perience, to be extremely valuable. All mixtures that contain 
 English rye grass, Italian rye grass, sheep's fescue, crested 
 dog's tail and such like grasses, should be rejected, as there 
 are few sections in the West in which these grasses will stand 
 either the extreme cold of winter or the extreme heat of sum- 
 mer. The recommendation to sow orchard grass, red top or 
 meadow fescue should be well considered before purchasing 
 the seed. These three latter grasses are valuable in their 
 place, but only in certain locations and under certain condi- 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 71 
 
 tions, which will be hereafter described. Always keeping in 
 mind the fact that no mixture can be prescribed that will 
 fit every modification of circumstances, and that all proposed 
 mixtures must be taken only as general suggestions to be 
 modified by local conditions, and sometimes by the price ot 
 the various seeds, we venture to recommend some mixtures 
 that will be found to be valuable to farmers, especially in the 
 corn and grass belts of the West. There are many farmers 
 whose great aim in growing clover is to increase the waning 
 fertility of their soil. They have not reached the point where 
 they are prepared to engage in what is called in a vague way, 
 * 'diversified farming." They have neither the capital nor 
 the experience that would justify them in engaging in stock 
 growing to any very great extent, and are depending upon 
 the sale of grain for shipment to the great markets, to lift the 
 mortgage on their land, usually given for purchase money. 
 This accomplished, they are ready to build barns, fences, 
 sheds, plant groves and sow a diversity of grasses and invest 
 in improved stock. To these we suggest the sowing of mam- 
 moth clover alone on every crop of spring grain. If this is 
 sown at the rate of twelve pounds per acre, and covered as 
 directed in Chapter III, it will, in all ordinary seasons, in a 
 clover country, make a stand that will furnish pasturage for 
 the limited stock on the farm during the fall months, or if 
 fenced in common with the corn fields, will make the corn 
 stalks (which are seldom used by this class of farmers except 
 for pasture), doubly valuable as a winter feed. The crop can 
 then be plowed under the next spring in time for corn. The 
 cost will not ordinarily be more than $i.oo or $1.25 per acre, 
 part of which will be covered by the fall pasturage, and the 
 rest by an increase of two bushels per acre in the corn crop. 
 Without definite experiments to guide us, and judging from 
 the returns of corn from clover roots that have been allowed 
 to mature a seed crop and then turned under, we should not 
 expect a smaller increase than from eight to ten bushels per 
 acre the next year. It is much better, however, after a stand 
 has once been secured, to allow the crop, after a reasonable 
 amount of fall pasturing, to stand another year, and then to 
 take a crop of seed the next season after pasturing it, where 
 it is practicable, into June and then fall-plow for corn the 
 next year. Our experience justifies us in estimating the 
 increase in the next corn crop at from fifteen to twenty-five 
 bushels per acre the first year, and not quite so much the sec- 
 ond. The soil will then be left in better condition as regards 
 
72 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 fertility than before the first clover was sown. The crop of 
 mammoth clover seed, under these conditions, is much more 
 certain than that from the common red, and an average yield 
 would be somewhere in the neighborhood of three bushels 
 per acre, provided always that it is all secured. 
 
 Another class of farmers, who have given more attention 
 to stock growing and have their farms fenced in separate 
 fields, desire more or less tame hay as well as fall pasture. 
 For these we recommend the mixture described below. If the 
 rotation they have adopted be such that they can allow the 
 land to rest two years in grass, we would sow a mixture of 
 ten pounds of common red clover and eight pounds of timo- 
 thy, sown with spring grain and covered to the depth that is 
 found best in the soils of the neighborhood, as explained more 
 fully in Chapter III. The first year the stand will be mostly 
 clover, and it it is desired to secure the seed crop, this should 
 be mown, in the latitude ot central Iowa, before July ist. If 
 for any reason there should be a failure in the seed crop, the 
 second growth or aftermath will yield a large amount of fall 
 pasturage, except in seasons and localities of very extreme 
 drouth. The next year timothy will take the lead, most of 
 the clover having died the previous winter, and that which 
 survives being, for the most part, plants from seed that, for 
 some reason, did not germinate the first year. Under these 
 circumstances, an ordinary season seldom fails to produce a 
 large crop of timothy, due to the fact that it finds an abund- 
 ant supply of all the elements of fertility in the decaying 
 roots of the clover that perished the previous winter. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances the land should then be 
 plowed for corn, although if it has been pastured off after the 
 second crop has had a chance to reseed the ground, the pre- 
 vious year, clover is likely to assert its supremacy the follow- 
 ing year. If it does the field can be kept as a permanent 
 meadow, in many sections at least, for an indefinite number 
 of years, each second crop contributing its quota of seed. We 
 have this year taken the eleventh crop from part of a field 
 managed in this way, and the yield has been larger, both in 
 clover and timothy, than from the first year's sowing. Where 
 the intention from the first is to establish a permanent mead- 
 ow of this kind, we advise in all sections where orchard grass 
 {dactylis glomeratd) does well, to sow it with the previous 
 mixture at the rate of half a bus»hel per acre, mixing the seed 
 with sand or road dust to secure an even cast, sowing after 
 the clover and timothy have been covered, and covering the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 73 
 
 orchard grass with a brush harrow. Orchard grass does well, 
 as a rule, south of the latitude of central Iowa and Nebraska, 
 and has a westward range much further than clover. How 
 far north this mixture can be used depends very much on the 
 nature of the exposure and the p*-otection furnished by groves, 
 windbreaks and other grasses. The reasons for adding or- 
 chard grass to this mixture are two: First, It is about the 
 only grass that will be fit to cut for hay at the time the com- 
 mon red clover is at its best estate. Second, We know of no 
 grass, except clover, that will yield such an abundant after- 
 math. If, therefore, the amount of timothy above suggested 
 be lessened and orchard grass added, the result will be, wher- 
 ever this grass does well, an amount of fall pasture that is 
 surprising to farmers who do not know the capabilities of a 
 soil well set in the best grasses. However, where orchard 
 grass forms any consideiable portion of the sward, it should 
 not be plowed up except after a term of years, for the reason 
 that the seed is expensive, and the grass being a perennial or 
 growing from year to year from thesame root, should be used 
 as long as its usefulness continues. 
 
 By using clover in any of the ways above suggested, it is 
 possible to keep up the fertility of the soil for a great length 
 of time, depending upon the amount of phosphoric acid and 
 potash that are available, or that may become available by the 
 disintegration of the primary rock of which all soils are largely 
 composed. As to how long it might require to exhaust the pot- 
 ash and phosphoric acid on the drift soils of the West no one is 
 yet competent to express an opinion. This, however, should 
 be distinctly understood, that if the crops grown with the aid 
 of clover as well as the clover itself are removed from the soil 
 and no manure returned, the land will become permanently 
 exhausted and cannot be restored to its wonted fertility with- 
 out the costly, hazardous and uncertain experiment of the use 
 of commercial fertilizers. 
 
 As clover itself is a large consumer of phosphoric acid and 
 potash the first symptom woulcTlrkely be that the soil would 
 refuse to grow clover and become, in popular language, 
 "clover sick." This, however, is not a proper use of the 
 term, the true clover sickness being a disease that affects the 
 clover in the fall of the year and after it has made a vigorous 
 growth during the spring and summer months. We wish, 
 therefore, to impress with the utmost clearness and distinct- 
 ness on the mind of the reader this fact, that he cannot goon 
 forever obtaining large crops by the use of clover unless he 
 
74 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 restores to the land, in the shape of barnyard manure, or im 
 some other way, the mineral elements which it, as well as the 
 other crops, have removed from it. 
 
 As proof of the value of the clovers, sown and managed 
 as above described, we have only to point to the cornfields 
 grown on clover sod in any year, and especially in wet years, 
 in any part of the country, but particularly in the West, a? 
 compared with corn grown on like land after other crops and 
 treated in all respects similarly. The natural drainage formed. 
 by the partially rotted soil renders earlier planting possible,, 
 the decaying roots furnishing an abundant supply of nitrogen, 
 in the best condition for the use of the plant; and the result, 
 in the worst corn seasons, is a crop that cannot fail to be largely 
 profitable. There is, however, no.surer way to exhaust perma- 
 nently the fertility of the soil than to continue the process we 
 have outlined above without restoring in some way the potash 
 and phosphoric acid that have been removed by this stimulat- 
 ing process. 
 
 Where it is desired to use the clovers in connection with 
 the other grasses as a permanent pasture, a diflferent mixture 
 should be adopted. If the land has been in cultivation, audi 
 it is desired to sow the grass .seed with spring grains, we sug- 
 gest the following mixture: 
 
 Red Clover 5 pounds 
 
 Mammoth Clover 5 pounds- 
 Timothy 6 pounds. 
 
 Blue Grass •,...•• 6 pounds- 
 
 White Clover 1 pound 
 
 The principles laid down in Chapter III should be ob- 
 served with regard to the depth of covering, the moist soils 
 requiring shallower, and the light and dry soils a deeper cov- 
 ering. As the object in the permanent pasture is to secure 
 as far as possible a constant succession of fresh grass and of 
 bloom, it would be well to add to, or substitute in part for the 
 above mixture any other grasses that are known to do well in 
 the particular locality. For example, we would add, in the 
 latitude of .southern Iowa, 3 or 4 pounds of orchard grass. On 
 wet lands we would leave out half the red and mammoth 
 clovers and substitute five pounds of alsike. Where red-top 
 does better than timothy, as it does in some of the southern 
 states, or better than blue grass, as in some of the extreme 
 northern, we would reduce the timothy and blue grass and 
 substitute red-top in part. In a pasture seeded as above, the 
 orchard trrass will furnish the first bite, so desirable in the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 75 
 
 ■early spring, the blue grass coming next, followed by 
 timothy and clovers. After maturing seed the blue g^rass will 
 rest while the clovers are making their most vigorous growth, 
 but will revive and take full possession of the field when the 
 clovers are taking time to ripen their seed crop. The dispo- 
 sition of blue grass and white clover to usurp full possession 
 of permanent pastures renders it somewhat difl!icult to retain 
 the red and mammoth. The difficulty may be overcome by 
 scarifying the surface with a disc harrow and then sowing the 
 seeds of the red and mammoth clovers, or by scattering ma- 
 nure containing these seeds on such pastures during the win- 
 ter season. On some soils especially adapted to clovers, these 
 retain their place in the permanent pasture much longer than 
 on others, and in all pastures there is a constant contest among 
 the grasses themselves for the supremacy. 
 
 Where it is desirable to seed rough lands in prairie grass- 
 es to permanent pasture, the following mixture, per acre, 
 may be used with advantage: 
 
 Red Clover 8 pounds 
 
 Blue Grass 7 pounds 
 
 White Clover 1 pound 
 
 This should be sown before the frost leaves the ground 
 in the spring, the wild grass having been burned off the pre- 
 vious autumn. It should then be pastured heavily, prefera- 
 bly with sheep, calves or hogs, in order to check the growth 
 of the wild grasses and allow the cultivated varieties air and 
 sunlight. The tramping of the soil will insure covering, 
 and, unless the ground be excessively wet, will not materi- 
 ally injure the young plants of the cultivated grasses. The 
 pasturing should be as close as possible the first year, but in 
 the second year the red clover should be allowed to produce 
 seed and thus re-seed the ground. For some reason we have 
 never succeeded. so well on these pastures with mammoth 
 clover as with the common red. Where a large acreage is to 
 be seeded it is not practicable usually to pasture with either 
 sheep, hogs or calves. In that case yearling or two-year-old 
 steers should be used, and enough should be turned in to 
 keep the wild grass very short during the entire summer. 
 The only difficulty in this method of seeding is that the best 
 results in securing a speedy transformation of the wild into 
 the tame pasture require more cattle to the acre than is 
 profitable for their owner. 
 
 We are no|' prepared to say how far West of the Mis.souri 
 
76 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 the method of seedinj^: with a nurse crop' will prove successfu 
 on account of lack of summer moisture. It has proved a fail- 
 ure under drier conditions than prevail east of the Missouri, 
 and Nebraska and Kansas farmers have resorted to the meth- 
 od of cutting the prairie sod with heavily loaded disc harrows, 
 and then sowing grass seeds as above described. We are in- 
 clined to think tliat the rule will hold good that wherever 
 the tame grasses require to be sowed alone without a nurse 
 crop the wild pastures will require to be disced in order that 
 the grass seeds may secure an early and rapid growth to ena- 
 ble them to withstand the coming drouth. 
 
 In practical clover management the amount of moisture 
 that can be confidently expected must always be borne in 
 mind. While in the entire country east of the Missouri and 
 for some distance west, it is entirely practicable to sow the 
 grass seeds with spring grains, it is unsafe, as a rule west of 
 that river. If they are sown with oats especially the growth 
 is necessarily limited, the plants are delicate and "spindling," 
 and when the nurse crop is removed the hot sun is almost 
 certain to greatly weaken, if not entirely destroy, the stand. 
 This is true to some extent with the oats crop in Iowa and 
 Missouri, and especially during the excessively hot seasons. 
 The rule, therefore, west of the Missouri, except in unusually 
 moist soils, should be to sow grass seeds as a crop by them- 
 selves. The ground should be carefully prepared , clover and 
 timothy seed covered to the depth usually given to oats or 
 spring wheat, and the tame grasses allowed the full use of 
 the ground. The weeds will spring up with the young 
 grasses and these should be mowed off once 'or twice during 
 the summer, if necessary, setting the mower somewhat high 
 thus allowing the young plants to have the full measure of 
 sunshine and air. By this method it is possible to grow the 
 tame grasses far beyond the limit set by public opinion, based 
 on previous experience, and by the methods usualjin localities 
 where the moisture is more abundant. This necessarily in- 
 volves a change in the rotation which will be discussed more 
 fully in the next chapter. 
 
 It will be found, however, that wherever the clovers can 
 be relied upon as a permanent crop, they can be grown quite 
 successfully without a nurse crop. 
 
 There is a point west of the Missouri where the growth 
 of red, mammoth, white and alsike clover is souncertain that 
 alfalfa should be used as a substitute. Just where this line is 
 has not yet been detewnined by actual experierK:e. It is not ? 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 77 
 
 line marked out by degrees of latitude or longitude, — the de- 
 termining factors are the geological formation of the soil and 
 its capacity to hold moisture and rainfall. We are inclined 
 to the belief that the ordinary clovers can be used with suc- 
 cess east of a line running from Norfolk, Nebraska, to Kear- 
 ney, and south to the Republioan, east along that river and 
 south to some distance west of Topeka. It will be found by 
 practical experienoe that they can be grown in many places 
 west of the line indicated. Where these can not be grown, 
 alfalfa is the best substitute among thegrasses yet discovered. 
 It is grown without irrigation quite successfully on all soils 
 west ol this line that do not rest on hardpan or rock, and 
 while it cannot take the place of clovers in rotation, it is the 
 best substitute among the grasses yet discovered. It is proba- 
 ble that on many of these soils west of the line indicated, and 
 possibly in some places east of it, the soy bean will prove a 
 better crop, especially in view of its adaptation to rotations, 
 than either the clovers usually grown or alfalfa. 
 
 Under the present conditions from ten to twenty per 
 cent, of the lands east of the Great Divide in Iowa comprising 
 sloughs, swales and bottoms are too wet for cultivation, and 
 the time for tile drainage has not yet fully come. In the course 
 of a few years farmers will realize the importance of tile drain- 
 ing all these sloughs. In the meantime much can be done 
 to render them profitable by the use of alsike clover. The 
 method of sowing is similar to that recommended in the case 
 of prairie lands which it is desirable to seed without plowing. 
 Whatever grass may be upon the land of the previous year's 
 growth should be burned off in the tall, and these lands, 
 whether sloughs, swales, or bottoms, annually wet or subject 
 to overflow, should be sown to alsike before the frost leaves 
 the ground in the spring, at the rate of about four pounds of 
 seed per acre. As it is not ordinarily practicable to pasture 
 these lands, especially sloughs which meander through culti- 
 vated fields, the mower should be run over them after^ first 
 leveling the ant hils with a spade, and thus the rank growth 
 of slough grass kept under control. This will give the alsike 
 air and sunlight and ordinarily secure a fair stand the first 
 year.© The second year the entire crop of alsike and slough 
 grass may be cut for hay; or, if desirable, threshed for seed. 
 The effect of this method will be, in a year or two, to greatly 
 decrease the size of the slough and dry out bottom lands, the 
 decay of the roots of the wild grasses allowing the water to 
 sink away, and where it is practical to pasture them, especial- 
 
78 CLOVER CULTURE 
 
 ly with heavy cattle, the compression of the soil by their weight 
 will narrow the slough, and when this process has been begun 
 it is practicable to sow the red, mammoth and white clovers. 
 In this way the unsightly sloughs which disfigure a great part 
 of the Western country, may be converted into meadows, to 
 the profit of the farmer and a great improvement in the ap- 
 pearance of the farm. 
 
CURING GLOVER HAY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The problem of curing clover hay at its best estate, where 
 the acreage is large and the weather uncertain, is one of the 
 most difficult and perplexing that awaits the solution of the 
 practical farmer. The problem is to evaporate at the least 
 Expense of labor the large water content in clover, when cut 
 when it should be, with the least possible damage to the hay, 
 either from excessive drying, from rainfall or from dew. An- 
 alyses made at dijBferent times and places and collected and 
 published by the Department of Agriculture show that clover 
 before bloom has from 61.2 to 82.7 percent, of water, with an 
 average of 72; in bloom, from 47.1 to 91.8 with an average of 
 72.7; after bloom from 61. i to 74.2 with an average of 68.2,, 
 the average of all analyses giving a minimum of 47. i and a max- 
 imum of 91.8 and an average of 70.8. Analyses of clover hay- 
 cured before bloom give a minimum of 6 per cent., and ai 
 maximum of 31.3, with an average of 20.6; in bloom a mini- 
 mum of Q.4, a maximum of 26.7, an average of 20.9, while the 
 average of all analyses, numbering some thirty-eight of clover 
 hay, give a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 31.3, with aver- 
 age of 15.3. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Heileman, under the directicn of Prof. Wil- 
 son, of the Iowa Agricultural College and Experiment Station, 
 located at Ames, Iowa, has taken samples of clover as nearly as 
 possible in the best condition for cutting for hay, has analyzed 
 samples of it when cut, has cured the rest into hay in the 
 proper condition for storage, and analyzed the different samples,, 
 and also like samples of hay thoroughly cured in the mow^ 
 with the following results: 
 
 Total moisture in a sample of clover in its best condition 
 
 (79) 
 
T50 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 for cutting, 75.90. The total moisture in sample of well 
 cured hay, 16.62. Moisture in clover hay after being in the 
 barn twenty days, 12.22. From this it will be seen that the 
 amount evaporated in the process of curing was 58.28 per 
 cent. ,and_^that an additional amount of 4.40 was lost in the barn 
 ill twenty days. In other words, after losing in the process 
 of curing 58.28 per cent, of the original moisture, 26.48 per 
 cent, of what remains is lost after storage in the mow for 
 twenty days. On the basis which these figures furnish, 100 
 pounds of green clover cut at the proper season and cured in 
 its best estate, will make 41.72 pounds of hay ready for the 
 mow. Twenty days after storing it will weigh 37.32 pounds. 
 The shrinkage probably continues in a variable, but gradually 
 decreasing degree for a considerable time longer, the variation 
 depending on the season and the average humidity of the at- 
 mosphere which surrounds it. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the problem before the farmer 
 in making hay is to get rid of about 60 per cent, of the weight 
 of the clover by evaporation in the sunshine and wind, and to 
 do this with the least possible expense, and least danger of 
 damage from scorching by the sun, from rainfall or dew. 
 The problem in the Eastern states, where the crop is small, 
 labor plenty and barn room abundant, and where there is 
 little necessity for the use of special machinery, is a compar- 
 atively easy one. Under these circumstances, the clover can 
 be taken in its ideal condition, that is, when about one-third 
 of the heads are turned brown and nearly every stalk in 
 bloom, and can be converted into ideal hay, with but little 
 risk of exposure to sun, rain or dew. By the use of the 
 mower an hour or two in the afternoon or evening, a sufficient 
 amount of the crop for the next day's operations can be cut 
 down. By stirring it once or twice with the tedder in the 
 morning it will part with sufficient of its water to enable it to 
 be placed in cocks. These can then be covered with hay caps 
 made either from ducking, muslin or wood pulp, and allowed 
 to remain until they go through the sweating process, whether 
 that be two days or a week. A hay day can then be taken, 
 ithe caps removed and the crop stowed away in the barn. The 
 Grst crop treated in this way, a crop of seed in the fall from 
 the common red clover is reasonably certain. 
 
 The conditions are widely different, however, in the 
 West. There the crop is usually large, running as a rule 
 from forty acres to several hundred on a farm, and machinery 
 specially adapted to the work becomes a necessity on account 
 
CLOVER CUIvTURB. 81 
 
 of the magnitude of the crop and the high price of labor. It 
 is by no means difficult to secure a crop of clover hay under 
 these conditions, provided it be allowed to stand until the 
 heads are nearly all turned brown and the stalks have parted 
 with a large amount of their water content; but the hay is hyr 
 this delay very seriously damaged in quality. With the or- 
 dinary farmer hay is hay, and, hay made in its best estate, is 
 regarded as but little superior to hay made from clover which 
 has become largely woody fiber and therefore to a great extent 
 indigestible. The farmer has no means of determining the 
 food value of this hay, nor of comparing it with clover hay 
 made in its best estate. He notices that some seasons his 
 cattle eat a very large amount of it, and at other seasons a 
 comparatively small amount, with about the same final ap^ 
 parent result in thrift, but he attributes this difference in the 
 spending quality to the temperature, or to (he previous con- 
 dition of the cattle and other stock, whereas it may lie almost 
 wholly in the difference in the nutritive value of the hay fed,, 
 due to the time of cutting and manner of curing. We know 
 of no experiments covering this ground, and hence are obliged 
 to fall back on certain well-known principles, namely, that 
 all grasses after they have passed their bloom, with the possi- 
 ble exception of timothy, develop woody fiber very rapidly,, 
 and that this woody fiber is to a very great extent indigestible, 
 and hence useless. Corn fodder cut when the ears are glazed 
 as compared with corn fodder cut when the blades are brown ; 
 furnishes an example of the change that goes on in clover. . 
 It is, therefore, an easy matter to make clover hay in th€ West, , 
 provided it is allowed to stand until half its nutritive value is; 
 lost; it is often a very difficult matter when cut with thej 
 maximum of nutriment in the plant. It is as near that point 
 as possible when in full bloom. On account of the difference 
 in the blooming period in any one field, the central heads of 
 the stalk or branch blooming first, and the later and earlier 
 varieties being grouped under the one term, red clover, the 
 farmer is obliged to allow about one-third of the heads to tura 
 in order to get the maximum of bloom. 
 
 In dealing with clover, it must always be borne in mind? 
 that it is a wonderful evaporator of moisture. That is the 
 habit of its entire life. All close observers are familiar with 
 this fact, that no matter how thoroughly saturated the soil oF 
 the clover field may be by recent rains which the magnitude 
 of the crop will not allow to run off, it soon becomes dry, and 
 that solely through the enormous evaporation from the leaves^ 
 
«2 CLOVER CUIvTURE. 
 
 'This habit of its life clings to it in death. When mown, it 
 •evaporates its water so rapidly that in a short time under a 
 hot sun and in a dry wind the leaves, the most valuable part 
 of it, are dried to the point where they crumble to pieces in 
 handling. The problem before the farmer is to avoid this 
 ■crumbling, and at the same time secure such an amount of 
 -evaporation from the stalk that it is in condition to go into 
 the barn. The destruction of the structure of the leaf by too 
 Tapid drying destroys its power to evaporate water from the 
 stalk, and hence it is possible to have the leaves dry, almost 
 ■charred, in fact, and their evaporating power destroyed, while 
 the stalk may yet remain full of sap. When clover is very 
 heavy, say three tons of cured hay to the acre, it is not an un- 
 ■common thing to see the leaf structure on the surface of the 
 swath destroyed, while the underlying grass is almost as green 
 as when it first felt the edge of the sickle. To avoid this we 
 regard as the essential point, the very key to the situation in 
 the curing of clover hay. The leaves must be preserved, not 
 merely for their own sake, but for their use in evaporating 
 the juices or sap of the stalk. It is this consideration that 
 makes the use of the tedder so imperative when clover hay is 
 cut when it should be to secure the best quality of hay, and 
 at the same time a reasonable chance for a seed crop. 
 
 It must be remembered that the only practical agencies 
 which the farmer can use for the ev poration of the surplus 
 moisture are the sunshine and the wind, and the whole prob- 
 lem lies in exposing to the fullest extent the fresh-cut grass 
 to the sun and wind so as to secure the requisite amount of 
 ■evaporation in the shortest possible time, apd in the best part 
 of the day. It must never be forgotten that while clover parts 
 with its moisture readily, the evaporating power of its leaves 
 being usually great, it absorbs moisture with almost equal 
 readiness. A heavy swath of clover lying on damp ground 
 will keep green for days, especially if the atmosphere is heav- 
 ily laden with moisture, which it sometimes is even in the 
 hottest weather. We have had it after two days of hot sun 
 so dry on the top of the swath as to be seriously damaged, 
 while the bottom was almost as green, to all appearance, as 
 when first cut. It absorbs dew like a sponge and in fact be- 
 gins to take up water from the air in a day when the atmos- 
 phere is full of moisture, long before the dew begins to form. 
 Much of the damage to clover hay arises from the failure on 
 the part of the farmer to comprehend this wonderful powei 
 of the clovers to absorb as well as evaporate moisture. On 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 83 
 
 the other haud, it must be remembered that the damage to 
 clover whether in the stack or barn comes nearly always from 
 the outside moisture, whether in the iorm of rain or dew or ab- 
 sorbed from an atmosphere loaded with moisture. We do not 
 undertake to explain why it is that the juices of the plant are 
 comparatively harmless even when somewhat in excess, but 
 such we take to be the fact. 
 
 With these preliminary statements we are prepared to 
 describe what we regard as the best practical method of man- 
 aging clover, cut in its best condition and under circumstances 
 prevalent on the average western farm. The mowing should 
 be done as far as possible in the evening, say after four o'clock. 
 A wide-cut mower, say six or seven feet, will enable the op- 
 erator to cut down a comparatively large acreage, and especially 
 if he runs the machine quite late in the evening. The time 
 of the man, team and mower is worth a great deal more an 
 hour after sundown than in the heat of the day. Clover is 
 not damaged in the least by being cut with the dew on or 
 slightly wet and the heat of the sun from four until six is sel- 
 dom sufficient to render clover cut during these hours liable 
 to damage even if wet with dew or rain in the night. The 
 first work in the early morning should be to start the tedder, 
 one wide enough to take two swaths, and drawn by a span of 
 fast-walking horses. The more directly upwards the tedder 
 tosses the hay, the better. This shakes oif dew or rain, and 
 leaves the mass in the best possible shape for the circulation 
 of the air and most exposed to the action of the sun. A good 
 tedder with a team of this kind can cover a large amount of 
 ground in a few hours, and by repeating the operation, in 
 good weather, clover can be fit to go into the barn in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 We cannot describe in words the amount of dry ne.ss neces- 
 sary for safety in storing hay. This can be learned only by 
 experience. When a stem of hay is taken in the hand and 
 tightly twisted and no moisture is observed on the outside of 
 the stalk, it is generally safe to store it. This, however, is 
 conditioned somewhat upon the amount ot moisture in the 
 atmosphere, and only experience can tell the exact ideal con- 
 dition. This condition being attained, in the best judgment 
 of the manager, the work of storing away should be done as 
 quickly as possible. It is here that the hay loader becomes 
 valuable, inasmuch as with a good loader a ton can be placed 
 on the wagon in from fifteen to twenty minutes and removed 
 in much less time with a horse fork and hay sling. By this 
 
a dUOVER CULTURE. 
 
 method of handling the hay, the labor of cocking it, or raking 
 it into windrows, the expense of hay caps, etc., are avoided: 
 Where the crop is light, say one and one-half tons to the acre, 
 it is necessary to use the hay rake for speedy loading, and 
 under these circumstances the second tedding may be omitted 
 and the hay loaded out of a small windrow. 
 
 It requires nice judgment to know what to do with hay 
 partially cured that has been caught in a heavy rain. In the 
 West storms are frequently accompanied with such high 
 winds, and the down-pour is so heavy that hay anywhere near 
 cured, if put in a cock, will be soaked to the bottom. If 
 caught in a windrow or bunched it is in a worse condition, 
 when thoroughly wet, than if it were scattered on the ground. 
 It will need to be shaken out before storing away, and every 
 time hay is handled after partially cured and then soaked, it 
 is seriously damaged. We have seen it in hot weather with 
 the atmosphere laden with moisture, utterly ruined in twen- 
 ty-four hours in the windrow. The best way is to keep the 
 work well in hand and the loader well up with the work, so> 
 that but a small amount of hay fit to go into the barn or shed 
 can be exposed to threatened rain. It is almost as easy with 
 improved machinery and an adequate force to put hay in the 
 barn or shed as it is to put it in cock, and when once in the 
 cock and completely soaked, it is about as well to let it stand 
 until it dries out of itself. Half its value will be lost in the 
 handling and if allowed to stand till winter it is likely to be 
 no worse. In a matter requiring as sound judgment and 
 prompt action as curing clover hay, no minute directions can 
 be given. Experience will best suggest details. It should 
 be borne in mind that the damage which hay in the process 
 of curing receives from rain, is proportionate to the stage to 
 which the curing process has been carried. The more thor- 
 oughly it has been cured, the more damage it receives from 
 the same amount of rain. The less it is handled after being 
 once wet, when partially cured, the less ultimate damage will 
 result. It is almost impossible in ordinary seasons to secure 
 a crop ot clover hay in the best condition without the use of 
 barns or hay sheds. If the farmer is to wait until settled 
 weather before commencing to stack and hasten the rounding 
 out and covering ot the stack when a cloud appears on the 
 horizon, his work must necessarily be greatly* hindered. 
 All farmers cannot have expensive barns, but it is possible for 
 every farmer who has twenty acres of clover hay to build a hay 
 shed that will hold his crop, and by facilitating the process of 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 85 
 
 harvestingit, payagcod interest on the investment and a much 
 larger interest in the way of protecting the crop after it is 
 harvested. The damage to clover hay in the stack under the 
 most favorable conditions is not less than twelve per cent, in 
 the first three weeks, even if in that timethereshould not have 
 been a drop of rain. This arises from the heating of the hay, 
 (which is unavoidable) the deposit of the ascending moisture 
 on the outside of the stack during the night and the consequent 
 bleaching of the entire outer surface. The loss from this 
 cause has been quite fully investigated by someof our Experi- 
 ment Stations, and we think that in stating it at twelve per 
 ■cent, we are making a very conservative estimate. It is pos- 
 sible to erect a hay shed that will hold fifty tons of hay, with- 
 out cattle shedding around it, for $ioo. With this the farm- 
 ■er does not need to wait for settled weather and can stow 
 away a load whenever it is cured. The advantages are none 
 the less in feeding it out in the winter. There is no waste in 
 stacks partially used, no stack bottoms wet with rain or snow, 
 no loss in hauling from the stack to the feed yard, and we 
 therefore urge every farmer who wishes to make or feed hay 
 economically to provide himself with one of these useful 
 buildings. 
 
 We have emphasized the importance of the use of the 
 tedder. There are years when it will not be needed, as, for 
 example, when by reason of the lateness of the season the 
 corn cannot be laid by in time to secure a hay crop in the best 
 condition, or when by reason of the lack of hay weather the 
 crop is cut late, or when the crop is lightor toolarge tosecure 
 it at its best, but we strongly urge every farmer who wishes to se- 
 cure a crop of clover hay that will feed out satisfactorily, to pro- 
 vide himself with one of these useful implements. After sever- 
 al years' experience we would not undertake to secure alarge 
 crop of heavy clover at the proper season without one. We 
 know of no implement that will so well secure thorough and 
 even curing of the hay and guard against both the over-cur- 
 ing that leads to the loss of the leaves and the wet, uncured 
 bunches that do so much to set up destructive fermentation in 
 the mow and induce, under certain conditions, spontaneous 
 combustion in the barn. 
 
 The destruction of many barns from mysterious and un- 
 known causes since the introduction of clover culture in the 
 West renders a discussion of the subject a fitting conclusion 
 to a chapter on curing clover. Too many of these barns have 
 been destroyed by fire to allow the farmer to regard the prob- 
 
86 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 lem of spontaneous combustion as of interest merely to the 
 scientist or perhaps to the manufacturer. While it has 
 long been known that spontaneous combustion is liable to 
 occur in heaps of rubbish containing oil and other carbon- 
 aceous matters in a state of minute distribution, it has been 
 steadily held by the majority of scientists that under no cir- 
 cumstances is the spontaneous combustion of clover hay pos 
 sible. The mysterious fires that have occurred in barns, sheds 
 and stacks have been regarded as the results of accident, or 
 the farmer's pipe, or the nibbling by mice of matches dropped 
 out of the boy's pocket as he was tramping the hay in the mow. 
 As late as the summer of 1889, Professor Sanborn, one of the 
 highest authorities on such questions, in answer to an inquiry 
 in the Breeders^ Gazette^ of Chicago, said : 
 
 In fact, I never knew before this case, of a barn burning where 
 either lightning, coal oil lanterns or satisfactory evidence of incendiarism 
 — generally for insurance — was not the easily inciting cause. Hay or 
 fodder that is green enough to ferment will pack closely in a mow by its^ 
 very weight, and as it heats it settles closer and closer, of course exclud- 
 ing the circulation of the air, except it be by a very slow movement. As 
 the hotter part is the center of the mow, it will be seen to be very doubt- 
 ful whether air, always essential to flame, will be present in amount 
 sufficient to produce flame. I doubt whether spontaneous combustion of 
 hay or corn fodder is possible. 
 
 We had, ever since our attention had been called to the 
 matter, held to the same view. There are frequently myste- 
 rious things connected with fires, and the occasional loss ot 
 barns from no apparent cause seems to us no more mysterious 
 than dozens ot cases of fires in cities. 
 
 During the month of September, 1889, we received a 
 letter from Mr. H. R. Leaming, of Wyoming, Iowa, of which 
 we quote the important part: 
 
 Enclosed find a sample of clover hay put up in June, on the third day 
 after cutting, in a bam that would hold a hundred tons. It became so hot 
 that it could not be held in the naked hand, and tons of it are completely 
 spoiled. Farmers are in a panic here about their hay. Stacks and barns 
 are taking fire and they do not know what to do. Fifty tons .of hay burn< d 
 within one-half mile of my own farm last night, from its own heat. This 
 hay was watched as it was expected to burn, and there wks no question as to 
 its cause. One barn, two miles east of here, was emptied of its hay day be- 
 fore yesterday, that was already on fire in the inside of the mow and kept 
 down by water till it was hauled out to the field. After being hauled out 
 it took fire and burned completely up. 
 
 The letter in full may be found in the Homestead oi Oc- 
 tober ist,of the year named, and furnishes clear and convinc- 
 ing proof of at least more than one case of spontaneous com- 
 bustion. About the same time two cases were reported, one 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 87 
 
 from Gilman, Hancock County, Iowa, and one from Man- 
 chester, Delaware County, Iowa. In the Manchester case the 
 barn was the property ot Mr. I. G. Clute, and was insured in 
 the Farmers' Insurance Co., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 
 adjuster of the company makes the following statement in the 
 Cedar Rapids, (Iowa) Gazette: 
 
 The barn was 60x100 feet, the mow beiug 40x90, and about 30 feet deep, 
 containing nearly 500 tons of hay. Early in haying season green clover had. 
 been put in one bent, and ever since it had been heating until at last it took 
 fire by spontaneous combustion. When discovered, there was in three 
 chimney holes, as the neighbors called them, a blue blaze springing out over 
 each, some two or three feet under the roof. The fire was located far be- 
 neath at the depth of thirty feet. . . . This blue blaze was gas, and the 
 depths beneath were a gas well on a small scale. One hundred and three 
 neighbors collected to fight the fire and worked two days and nights to save 
 the hay. Thirteen out of the one hundred and three succumbed to the effects 
 of the gas and had to stop work, one being so violently ill as a result that 
 he is not likely to recover. 
 
 We have from time to time received accounts of the spon- 
 taneous combustion of clover hay, but the above embraces 
 nearly every distinct feature. The first phenomenon is ex- 
 cessive heating in the center of the mow or stack ; then the 
 formation of funnels through which gas escapes at a tempera- 
 ture high enough to cook eggs in a few minutes, corroding at 
 the same time the shell and the lining or membrane which 
 encloses the ^%^^ sometimes followed by flame and sometimes 
 not. Instances often occur in which the combustion has been 
 arrested, and in the heart of the stack may be found a mass 
 of charcoal. 
 
 We sent a sample of this charcoal taken from the mow of 
 Mr. C. H. Seager, of Gilman, Iowa, whose barn was burned 
 in the fall of 1889, to Prof Sanborn, asking his opinion of 
 this new evidence of spontaneous combustion, and we quote a 
 part of his reply, as follows: 
 
 * "All preconceived views of the matter are puerile before facts. The 
 charred material looks much like matter burned in an air insufficient for 
 full combustion. Charring does not imply flame, but rather the con- 
 trary. The heating of green food in the mow is due to a ferment and 
 not to direct oxidation in the old sense of the word, or in the sense that 
 wood is burned. Will the ferments (low plant life) thus produce self-de- 
 struction or carry fermentation forward until it becomes oxidation? Fer- 
 mentation ceases with loss of moisture, and flame will not occur where 
 it is abundant. I confess I never saw such charred material as you have 
 forwarded to me. While it does not follow that combustion need be the 
 result, I confess to the belief that the circumstances do not warrant the 
 denial of the possibility of it, at least by me, with the evidence before 
 me. I hope that you will obtain the views of the highest biological 
 authority in the country, for the question is an interesting and impor- 
 tant one." 
 
88 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 In tlie state of Iowa in 1889, there were not less than one 
 hundred cases ot" spontaneous combustion, all having the same 
 general features, and for some reason the large majority of 
 them, in fact, all with a few exceptions, occurring in the 
 north part of the state. Was it because the farmers in that 
 part of the state had less experience in curing clover hay, and 
 hence cured it too green, or was it because the low plant life 
 which is the cause of the heating in clover hay and other for- 
 age was more abundant in that section than in other parts 
 of the West? 
 
 Mr. J. W. Bopp, of Hawkeye, Iowa, who investigated 
 nearly tifty cases of spontaneous combustion, reported that in 
 all cases they occurred when the hay was in bays over twenty 
 feet deep. In all, or at least nearly all the instances, tiie hay 
 was put in damp, either from rain or dew, or with wet bunches 
 interspersed, the result of attempting to cure a heavy crop 
 without the use of the tedder. In most cases into which we 
 have enquired, the hay was placed on timbers that furnished 
 an opportunity for the moderately free access of air underneath. 
 In one notable case at Marshalltown, Iowa, a stack put up 
 when the hay was in bad condition, took fire and burned. 
 Horses running in the field had eaten well into the sides, for 
 some reason preferring this stack to other stacks in the same 
 enclosure, that were put up in the best condition. In the 
 Homestead^ of February 5, 1889, Mr. Luman Edwards, of 
 Henry county, Illinois, reported two cases occurring in 1886, 
 one at Cambridge, and the other at Kewanee, of that state. 
 Since the public agitation of this subject, we 'have received 
 numerous letters from farmers, notably from Englishmen, 
 giving their experience both in America and in Europe, all 
 corroborating the facts already stated. The only v/oncler is, 
 that the theory of the scientists, that spontaneous combus- 
 tion of clover hay was impossible, had not been utterly ex- 
 ploded long ago. In the light of the facts above given it is 
 utterly untenable. Since the numerous cases of spontaneous 
 combustion in Iowa and elsewhere have occurred, the subject 
 has been investigated by Prof Burrell, of the University of 
 Illinois. His conclusions are as follows: 
 
 "In the first place, it may be said that spontaneous combustion is 
 certainly and definitely known to occur in some substances. One of the 
 requisites in most cases for this is that substance sliall be in a state of 
 minute subdivision, in order that a very great surface may be presented 
 for oxygenation, and that the slowly accumulated heat shall not be car- 
 ried away by conduction. Thus oils containing a large portion of hydro- 
 gen, like common lubricating oil, have no tendency to ignite at ordinary 
 temoeratures when kept in bulk, but when cotton waste is smeared with 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 8^ 
 
 the oil and thrown into a heap of some considerable size, fire is very 
 liable to occur from the heat g-enerated within the pile. In this condition 
 slow oxygenation of the oil takes place, favored by the comparatively 
 enormous oil surfaces presented to the air included within the mass, 
 while at the same time escape of heat is prevented by the non-conducting- 
 quality of the substance. As the heat accumulates, chemical combina- 
 tion takes place with still greater energy, the stored heat favoring the 
 process, and the process constantly contributing to increase the degree 
 of temperature. If now, the supply of air continues sufficient, as it will 
 be when the mass is sufficiently porous, and the physical conditions are 
 .such as to continuously retain the generated heat, the time will come 
 when the temperature will be raised high enough to enkindle the mass. 
 Should an abundant supply of fresh air suddenly reach this over-heated 
 and inflammable material an outburst of flame may result. 
 
 "Just the same result has been known to occur in many other sub- 
 stances, as charcoal still having condensed within its pores the inflamma- 
 ble gases separated in the process of manufacture, and reduced to a pul- 
 verized state; bituminous coal containing sulphur, and stored in very 
 large quantity. 
 
 "Now what of moist vegetable substances? Commonly we should 
 infer that moisture would prevent combustion. In order to burn, such 
 things must be dry. Hay in a barn is no exception to this rule. In fact, 
 if spontaneous combustion does occur in a haymow, you may be assured 
 that the igniting portion is dry at the time. What takes place before 
 combustion is possible? At best it is hard to make all conditions such 
 that spontaneous combustion can occur. Hence one requisite is very in- 
 flammable material. Green grass or partially dried grass cannot possibly 
 ignite in this way. In truth such material has not the slightest tendency 
 o become warm on its own account. Familiar as the phenon^enon is, 
 green vegetation thrown into a heap does not spontaneously heat. If 
 there were any way of keeping living organisms out of such a mass there 
 would be no generation of heat whatever. Green stuif would keep cool 
 just as certainly as the most thoroughly dried material. But under all 
 ordinary conditions, minute living things are abundant on grass when 
 ever cut and collected. They must have moisture to live. When, how- 
 ever, moist nutrient material is present, they do possess the peculiar 
 power of forming what we call fermentation. In this process heat is one 
 of the results, the chemical changes being fairly equivalent to, though not 
 identical with those of combustion. Under favorable conditions the degree 
 of temperature due to these organisms may rise until it becomes injurious 
 to their physiological functions, when it can rise no higher. If the mass 
 still continues moist, no other means are known whereby this tempera- 
 ture can be increased through any internal combinations or changes 
 whatever. Spontaneous combustion is an impossibility. Hence, no silo- 
 filled with material containing water enough to keep moist through the 
 fermenting process can possibly burn. The upper limit of temperatu're 
 for these micro-organisms is pretty definitely ascertained, viz. about 145 
 degrees Fahr. is about the upper extreme if the bodies are immersed in 
 water. The micro-organisms referred to, are minute plants, and though 
 not killed by temperature fatal to grass and beans, are just as effectually 
 prevented from development at a given degree of heat. Now 145 degrees 
 Fahr. is scalding hot, but it lacks a long way of being sufficient to ignite 
 such fairly combustible matter as dry hay. In other words, heat due to 
 fermentation by living organisms is never sufficient to cause the ignition 
 of vegetable matter, whether moist or thoroughly dry. 
 
 " Let us see, however, what else occurs. As true fermentation pro- 
 gresses, water is consumed as well as the nutrient material in which the 
 
gO CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 ■destructive process occurs. Along- with the carbonic acid formed, there 
 is separated a considerable amount of free hydrogen, the inflammable sub- 
 stance of common illuminating- gas. If now, the water supply becomes 
 exhausted, the micro-organisms die, or at least their activity ceases and 
 fermentation stops. If there is any further rise in temperature it is not 
 due to fermentation, but to the spontaneous oxygenation similar to that 
 which occurs in cotton waste. Such oxygenation can only occur, as was 
 before said, when the body is porous enough to admit the air, and rise of 
 temperature can only take place when the generated heat is prevented 
 from escaping. The greater the mass, the more favorable the condition 
 for this last. The dryer this mass, the more inflammable it is, and the 
 more pronounced becomes its non-conducting quality in regard to heat. 
 It may be said by some that little moisture, as in the case of coal, favors 
 spontaneous combustion; but this is only true when by some chemical 
 action the hydrogen of the water is liberated, a process not likely to 
 occur in heated herbage. 
 
 From this it may be inferred: 
 
 1st. That spontaneous combustion of stored vegetable matter nun- 
 occur. 
 
 2nd That this can take place only when a considerable number of 
 conditions are favorable at one and the same time. 
 
 3rd That just enough moisture to allow very active fermentation 
 to proceed for a time and then become exhausted, is one of these con- 
 ditions. 
 
 4th. That great bulk and exposure to heating efEects of the son (as 
 under an unventilated roof) with the above (3rd.) may be considered 
 seriously dangerous. 
 
 Sth. That contrary to this no such danger threatens silos as usually 
 filled, however hot the material seems to become." 
 
CLOVERS IN THE ROTATION. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 No permanent system of advanced . farming is possible 
 without the adoption of some kind of rotation of crops. In 
 the very nature of things the operations of the farm can not 
 be conducted profitably by the growthof but one crop. There 
 are, it is true, temporary conditions, as for example, when the 
 country is new, land cheap and farm machinery at hand adapt- 
 ed to large operations, under which, for the time being, farming 
 can be conducted on the ranch or bonanza system, as for exam- 
 ple, the growth of wheat at the present time in the Dakotas. 
 These conditions last but for a brief period, as is evidenced 
 by the constant removal of farming operations of this class to 
 newer and cheaper lands of the farther west. Profitable 
 farming, under ordinary conditions, requires the employment 
 of labor, whether of the farmer himself or hired help, for the 
 entire year, and hence sooner or later must come diversity 
 of crops, and, later still, systematic rotation, t No instance 
 has yet occurred in the history of agriculture where the land 
 has been of such natural fertility that it could endure contin- 
 uous cropping in anyone variety of grain. The constant de- 
 mand made on the soil by one crop for potash, phosphoric 
 acid or nitrogen, speedily exhausts it of one or all of these 
 essential elements of fertility. No matter which is exhausted, 
 the land, for the time being, becomes barren. Nature, < it is 
 true, does not allow of complete exhaustion, but when the 
 exhaustion of any one of these elements has gone so far as to 
 prohibit the growth of paying- crops^ the land, so far as com- 
 mercial purposes are concerned, is exhausted. The exhaus- 
 
 (qi) 
 
■92 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 tion of the nitrogen is nsually first, for the reason that this 
 most costly element is more easily washed out of the soil by 
 rains during that part of the summer season when it is not 
 covered with some kind of growing crop. There are other 
 reasons, in addition to the failure in the supply ot nitrogen, 
 that prevents continuous cropping by the same plant. A nota- 
 ble instance of this is the refusal of even the best corn lands in 
 the West to grow profitable corn crops in succession for very 
 many years. The corn - root worm ( Diabrotica Longi- 
 xornis) i4i many portions ot the West begins its operations in 
 a small way the Erst year. The damage is more noticeable 
 the second and third years, and wherever this pest has made 
 its appearance it usually reduces the crop below what should 
 be regarded as a paying basis. 
 
 Long continued growth of successive crops of winter 
 wheat on the same land gives every opportunity for the in- 
 crease of the Hessian fly, which lays its eggs in the volunteer 
 crop that springs up aifter harvest. The smuts, rusts and 
 other fungus diseases multiply rapidly when a large acreage 
 of spring and winter wheat is sown in the same vicinity, and 
 especially when sown repeatedly upon the same lands. It is 
 only a question of time when Nature comes in with her im- 
 perative command, "Rotate or cease to grow profitable 
 crops. ' ' 
 
 A rotation, to be profitable, mustembody several distinct 
 features. It must comprise crops that mature in different 
 seasons of the year in order that the labor of the farm may 
 find profitable employment. This is imperative. It should 
 consist of crops for which the ground can be prepared and the 
 planting done at different periods of the year. It should con- 
 sist of crops that draw as far as possible on different elements 
 ot fertility in the soil, and if possible, of some crop which re- 
 stores the elements of fertility which have been exhausted by 
 other crops. It should embrace both grain crops and forage 
 crops. And finaWy, it should consist of one or more cleaning 
 oops; that is, crops that either smother out weeds or furnish 
 ample opportun/ty for destroying them in the cultivation de- 
 manded , for other reasons, by the crop. For the above reas- 
 ons, rotations wherever adopted should cjntain as far as pos- 
 sible grain crops, grass crops and hoed crops, by the latter 
 being meant such crops as require tillage in some form during 
 their period of growth, as for instance, corn and potatoes in 
 America, and potatoes, turnips, mangels, beets, etc., in Eu- 
 rope. As all ordinary rotations must necessarily contain 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 93 
 
 shallow rooting crops, such as wheat, oats and corn, tliey 
 should also contain deep rooting crops, such as the clovers 
 and what are known ordinarily as root crops. 
 
 Having thus described the general features of desirable 
 rotations, it remains to inquire how far the clovers meet the 
 wants of the farmer who is selecting a profitable rotation for 
 his own land, his own tastes and his own market. 
 
 As a cleaning crop the clovers surpass all of the so-called 
 hoed crops in America. While hoed or cultivated crops, such 
 for example as corn, potatoes, mangels, beets, etc., afford 
 abundant facilities for the destruction of weeds that germinate 
 prior to July ist (cultivation being then for the most part sus- 
 pended by the conditions of the crop as well as the necessities 
 of the farmer) clover smothers out these as well as the weeds 
 that germinate later, which are usually as destructive as those 
 which germinate in the spring. A weed once sprouted and 
 then smothered is as completely destroyed as when it is killed 
 by the use of the plow or the cultivator. Farmers often find 
 that corn lands that have been kept scrupulously clean until 
 July ist, are foul with smart weed, hog weed, cocklebur and 
 other no less noxious weeds, and that there is no method 
 of destroying them after cultivation has ceased except by the 
 generally impracticable method of hand weeding. The longer 
 land is continuously in corn, the more foul under ordinary 
 circumstances does it become, especially in the Western 
 states. No matter how foul land has become, it is compara- 
 tively clean after it has been in clover even for two years. As 
 a deep-rooting crop the clovers have no equal, especially the 
 red, mammoth and alfalfa. 
 
 In supplying the nitrogen upon which all the grain crops 
 draw to such an extent, the clovers are invaluable and the 
 more so, because, as we have before stated, they alone of 
 all the crops in general cultivation in America have the power 
 of obtaining their supply of nitrogen from the atmosphere. 
 It is true that beans, peas and other legumes have the same 
 power, but their cultivation is too limited to enter largely 
 into rotation crops. For the reasons above given, the clovers 
 form an essential part of the rotation in every part of the 
 world where advanced systems of agriculture have been es- 
 tablished. 
 
 The only objection to the clovers, where it is practicable* 
 to grow them in America, is that the care of the first crop to 
 some extent interferes with the cultivation of corn and the 
 harvesting of the grains. It is one of the standing regrets of 
 
94 CLOVER CULTURE 
 
 foreign writers on agrculture that clover can not be grown 
 •either in Great Britain or on the Continent except as a part 
 •of a long rotation, and hence short rotations have to be aban- 
 doned. Fortunately as yet, it can be grown in any desired 
 rotation in most parts of the United States. 
 
 It is possible to form an indefinitenumber of rotations by 
 the use of the red, mammoth and alsike clovers. The ten- 
 dency in all countries is to begin with a short rotation and to 
 extend rotations as agriculture becomes more diversified. 
 Farmers usually begin in the new countries with the crop for 
 which the land is best adapted and which brings the best cash 
 price, and continue with that until compelled to alternate 
 with some other crop. The bulk of new lands in the corn 
 regions are plajited in corn year after year, and when corn be- 
 gins to fail alternated with oats, spring wheat or barley. The 
 •difficulty withany of these rotations is that they draw excess- 
 ively on the stored fertility of the soil, and especially of the 
 nitrogen, and the first move toward the adoption of a better 
 rotation is the introduction of clover. The rotation then 
 stands: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat seeded in con- 
 nection with clover. Where a good stand of clover is secured 
 the crop can be turned under and again planted to corn with 
 manifest advantage. This is the shortest rotation possible. 
 A manifest improvement on this rotation is: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat sown with 
 clover; 3. Clover meadow and seed crop. 
 
 This n>akes a 3-years' rotation and the meadow can be 
 turned under and again planted in corn. This is perhaps the 
 best rotation possible where the aim is to get the largest pos- 
 sible amount of immediate cash crops Irom the land, and at 
 the same time secure a large amount of hay for consumption 
 on the farm. It involves plowing the ground but once in 
 three years, oats and other spring grains being cultivated in 
 without plowing. The seed crop, if the mammoth variety is 
 used, is ordinarily a paying crop, and if the manure is return- 
 >ed to the meadow after the seed is taken off, there is no reason 
 why fertility should not be kept up for an almost indefinite 
 period. 
 
 Where the farmer is engaged more largely in livestock 
 production, and especially where he has no permanent pasture 
 in connection with his corn lands, the following is an improve- 
 ment on the above rotation: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Oats, spring wheat or barley, sown to clover 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 95 
 
 and Imiothy; 3. Clover and timothy meadow; 4. Pasture. 
 
 If the manure is carefully saved and returned to the pas- 
 ture before plowing under for the next crop of corn, lands 
 under this rotation should increase in fertility from year to 
 year. 
 
 In latitudes where spring wheat is a failure and barley 
 unprofitable on account of climatic conditions, the following 
 rotation may be used to great advantage: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Oats; 3. Winter wheat sown to timothy in 
 the fall and clover the following spring; 4. Clover and timo- 
 thy for meadow; 5. Pasture. 
 
 This can readily be changed on strong lands to a six-crop 
 rotation by taking two successive crops of corn. In this rota- 
 tion the land is plowed but twice, once for corn and once for 
 winter wheat, if the six-year course is not adopted. 
 
 Some Missouri farmers have adopted the following ro- 
 tation: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Oats sown with clover; 3. Clover meadow; 4. 
 Wheat sown with timothy ; 5. Timothy meadow: 6. Pasture, 
 upon which manure is applied. 
 
 This rotation would be improved by sowing the wheat to 
 clover as well as timothy. Here again we have but two plow- 
 ings in the rotation, or one in three years. The clover mead- 
 ow, it the conditions of the ground admit of early plowing, 
 furnishes one of the best possible preparations for wheat, 
 while the wheat furnishes the best opportunity for securing a 
 stand of timothy, and the pasture following the timothy gives 
 an excellent opportunity for the application of manure to be 
 plowed under in the fall as a preparation for corn the first 
 course in the succeeding period of the rotation. 
 
 In sections west of the Missouri where the tame grasses 
 can not be grown successfully with a nurse crop, we venture 
 to suggest the following rotation: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Mammoth clover; 3. Wheat; 4. Mixed clo- 
 vers and orchard grass; 5. Meadow; 6. Pasture; 7. Pasture. 
 
 The objections to this rotation are that two years out of 
 seven there is no money crop. The objection has much force, 
 and yet we believe that the increased returns from the other 
 five years will much more than make up for the apparent loss 
 of the crops of the two years in which the grasses are being 
 established. We suggest that the mammoth clover be sown 
 on corn stalks as early in the spring as practicable. When a 
 stand is obtained, the crop could be turned under in August 
 in time to prepare the ground thoroughly for a wheat crop; 
 
96 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 or, it could be pastured with advantage during the months of 
 July and August. The land being in excellent heart the 
 fourth year should furnish a fine crop of mixed clovers, and or- 
 chard grass, which would during the fall months afford a large 
 amount of pasture. We make the above suggestion merely 
 as a matter worthy of trial, not oniy at the experiment stations, 
 but in asmall way by the farmers themselves. Should the sov 
 bean meet the expectations of those who are best acquainted 
 with its value, it could be substituted for the mammoth clover. 
 The soy beans could be removed in time for a wheat crop, 
 leaving the land in excellent condition for seeding without 
 plowing, and thus one year's loss of the use of the land be 
 avoided. The reason for using orchard grass is that it suc- 
 ceeds admirably, even on quite dry soils far west of the Mis- 
 souri. It furnishes in connection with clover a very superior 
 aftermath, but the cost of the seed is so great that it should 
 not be plowed up for at least two or three years after sowing. 
 
 Some Minnesota farmers have adopted with great advan- 
 tage the following rotation: 
 
 I. Corn; 2. Barley; 3. Spring wheat; 4. Oats sown with 
 clover and timothy; 5. Clover and timothy meadow; 6. Pas- 
 ture. 
 
 This rotation has resulted in a very great increase of the 
 fertility of the land for the time being, but lands must be 
 very fertile indeed to endure four grain crops in succession 
 without the use of clover. 
 
 We have given these examples of rotation in use in dif- 
 ferent parts of the West, not for the purpose of discussing the 
 subject of rotations, but to show how essential clover is to 
 any rotation that will secure large crops and at the same time 
 conserve the fertility of the land. 
 
 A rotation specially adapted for locations where winter 
 wheat is a reliable crop, and where potatoes by reason of 
 market facilities are profitable, is, 
 
 I. Clover; 2. Potatoes; 3. Winter wheat. 
 
 This in many respects is an admirable rotation. In fact 
 it fulfills all the requirements of an ideal rotation. Clover 
 turned under early in the fall, say in August or September, 
 forms the very best preparation for a large and profitable crop 
 of potatoes. The clover being in itself an admirable cleaning 
 crop, the culture of potatoes is an easy matter. There are 
 comparatively few weed seeds to germinate and give trouble, 
 and these can be easily kept down in the cultivation of the 
 potatoes. It besides furnishes in available form and in ijreat 
 
CIvOVER CULTURE. 97 
 
 abundance the elements of fertility which the potato needs. 
 The potatoes in turn can be removed from the ground in time 
 for a crop of winter wheat, with or without plowing, prefera- 
 bly without, as the potato ground furnishes the solid bottom 
 for the seed bed, with loose, mellow soil on top. Wheat can 
 be planted on this with a press drill as early as desirable, and 
 speedy and vigorous germination will follow. Winter wheat, 
 again, is one of the best nurse crops for clover. We do not 
 see why the fertility under this rotation should not remain' 
 almost constant, and, if top dressing of manure is applied with 
 the clover, why it should not increase from year to year, the 
 clover increasing the supply of nitrogenous compounds and 
 the slow disintegration of the minute particles of rock, of 
 which the soil so largely consists, keeping up the supply of 
 potash and phosphoric acid. We advise farmers situated in 
 the winter wheat regions where potatoes are a profitable crop 
 to adopt it. 
 
CLOVER IN FEEDING RATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 No practical work on clover culture would be complete 
 without a clear and definite statement of the use and value of 
 the different varieties, both as pasture and forage, in the feed- 
 ing ration needed for different kinds of stock under different 
 conditions and circumstances. American farmers are but be- 
 ginning to discuss this important matter, and the more expen- 
 sive the various articles of stock feed become on account of the 
 higher price of land and labor, the more important and indeed 
 essential it will be to learn how to feed thjm to advantage, and 
 with the least waste, whether of the clovers or other parts of 
 the ration. The problem is usually regarded as too abstruse 
 and difficult for the practical, every-day farmer. While there 
 are many difficulties connected with this problem, and even 
 those best informed on the subject have much to learn, the 
 elementary principles are simple enough. It is obvious from 
 a moment's reflection, that every part of the animal frame 
 must be derived directly or indirectly from the plant. No 
 animal can live on air alone, or upon the soil on which it 
 treads. In the story of the creation we are told that the herb 
 yielding seed and the tree yielding fruit were created before 
 either man or animal was formed to consume them. This is 
 simple enough. While the frame of the animal is mostly 
 carbon and nitrogen, both elements of the air it breathes, 
 there is no possible way in which they can become part of it 
 except through the medium of plant food. The flesh and food- 
 forming elements of the animal must first appear in the plant. 
 The plant is the medium through which the materials exist- 
 ing in earth and air become adapted to the life of the animal. 
 The most costly element in all food, either of the animal or 
 the plant, is in the form of nitrogenous compounds of different 
 kinds, which we group under the one term, nitrogen. Some 
 writers call it protein, some albuminoids, but all three meau 
 practically the same thing, the flesh-forming elements of the 
 food. The atmosphere which the animal breathes is foui- 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 99 
 
 fifths nitrogen, which is the base of all these compounds, and 
 yet the animal inevitably starves to death unless it has a sup- 
 ply of these compounds of nitrogen through the plant, or iu 
 case of carnivorous animals, through the flesh of other animals, 
 or insects which has in turn been derived from the plant. 
 The same remarks apply to the carbonaceous, that is, the 
 elements that are consumed to maintain the animal heat, and 
 that are stored away in the system as fat, and also to the min- 
 eral elements which make up bone. Of whatever the animal 
 frame may consist, whether bone, flesh or fat, it must have 
 been fed into it either in the plant or the milk of its dam or 
 the flesh of other animals, and therefore must come through 
 its food. While carbonaceous substances compose by far the 
 largest part of animal food and animal forms, it has been very 
 clearly demonstrated that the animal fed on purely carbon- 
 aceous food, such as sugar or starch, will speedily starve, no 
 matter how abundant the food; and it has been as clearly 
 proved that foods having an excess of nitrogen when fed to 
 herbivorous animals will sooner or later produce disease and 
 death. It seems that when carbonaceous elements are lacking 
 the system can use nitrogenous compounds for keeping up the 
 animal heat, just as for lack of coal we may burn wood in the 
 stove. But the carbonaceous elements can not be used for the 
 purpose of building up either the muscular system, or the 
 skeleton, commonly called by scientists, the osseous or bony 
 system. It is therefore evident that much of the success in 
 stock feeding depends upon supplying these elements as nearlv 
 as possible in their proper proportion, feeding nitrogenous 
 food in the proportion in which it is required for growth and 
 repair of waste, carbonaceous foods in the proportion in which 
 they are needed for keeping up the animal heat and finishing 
 the animal for the shambles, and furnishing mineral elements 
 in the proportion needed for the growth of the osseous system. 
 In compounding feeding rations, as in every thing else, 
 Nature is the best teacher. She emphasizes in the most em- 
 phatic way the necessity of a balanced ration. She provides 
 in the milk for the young of each race, a ration composed of 
 the materials in the due proportion that each needs, and man 
 soon finds out that if he interferes and takes away the carbo- 
 hydrates or the albuminoids, as for example the fat, from the 
 milk in the shape of cream, or the albuminoids in the shape 
 of cheese, the young fail to reach their proper development, 
 pine away or perhaps die. The skim-milk calf, for example, 
 unless the balance is kept iii'» bv means of cheaper fats, is 
 
100 CLOVER CULiTURU,. 
 
 always a sorry looking object. The whey calf fares still worse, 
 because the subject of a greater robbery, but neither of them 
 fares very much worse than the calf, the milk of whose dam 
 is too rich in lats. Nature insists on a balanced ration, and 
 can not be prevented from taking her revenge on those who 
 violate her laws. When either albuminoids or carbo-hydrates, 
 •or in other words, nitrogenous or carbonaceous compounds are 
 fed in excess of the wants of the animal, the surplus is wasted. 
 It is worse than wasted, for digestion has meanwhile gone on, 
 and the system having no use for the digested matter beyond 
 its capacity to assimilate, can do nothing else than void it. 
 This is a waste, not merely of the animal food, but of the 
 animal forces. For example, the animal at a certain stage of 
 its existence demands a ration composed ofi of albuminoids to 
 "6 of carbo-hydrates, which we express as follows: i:6, and if 
 fed corn exclusively, having, let us suppose, a ratio of 1:9, or 
 I of albuminoids to 9 of carbo-hydrates; then one-third of the 
 carbo-hydrates is clearly wasted. If, however, to this corn 
 ration be added bran or oil meal in quantities sufficient to 
 make a ratio of 1:6, then is the corn fully utilized as is also 
 the added food. 
 
 The western states have a great excess of carbo-hydrates, 
 an excess rendered all the greater by the continuous shipment 
 abroad of wheat and oil meal and livestock, and rendered all 
 the greater locally by the shipment of livestock to the great 
 •cities and wheat to the great milling centers. It therefore 
 stands in need of a fodder rich in albuminoids to balance up 
 the too carbonaceous corn stalks and straw that are left for 
 feed on the farm. It also needs a ration havrug albuminoids 
 in excess for finishing stock for the feed lot in order to avoid 
 the expense of providing albuminoids in the form of bran and 
 oil meal. To meet the first want the clovers furnish an am- 
 ple supply if properly handled. The second want which is 
 supplied in other countries by peas, beans and turnips, will 
 doubtless be met in time, by some legume adapted to the cli- 
 mate and soil, possibly the soy bean. Great as is the value 
 of the clovers in supplying nitrogen to the soil, they are 
 scarcely less valuable as a source of albuminoids with which 
 to balance up our excessively carbonaceous foods. In order 
 that the reader may see the value of the clovers for this pur- 
 pose, we give the following tables, showing the amount of 
 •dry organic matter and also of digestible albuminoids, carbo- 
 hydrates and fat that are required by different animals and oi 
 the same animal in different stages of its growth, and when 
 fed for different purposes: 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 101 
 
 TABLE I.— Pounds Peu Dai 
 
 i' RKQUIR^ 
 
 :d for 1000 1 
 
 ^OUNDS 
 
 Live Weight. 
 
 
 O <9 
 
 Digestible constituents 
 
 a a 
 
 - a 
 
 eb 
 
 
 "a 
 
 CO 
 
 >> 
 
 -SS 
 
 
 ® . 
 
 > o 
 
 *3 +3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 o . 
 
 X> 03 , 
 
 »H '-' <» 
 
 -»3 ca 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o a-° 
 
 ^■^ 
 
 ^ Xi 
 
 S'^'O 
 
 e3.0 
 
 O^Xi 
 
 
 
 H S J 
 
 < 
 
 J 
 
 o ^ 
 
 fmJ 
 
 H*"Hq 
 
 ;z; 
 
 Oxen at rest in stall 
 
 17.5 
 24.5 
 
 
 0.7 
 l.G 
 
 8.0 
 11.3 
 
 0.15 
 0.30 
 
 8.85 
 13.20 
 
 1:12.0 
 
 Oxen at mQdium work 
 
 1:7.5 
 
 Oxen at hard work 
 
 26.0 
 20.0 
 
 
 2.4 
 1.5 
 
 13.2 
 9 5 
 
 0.50 
 0.40 
 
 16.10 
 11.40 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 Horses at light work 
 
 1:7.0 
 
 Horses at medium work 
 
 21.0 
 
 
 1.7 
 
 10.7 
 
 0.60 
 
 13.00 
 
 1:7.0 
 
 Horses at hard work 
 
 24.0 
 
 
 2.4 
 
 12.5 
 
 '' 0.80 
 
 15.70 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 Milch cows 
 
 24.0 
 27.0 
 
 
 2.5 
 3.5 
 
 12 5 
 15.0 
 
 0.40 
 0.50 
 
 15.40 
 18,00 
 
 1:5.4 
 
 Fattening steers, 1st period. . 
 
 1:6. r> 
 
 Fattening steers, 2d period . . 
 
 26.0 
 
 
 3.0 
 
 14.8 
 
 70 
 
 18. .50 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 Fattening steers, 3d period . . 
 
 25.0 
 
 
 2.7 
 
 14.8 
 
 0.60 
 
 18.10 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 Sheep, wool producing.coarse 
 
 20.0 
 
 
 1.2 
 
 10.3 
 
 20 
 
 11.70 
 
 1:9.0 
 
 Sheep, wool producing, fine. . 
 
 22.5 
 
 
 1.5 
 
 11.4 
 
 0.25 
 
 13.15 
 
 1:8.0 
 
 Fattening sheep, Ist period. . 
 
 26.0 
 
 
 3.0 
 
 15.3 
 
 0.50 
 
 18.70 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 Fattening sheep, 2d period. . 
 
 25.0 
 
 
 3.5 
 
 14.4' 0.60 
 
 18.50 
 
 1:4.5 
 
 Fattening swine, 1st period. . 
 
 36.0 
 
 
 5.0 
 
 27.5 
 
 32.50 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 Fattening swine, 2d period.. 
 
 31.0 
 
 
 4.0 
 
 24.0 
 
 28.00 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 Fattening swine, 3d period. . 
 
 2J.5 
 
 
 2.7 
 
 17.5 
 
 20.20 
 
 1:6.5 
 
 TABLE II. — Pounds Per Day Per Head. 
 
 
 
 
 O o 
 
 ■Sa 
 
 Diges4ible constituents 
 
 1- 
 
 — a 
 ea " 
 
 > c 
 
 3 
 
 ?5 
 
 
 a « 
 
 .O cS . 
 
 h »H Oi 
 
 O 1-^ 
 
 4J 09 
 
 ^X> 
 
 GROWING CATTLE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Age — mos. Average weight. 
 2 to 3 150 !bs. 
 
 3.3 
 
 0.6 
 
 2.1 
 
 30 
 
 3.00 
 
 1:4.7 
 
 3 " 6 300 " 
 
 7.0 
 
 1.0 
 
 4.1 
 
 0.30 
 
 5.40 
 
 1:5.0 
 
 6 " 12 .500 " 
 
 12.0 
 
 1.3 
 
 6.8 
 
 0.30 
 
 8.40 
 
 l:fw0 
 
 12 " 18 700 " 
 
 16.8 
 
 1.4 
 
 9.1 
 
 0.28 
 
 10.78 
 
 1:7.0 
 
 18 " 24 850 " 
 
 20.4 
 
 1 4 
 
 10.3 
 
 0.26 
 
 11.96 
 
 1:8.0 
 
 GROWING SHEEP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 to 6 56 tbs. 
 
 1.6 
 
 0.18 
 
 0.87 
 
 0.045 
 
 1.095 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 6 " 8 68 " 
 
 1.7 
 
 0.17 
 
 0.83 
 
 0.040 
 
 1.060 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 8 " 11 76 " 
 
 1.7 
 
 0.16 
 
 0.85 
 
 0.037 
 
 1.047 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 11 " 15 82 " 
 
 1.8 
 
 0.14 
 
 0.89 
 
 0.032 
 
 1 06i 
 
 1:7.0 
 
 15 " 20 86 " 
 
 1.9 
 2.1 
 
 0.12 
 0.38 
 
 0.88 
 
 0.025 
 
 1.025 
 1.88 
 
 1:8.0 
 
 2 to 3 50 tbs. 
 
 1.50 
 
 1:4.0 
 
 3 " 5 100 " 
 
 3.4 
 
 50 
 
 2.50 
 
 3.00 
 
 1:5.0 
 
 5 " 6 125 " 
 
 39 
 
 0..54 
 
 2.96 
 
 3.. 50 
 
 1:5.5 
 
 6 " 8 170 " 
 
 4.6 
 
 0.58 
 
 3.47 
 
 4.05 
 
 1:6.0 
 
 8 " 12 2.50 " 
 
 5.2 
 
 0.6'i 
 
 4.05 
 
 4.67 
 
 1:6.5 
 
 These are German tables and the weights do not in all oases corre- 
 
102 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 spond with tliose custom "ry f >r >iock of like ages in this country, but 
 this does not affect the principle the tables are here adduced to illustrate. 
 
 To show how inefficient onr non-leguminous grains and 
 crrasses are to meet the requirements of the above tables, we 
 give the digestible nutrients shown by the analyses of the 
 non-leguminous grains and fodders that are grown in the 
 West, and that form the staple of the food of our livestock: 
 
 Corn 
 
 Oats 
 
 Barley 
 
 Rye 
 
 Timothy hay 
 
 Red top 
 
 Orchard grass 
 
 Blue grass 
 
 Hungarian grass 
 
 Barley hay (seed in milk) 
 
 Oat hay (seed in milk) 
 
 Corn stover 
 
 Sowed corn fodder, very good, 
 
 field cured 
 
 Oat straw 
 
 Rye straw - . 
 
 Wheat straw 
 
 Corn fodder, green 
 
 Sorghum, green 
 
 Rye fodder, green 
 
 Albumi- 
 noids. 
 Per cent. 
 
 8 3« 
 8.4G 
 
 9 G4 
 8 37 
 3 (57 
 4.13 
 4.06 
 ().42 
 3.87 
 5.24 
 .5 07 
 2.41 
 
 3.00 
 1 44 
 1.14 
 1.29 
 1.19 
 0.80 
 1.77 
 
 Cai bohy- 
 
 drates. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 04.81 
 40.11 
 00 77 
 63.10 
 41.25 
 44.70 
 43.07 
 41.96 
 49.68 
 44 82 
 43.89 
 34.48 
 
 Fat. * 
 Per cent. 
 
 4.74 
 3.94 
 1.86 
 1.09 
 1.03 
 0.94 
 1.08 
 1.17 
 1.22 
 1.18 
 1.31 
 0.47 
 
 40.00 
 
 0.93 
 
 42.62 
 
 0.00 
 
 37.. 55 
 
 0.59 
 
 37.70 
 
 0.40 
 
 10.87 
 
 0.31 
 
 12.26 
 
 0.28 
 
 13 38 
 
 0.39 
 
 Nutritive 
 Ratio. 
 
 1: 9.3 
 1: 6.5 
 1: ft.7 
 1: 7.8 
 l:ia.7 
 1:11.3 
 1:10.4 
 1: 7.1 
 1:13.5 
 1: 9.0 
 1: 9.2 
 1:14.7 
 
 1:14.0 
 1:30.0 
 1:34.0 
 1:29.0 
 1: 9.9 
 1:10.0 
 1: 8.0 
 
 In order that the reader may be able to compare the 
 nutritive elements in the non-leguminous gfains and forage 
 with the elements contained in the legumes, and thus form 
 an adequate idea of the difference in the proportion or ratio 
 that exists between the albuminoids and carbo-hydrates of the 
 two classes, respectively, the following table showing the 
 digestible contents of clovers and other leguminous plants, is 
 appended: 
 
 Albumi- 
 noids. 
 Per cent. 
 
 Carbohy- 
 drates. 
 Per cent. 
 
 Fat. 
 Pel* cent. 
 
 Nutritive 
 Ratio. 
 
 Red clover, full bloom 
 
 White clover, in blossom. . . . 
 
 Alfalfa, in bloom 
 
 Beans, ripe 
 
 Peas, green, dried substance 
 Soy beans 
 
 11.72 
 11.27 
 11.05 
 22.58 
 14.13 
 31.14 
 
 40.17 
 40.50 
 41.05 
 .57.70 
 05.98 
 27.48 
 
 2.75 
 2.56 
 1.02 
 
 1.87 
 
 1.51 
 
 15.. 59 
 
 1:3.9 
 1:4.2 
 1:3.7 
 
 1:2.7 
 1:4.9 
 1:2.0 
 
CIvOVER CULTURE. 103 
 
 It will be readily seen that with certain ends to accom- 
 plish, as for example, the growth of the pig from fifty pounds 
 weight to a hundred, where a ratio of from 1 4 to 1 15 is re- 
 quired, and with no feed on hand except corn with a ratio of 
 1:9.3 (s^^ tabte 3.) and a deficiency in bone material, besides, 
 there can be but one result: the frame becomes deficient in 
 bone material and the pig fine in bone, chufFyand small; and 
 no amount of corn fed, even with its attendant waste, can 
 properly develop its form. It becomes, under excessive corn 
 feeding a globe of fat, fit subject for every disease and a source 
 of continual disappointment to its unwise owner. 
 
 If a horse is to be kept for hard work, involving great 
 waste of inuscular tissue, and it is fed solely on corn, which is 
 ■deficient in material adapted to supply the waste, it is clear 
 that it must be fed much more corn than under other circum- 
 stances would be necessary. Hence, the preference for oats 
 as feed for work horses, and of corn as a food for fattening 
 mature cattle or hogs. In the last case, the waste of muscular 
 tissue is slight, while the end in view is the storing away ol 
 surplus fat in the system. For this nothing is better than corn. 
 
 The term "pigs in the clover" has become a synonym for 
 abundance, while feeding an exclusive corn diet without clo- 
 ver to growing pigs is everywhere condemned by good farm- 
 ers as unprofitable, and hence in their experience is a waste 
 of corn. How to avoid this and like^ wastes by the use of 
 ■clover is the problem now under consideration. 
 
 In the early stages of their growth, all grasses have a 
 large amount of nitrogenous compounds. The dry matter, 
 for example, of clover cut when from three to four inches 
 high, approximates the nutritive value of oil meal, hence a pas- 
 ture of mixed grasses in May and the early part of June forms 
 an almost ideal ration. As these grasses mature, the propor- 
 tion of carbonaceous compounds or carbohydrates increases rel- 
 atively. Clover alone contains a sufficiently large proportion 
 of nitrogen to make it valuable in balancing up rations. We 
 now inquire how this clover can be used to balance up the car- 
 bonaceous foods, and that, too, by any tarmer who has even 
 a general idea of the different elements in the supply of food 
 at his command. '' 
 
 Nearly every farmer in the West has a field of cornstalks 
 which he wishes to use to the best advantage. Many farmers 
 are not prepared to build silos and many others have not the 
 labor at their command at a price which they believe justifies 
 them in cutting up the corn and using it as fodder. It re- 
 
104 CLoVER CULTURE. 
 
 quires labor to handle the grain and fodder after husking and 
 to return the stalks to the field in the shape of manure. In the 
 jfreater part of the United States this will pay. There are 
 jjortions, however, where the cornfields are very large and the 
 supply of stock limited where as yet this method of saving 
 fodder is not believed to be profitable, and the question before 
 us now is, how these stalks can be used to the best advantage. 
 Corn stalks in their best estate, before bleached by rain, and 
 the leaves in which, with the husks, most of the nitrogenous 
 compounds are found, have a ratio of 1:14.7, a very wide ratio 
 it will be seen, which becomes wider, that is, the proportion 
 of carbohydrates to albuminoids becomes greater, everyday 
 after it is exposed to the weather. It is entirely practicable 
 for most farmers to have in the same field a clover meadow, and 
 to allow the second crop or aftermath to remain untouched 
 until after the corn is husked and the cattle are turned into the 
 corn field. This clover aftermath or second crop has, before 
 being damaged by winter's rain or frost,a ratio of 1:2.3. This 
 ratio becomes wider during the winter season, but it does not 
 widen as rapidly as that of the corn stalks. 
 
 It is now plain to be seen that by using this second crop 
 for pasturage in connection with corn stalks, a very great 
 saving may be made for stock cattle or milk cows or horses,, 
 by allowing them to consume both together, the excess ot 
 albuminoids in the plover balancing the excess of carbohy- 
 drates in the corn stalks, and together making a fairly good 
 winter pasture. No argument is needed by any farmer who 
 has once tried this method. Nor is it alone in the balancing 
 up of the ration that the benefit consists. There is very little 
 danger of compaction of the stomach where cattle have free 
 access to this clover aftermath, nor is there any danger from 
 bloating from the clover. 
 
 Every farmer who is extensively engaged in growing 
 wheat, oats or barley has, at his command, a large amount of 
 straw which is either burnt (a wasteful habit which can not 
 be too strongly condemned) or stacked and allowed to rot on 
 the fields, or perhaps used for bedding. This has a ratio of 
 1:29 in case of wheat straw; 1:30 in case of oats; 1:34 in case 
 of rye, with a probable average ratio of i :32. The stock re- 
 quire a ratio of say i :8. It will be seen that if the animal is 
 to increase in size and weight or even repair the waste of 
 muscular tissue, it must consume a very large amount of the 
 straw to get sufficient for the purpose. This straw has to be 
 wet with a large amount of water, the water has to be brought 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. lOi 
 
 up to blood heat and then the greater portion of the carbohy- 
 drates is wasted. Thisexplains why cattle fed onfoodsof this 
 kind exclusively wear themselves out in the winter by trying 
 to digest a great deal more than the system can assimilate. 
 This waste may to a great extent be avoided by stacking the 
 straw in a clover field where the aftermath has been allowed to 
 stand, and allowing cattle free access to both. Where this is 
 not practicable, the waste can be avoided by feeding clovei 
 and straw alternately, or by cutting and mixing both and 
 making a complete ration by the use of bran or oil meal. 
 
 For example, clover hay has a ratio of 1:5.6. (We are 
 speaking now of clover hay in its best condition cut when the 
 heads are not more than one-th#rd brown and properly cured. 
 The feeder usually knows how far his hay varies from this 
 standard whether by late cutting or defective curing. It 
 should be noticed in either case that the departure from the 
 standard will be in the loss of the albuminoid or protein ele- 
 ments and therefore the less efficiently will it balance up a 
 corn ration.) The farmer has steers on feed, and wishes to 
 get the best results from his corn. This has a ratio of 1:9.3, 
 and should be brought down to a ratio of 1:5.5 or 1:6.5. He 
 can do this by feeding oil meal, shorts or bran, but he can 
 narrow this broad ration of corn to some extent by feeding 
 clover hay for roughness. How far he can narrow the ration 
 will depend on how much clover hay he can induce his cattle 
 to eat in the uncut state, and this no one can determine but 
 himself. 
 
 When labor becomes cheaper in the West and land audits 
 products dearer, there will be a much greater opportunity than 
 now to use clover in the feeding ration. Clover hay will then 
 be largely cut and mixed with ground food and there is 
 scarcely any limit to the methods in which it can be used in 
 this way. It will enter largely into the ration for dairy cows 
 in connection with other forage and the various cereals. Al- 
 though it is impossible to make an ideal milk ration by add- 
 ing clover hay to the corn and corn fodder upon which so 
 many cows are now fed, yet every pound of clover that is add- 
 ed to these foods improves the ration. The ideal balance for 
 milk should be one pound of albuminoids to each five and 
 four-tenths pounds of carbohydrates. Good clover hay as 
 usually cut has a ratio of i:5.6,and is of itself substantially in 
 the right proportion, but the corn is 1:9.3 and the corn stalks 
 1:14.7. ^f ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ were fed in equal weights the ratio 
 would be 1:13; if the three feed stuffs were fed in equal 
 
106 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 weights the ratio would be 1:9.8, which, although still far from 
 the ideal requirements, is much more nearly right than the 
 corn and fodder without the clover. Substitute bran for hall 
 the corn and the ratio would be still further narrowed to i :8. 5, 
 or substitute oil meal for half the corn and the ratio of the 
 mass would be narrowed to 1:7.5. 
 
 Timothy hay has a wide ratio of i:i2.7,and every farmer 
 knows how the addition of clover improves it. The reason is 
 that the ratio, that i.s, the proportion between the albumi- 
 noids and the carbohydrates, is narrowed. Equal weights of 
 timothy and clover hay cut as described will ha-ye a ratio of 
 1:9.15. If to such mixed hay corn is added the ratio will not 
 be much disturbed. If an equal weight of corn and bran in 
 equal parts be added the ratio of the whole ration will be i :8, 
 and if the grains fed be half corn and half oil meal the ratio 
 of the whole will be 1:7. i. If the mixed hay be added to an 
 equal weight of oats the ratio of the mass will be i :7. 8, where- 
 as timothy and oats alone in equal parts would have a ratio 
 I :g.6. These examples are given merely to illustrate the man- 
 ner in which clover hay may advantageously narrow the ratio 
 of other feed stuffs. Corn ensilage may in like manner be 
 narrowed with clover. Alone it has a ratio of about i:ii, but 
 if an equal weight of clover hay be added the ratio of tha 
 whole will be narrowed to i :8.3. A careful study of the tables 
 on pages loi and 102 will suggestother combinations of clover 
 hay suitable to the live stock of the farm. 
 
 Where alfalfa hay is grown the hay can be used even to 
 better purpose than clover, for it is customary to cut it at an 
 earlier stage of growth, when if well cured its • ratio is about 
 1:2.8. It is the more valuable because in the district m which 
 alfalfa is grown there is a very great supply of carbonaceous 
 foods which require, for use for the highest profit, to be bal- 
 anced up with a more albuminous food. Some horse breeders 
 in the Eastern states have become so impressed with the value 
 of alfalfa as a producer of muscle that they sendyearlingcolts 
 to the alfalfa districts of Kansas in order that they may be 
 grown largely on alfalfa pasture and alfalfa hay. This may 
 seem a mere conceit, but it is not impossible that they may 
 have more facts to sustain them than is apparent at first sight. 
 It is in entire harmony with feeding principles. While many 
 farmers see at a glance the value of the various clovers in the 
 ration the number will greatly increase as land and its pro- 
 ducts increase in value and the science and practice of com- 
 pounding balanced rations which is yet in its infancy becomes 
 more completely u::derstood. 
 
INSECT AND OTHER ENEMIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 It is a peculiarity of all cultivated crops that when grown 
 abundantly over a wide district of country, they become 
 infested with many diseases and are attacked by a largfe num- 
 ber of insect and other enemies. The more useful the plant, 
 the greater the variety and number of its foes. It may there- 
 fore be reasonably expected that whenever the culture of 
 clover becomes established in any state or section and is in 
 such high favor with farmers that a large acreage is in culti- 
 vation, insect enemies will appear, increase and multiply. 
 
 Prof. J. A. Lintner, in the Report of the New York Agri- 
 cultural Society 1S81-2, page 190, gives a list of no less than 
 seventy-one species of insects in Europe which infest the 
 clover plant. In the same volume, pages 192 and 206, he 
 gives the names of some sixty species that have been known to 
 attack clover in America, and some eight or ten other species 
 have since been discovered by other entomologists. A recent 
 bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station gives 
 the names of eighty-two that have been discovered up to 1885. 
 It will thus be seen that the clovers have as many enemies as 
 a saint. Many of these species are not peculiar enemies of 
 clover, as, for instance, the grasshoppers and various butter- 
 flies, and, hence, will not be discussed here, while others do 
 comparatively little damage. We confine our attention main- 
 ly to those peculiar to the clover, which have infested the 
 clover fields in some parts of the country, and may in all. 
 
 C)ne of the minor pests is the clover leaf midge, (an illus- 
 tration of which is presented on the following page) 
 which deposits its eggs in the folded leaf of the white clover 
 
 (107) 
 
108 
 
 CnOVER CULTURE. 
 
 THE CLOTEB LKAT HIDQB. 
 
 and has, in some instances, been found on the red, thoug-h not 
 yet, we believe, on the alsike. It is described by Prof. Riley 
 in the Report of the Department of Agriculture, 1879, pag-e 
 197. Where it has beg-un its operations, the egfg-s will be 
 found on the leaves, on the dividing- line in each leaf, and their 
 presence may be suspected when the leaves are folded up. 
 On unfolding- these leaves, from one to twenty whitish, pale 
 orang-e mag-gots may be found, similar to, but smaller, than 
 
 those of the clover- 
 seed midg-e, which will 
 be described in Chapter 
 XII. It was first de- 
 scribed by the German 
 entomolog-ist, Dr. Leow. 
 The leng-th of this 
 midg-e is about .059 of 
 an inch. When ma- 
 tured it forms a white, 
 delicate cocoon, in the 
 folded leaflet, inside of 
 which may be found the pupa, pale orang-e in color. The 
 perfect fly is very similar to that of the clover seed midg-e, the 
 main difference being- that the antennae, or feelers, of the leaf 
 midg-e have fourteen instead of sixteen joints. It is not 
 likely that this will ever become a serious pest, inasmuch as 
 dhe exposed condition of the eg-g-s leaves them open to many 
 enemies, and renders them especially liable to be infested by 
 parasites. When working- on the red clover it will be found 
 in the form of a g-all on the undermost leaves. 
 
 A much more serious pest is the clover root borer, {Hylesi- 
 nustiifolh), Mueller. This was first noticed in New York in 
 1878, and described by Prof. Riley at some leng-th in the report 
 of the Commissioner of Ag-riculture for that year. As 
 the name implies, it belongs to an entirely different family, and 
 is closely related to the common bark beetle, which is often 
 found under the bark of both evergreen and deciduous trees, 
 deciduous trees being those that shed their leaves in the fall. 
 The illustration on the following page will enable our 
 readers to identify the beetle in three of its stages. In the 
 illustration a represents the affected plant with the maggot 
 feeding in the root, b the maggot highly magnified, c the 
 pupa, and d the full-grown beetle. The eggs are whitish 
 and oval, the larvae white with oval head and the beetle black 
 and about .08 of an inch in length. The female appears in 
 the spring, bores a hole in the crown of the root, eating out a 
 pretty large cavity, in which she deposits the eggs. These 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 109 
 
 are hatched in about a week, and the mag-g-ots first feed in the 
 ■cavity made by the parent for their accommodation. When 
 somewhat grown, they begin to burrow downward, following- 
 out the different branches of the root. The pupa is formed 
 in a smooth cavity, generally at the end of one of these burrows, 
 and may be found there in the fall. This, of course, greatly 
 weakens the plant, and it is not able to produce a seed crop ; 
 hence, where farmers find clover after the first cutting in the 
 fall not producing seed heads, they may suspect the presence 
 
 of the clover root borer. A very 
 slight investigation will discover the 
 presence of the pest. The stalks 
 pull up easily and sometimes push 
 before the mower. Thus, the borer, 
 as will be seen from the above de- 
 scription of its habits, affects only 
 the second year's crop, as the first 
 year's crop is not sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to allow the female to deposit 
 her eggs, there being no crown or 
 sufficient root development for the 
 support of the young. The only 
 known method of avoiding the rav- 
 ages of this pest is to plow up the 
 field and plant it to corn, a remedy 
 not applicable, however, in fields 
 where clover is growing as part of 
 the permanent pasture. From its 
 habits the clover root borer cannot be 
 distributed as rapidly as the clover 
 seed midge. It prevails, however,over 
 a large part of the country, having 
 been abundant as far west as some counties in northern Iowa, 
 for some years. Fortunately, the farmer does not suffer any 
 serious loss by being compelled to plow up his clover field at 
 the end of the second year, the main loss being the deficient 
 yield of the affected plant and the failure of a seed crop. In 
 many places where it has appeared, this singular fact has been 
 noted, that while they may ruin whole fields one season, the 
 borers may be quite rare the next. This would indicate 
 either that it has some parasite enemies, or that they are 
 destroyed in great numbers while hibernating in the ground 
 in the winter, or that the old plants have b'een destroyed 
 and sufficient young ones have come forward from self- 
 seeding to maintain the stand. 
 
 Another insect that affects clover injuriously is the flaves- 
 
 THE CLOVER ROOT BORER. 
 
110 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 cent clover weevil, {SitonesJlaz'escens)A\\?ixCi. In the month 
 of October, 1885, Mr. F. M. Webster, then of Lafayette, 
 Indiana, special agent of the Department of Ag-riculture. dis- 
 covered that the foliag-e of white clover, and also of the alsike 
 on the grounds of the Purdue University, at Lafayette, Indi- 
 ana, were seriously injured by an insect enemy, and he de- 
 scribed and reported the insect to the Department, the de- 
 scription being published in the annual report of 1886, pp. 
 580-2. The injury was done mainly to the leaves of the clo- 
 ver, and consisted in cutting a circular disc in the center of the 
 leaf, and also circular spaces from the margins, in some cases 
 leaving onl}' the leaf stalk and the backbond of the leaf, or 
 the bases of the mid-veins. This he identified as the fiaves- 
 cent clover weevil, {Sitoiies Jlavcscens.) The insect had been 
 previously described by Dr. Lintner, of New York, and alsa 
 by Dr. Riley, of the Department of Agriculture. It is one of 
 the beetles, and has a wide distribution, being quite frequent 
 in the Atlantic states, and in Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota. 
 The beetles are described as rather timid, and drop to the 
 ground on the slightest disturbance, hiding among the leaves 
 and rubbish, and, therefore, it is difficult to discover them in 
 the act of feeding on the leaves. The peculiar circular marks 
 which they make are due to the habit of the insect when feed- 
 ing, of moving simply the head and neck, the body remaining 
 stationary, much after the fashion of a cow with her head be- 
 tween a barb wire fence and reaching as far as her tongue 
 will enable her to take in the herbage. 
 
 These beetles appear in the spring of the year, about the 
 time the first tender leaves make their appearance, and carry 
 on their depredations throughout the summer. 'The eggs are 
 deposited in July and August, and the deposit continues until 
 cold weather beg'ins. The larvae hatch out about two days 
 after the eggs are laid, and pass the winter in the larval 
 stage, pupating or undergoing their final transformation in 
 the spring, and after remaining about twenty days in this 
 stage, emerge as adults, thus completing the cycle. This 
 pest was discovered in 1891, as being quite abundant at Ames, 
 Iowa, and a full account of it may be found in Bulletin 14, 
 for August of that year. While as noticed in Indiana and 
 further east, they infest mainly the alsike and white clovers, 
 they seem to be partial to red clover in Iowa. It is not prob- 
 able that this insect will do very serious damage, and it is 
 likely common, its ravages being mistaken for those of grass- 
 hoppers. Prof. Osborn describes it as little less than one- 
 fourth of an inch in length, about one-tenth of an inch wide, 
 and with a faint light brown stripe running the length of the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 Ixi 
 
 THB CLOVER STEM BOREB. 
 
 head between the eyes, and dimly discernablc on the wing 
 covers. 
 
 Clover Stem Borer, {Lauguria Mozajdi,) Fabr. In his re- 
 port to the Department of Ag-riculture for 1879, Prof. J. Henry 
 Comstock, entomolog-ist of the Department, describes a new 
 clover pest then recently discovered, called the Clover Stem 
 Borer. The accompanying- illustration will enable the reader 
 to identify the eggs, larva?, pupa, the adult borer and also the 
 manner in which the eggs 
 are laid in the stalk. It 
 seems to be identical with 
 an insect affecting the 
 fall wheat in Kansas and 
 perhaps other sections, 
 and hence is not peculiar 
 to clover. The female 
 lays her eggs in June, ac- 
 cording to Prof. Cook, 
 piercing the stem with 
 her jaws and pushing her 
 eggs clear into the pith. 
 The larvae feed on the pith downward, forming a 
 burrow about six inches long. The pupa is formed 
 at the bottom of this burrow and shortly after- 
 wards the full}^ developed beetles begin to appear, 
 emerging from the hollow stems from August to 
 October. There is but one brood each year. The beetle 
 hibernates and waits until the plants are in their full vigor in 
 June before depositing her eggs. It will readily be seen that 
 the Western method of cutting clover the last of June or the 
 first of July, and then either pasturing or cutting the second 
 crop for seed will give small chance for this pest to increase. 
 Recent discoveries, however, have shown that a stock of the 
 borers may be kept up indefinitely, from the fact that it lives 
 on quite a number of plants besides clover. It has been 
 found in the sweet clover,. in wild thistles, wild lettuce, yarrow 
 and in timothy. It has, however, several parasites, and there 
 is but little danger of it ever becoming a destructive pest. 
 
 Clover Leaf Beetle, {Phytouumus pun iatus). This, like 
 many of our destructive insect:,, is stated by Prof. Cook to 
 be an imported species, common in Germany, prevailing in 
 Canada since 1853, appearing in New York in 1881, and later, 
 in 1884, at Buffalo, N. Y. It appeared in northeastern 
 Ohio in 1891, and recently near Cincinnati, Ohio. The 
 following illustration will gi'/e our readers an idea of 
 the beetle at its work, in which a represents the ^^% en- 
 
112 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 larg-ed ; b, b, b, b, represent the different stages of their 
 growth feeding ; e, the young larvce ; d, the head from 
 beneath ; e, the jaw enlarged ; f, the cocoon reduced in size 
 and meshes of the same ; g and //, the pupae ; i, the beetle, 
 also reduced ; j\ side view of the beetle, and k^ a dorsal 
 view of the same, slightly reduced from the natural size ; 
 / and m, foot and antennae enlarged. For the illustra- 
 tion the public is indebted to Dr. Riley. From a descrip- 
 
 THE CLOVER LEAP BEETLE. 
 
 tion by Dr. Lintner, State Entomologist of New York, we 
 condense as follows : It measures four-tenths of an inch 
 in length, is oval in form, brown in color; the beak is 
 short, broad and blunt. The wing covers are clothed with 
 short, yellowish brown hairs, the e^gg is a long oval and 
 about twice as long as wide, pale yellow, smooth when first 
 laid, but becoming greenish yellow before hatching. The 
 larvae hatch out in about a week from the time the Q.gg is 
 laid. They are pale in color, with a dark head, which 
 subsequently becomes greenish. The body is deeply 
 wrinkled, and when it rests clings sidewise to the leaf in a 
 curved position. The eggs are deposited in the latter part 
 of the summer by beetles which appear in July and August. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 113 
 
 The larvae appear in September, change to pupae in October, 
 and emerg-e as beetles in November. Some of them lay 
 their eggs from which the larvse hatch and hibernate while 
 quite small within the old clover stems. Others hibernate 
 as beetles and lay their eggs the following spring. The 
 young larvae are seen as early as April, feeding on the 
 clover, but their ravages do not become marked until May 
 or June. They feed first on the folded yoiing leaves, and 
 attach themselves to the under side of the leaf, while later 
 they fasten themselves to its edge, which they eat in irregu- 
 lar patches. It is difficult to observe the older larvae, as 
 they are quite timid and drop to the ground when approached, 
 feeding mainly at night and passing the day among the roots 
 and old stalks, or any other shelter found upon the ground. 
 About the first week in July the beetle emerges. The sev- 
 eral periods of the insect are given by Dr. Lintner as follows r 
 "The egg stage, ten and a half days ; first larval stage, nine 
 days ; fourth larval stage from the third molting to the spin-^ 
 ning of the cocoon, twenty-five days ; larvae unchanged in the 
 cocoon, nine days ; pupa state, thirty days. The entire time 
 from the egg to the perfect insect is one hundred and one 
 days, or about three and one-third months." This beetle is 
 very prolific. The female lays from two hundred to three 
 hundred eggs in the clover stem, which it usually punctures 
 for that purpose. The larvae, or worms, are constitutionally 
 hungry and consume every part of the plant above the surface 
 of the earth. The beetles are described by Prof. Cook as 
 doing very serious damage in June or July, thus completing 
 the work of destruction begun by the larvae. Inasmuch as 
 these beetles are waterproof, they may be expected to spread 
 very rapidly along streams, and once introduced are liable to ■ 
 become a very serious pest unless they fall a prey to their 
 parasitic and other enemies. Paris green would no doubt 
 destroy them as it does other insects, but it is not a practical 
 remedy under western conditions, nor with field crops. It is 
 probable that no better thing can be done than to plow up the 
 infested clover fields in May and plant them to corn. It is. 
 to be sincerely hoped that the insect will not appear in the 
 West. 
 
 The clover leaf hopper {Agallia sanguinolentd). Of the 
 numerous minute leaf-hoppers that affect different crops, this, 
 is one of the very abundant and widespread species. It 
 appears to be quite distinctively a clover feeder, for, while it 
 occurs on other plants and doubtless at times feeds upon them, 
 it shows decided preference for this as its staple food. The 
 life history has been worked out by Prof. Osborn and is in 
 
114 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 brief as follows : The adult insect hibernates and may be 
 found in sunny places in early ? -ring-, or, for that matter, at 
 any warm spell during- the winter. It is about one-eighth oi 
 an inch long-, and is shown in the fig-ure at c much enlarg-ed, 
 the line at the left being- a little long-er than the actual 
 leng-th of the averag-e specimens. It is broad in proportion 
 to lengfth, and is marked with numerous dark blotches and 
 stripes. The adults pair during- April and the females 
 deposit eg-g-s in the leaves of clover and probably also in 
 
 THB CLOVER LEAF-HOPPER. 
 
 {Agallia sangMinolenta), a larvae, ^ pupa, tr adult, <^ head in front: all enlarged, Bi2« 
 lines a little too long.— (After Oeborn). 
 
 the petiole and perhaps also near the g-round in the crown. 
 The first larvae appear during- the month of May, thoug-h eg-g* 
 deposition lasts for some time and larvae of this first brood 
 may be appearing- for some weeks. Some-of them mature, 
 producing- the adults by early in July, and these deposit eg-g-s 
 which produce a second brood of larvae, and it is possible that 
 the earliest maturing- of these mig-ht produce a third brood, 
 but the bulk of the insects are doubtless included within 
 two broods. Remedial measures for this pest are not readily 
 applied and the only reccommendation that seems feasible at 
 present is to use the flat "hopper-dozer," or "Tar Pan," which 
 has been proven at the Iowa Experiment Station to be so effec- 
 tive in killing- the leaf-hoppers in pastures and meadows. It 
 will also serve to diminish their numbers g-reatly to burn over 
 the old g-rass, along- fences and other places where the insects 
 hibernate, during- late fall or early spring-. " The "Tar Pan" 
 could be best used in summer, directly after the cutting- of the 
 first crop of clover. 
 
 Clover hay worm (Asopia costalis). Heretofore we have 
 treated of insects that feed on clover roots and the clover stalk, 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 lis 
 
 and it now only remains to treat of the clover hay worm,4eav- 
 ing those that infest the seed to be considered in Chapter XIL 
 The clover hay worm, {Asopia cos/a/ts), Fabr., belong-s to 
 the same family as the moth that infests bee hives and the moth 
 common in meal. The illustration herewith given will 
 enable our readers to identify the worm. In it, as described 
 by Prof. Cook, 1 and 2 represent the larvae suspended by 
 threads of their own spinning, 3 represents the cocoon, 4 the 
 
 chrysalis, 5 the moth 
 with winf s spread, 6 the 
 moth at rest, and 7 the 
 larvce concealed in a case 
 of silk which it has 
 spun. The eggs are 
 laid on the clover. The 
 larvae work in a silken 
 case and thus often mat 
 the hay into a great 
 mass. They may be 
 seen in summer working 
 on hay, bui; more usually 
 in February or March, 
 when stacks and mow« 
 may be fairly alive with 
 larvae. They often crawl into the stack to protect them- 
 selves from the cold. The color of the larvae is dark brown, 
 the cocoon is white and the chrysalis yellow, the moth purple 
 with a silken luster and it has two bright spots on the wings. 
 Prof. Riley described the insect at an earlier date in the 6th 
 Missouri Report. Prof. F. M. Webster, of Wooster, Ohio, 
 special agent of the Department of Agriculture, in "Insect 
 Life," (volume 4, numbers 3 and 4, November 1891,) paid a visit 
 to the farm of Prof. W. I. Chamberlain on April 27th, 1891, 
 for the purpose of investigating this worm at work. The hay 
 was in an open stack and was damaged twenty per cent. It 
 was found that the majority of the larvae could be killed by 
 re-stacking the hay and dusting it with two pounds of pow- 
 dered pyrethrum, mixed with ten pounds of flour, to each ton of 
 hay. A number of larvae were taken from this hay and 
 placed in breeding cages. They continued to feed on the 
 dry hay for a considerable time, the pupa being first 
 observed on May 25th, and moths beginning to issue on 
 June 12th. The eggs appeared to be laid on the heads 
 of growing clover and about July 1st the young larvae 
 appeared. It would seem from this that the eggs may be 
 deposited on the plants in the field and thus the larva 
 
 THE CLOVER HAY "R'ORH. 
 
116 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 be drawn to the stack or mow, and also that the eg-g-s 
 may be deposited in the stacks early in August. The only 
 remedy we can suggest for the destruction of this pest, should 
 it appear, is to burn up all the old stacks of hay left over 
 from the preceding year, to remove all old hay from 
 barns, and to thoroughly cleanse all sheds and barns where 
 the pest has become established. 
 
 The clovers, however, suffer seriously from other than 
 insect enemies. They are subject to a peculiar kind of rust, 
 {Uromyces trifolti.) This rust is a fungus or low form of 
 plant life, without chlorophyll, or the coloring matter of 
 plants, and without roots, stems, or leaves, which derives its 
 nourishment from the clover plant. It is, therefore, a para- 
 site and is reproduced by spores which float in the air, and 
 when placed under proper conditions, germinate and develop 
 on the leaves of the plant. This clover rust has appeared 
 but recently in the West. It was first reported on white 
 clover in Iowa by Prof. Arthur in 1884 and seems to be more 
 widely distributed than is generally supposed. Prof. Under- 
 wood reported it in the vicinity of Syracuse, N. Y., in 1888. 
 Dr. Roland Thaxter reported it near New Haven, Conn.,^ 
 in the annual report of the Connecticut Agricultural 
 Experiment Station in 1889, page 175. In Bulletin No. 15, 
 Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station, Prof. Dudley re- 
 ports it as common about Ithaca, N. Y., and in August, 
 1890, it was reported in the Monthly Review of the Iowa 
 "Weather and Crop Service as common at Ames, Iowa, where 
 Prof. Pammel reports that it has been unusually severe during- 
 the past summer. This rust usually appears on the rowen 
 or second crop, and it would be an interesting" investigation 
 to ascertain whether it affects clover when under hard con- 
 ditions, such, for example, as an exceedingl}'^ wet and hot 
 ^ear, or when plants are weakened by previous drouth or by 
 insect enemies. It is difl&cult to suggest any remedy short 
 of plowing up the field, but it is not likely that it will do any 
 serious damage where clover is grown in short rotation. 
 Where there is much affected clover in a permanent pasture, 
 burning over the field late in the fall would, no doubt, prove 
 advantageous. 
 
 In this connection attention should also be called to the 
 violet root fung"us, {_Rhizoctonia Tnedicaginis)^ which, in parts 
 of Europe, is a serious pest. The fungus covers the roots 
 with a violet mould. Plants affected with this disease wilt 
 suddenly and then die. The disease spreads in circular 
 areas. It also affects alfalfa, in fact, has been reported on 
 that host by Mr. Webber, in Nebraska. (Flora of 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. lU 
 
 Nebraska, pag-e 76). Carrots and mang-olcls are also affected 
 Some of the clover sickness referred to by European writen 
 is undoubtedly due to the abundance of this parasite in the 
 soil. Everyone should be on the lookout for this fung-us 
 If found, it should be exterminated at once. Rotation wit? 
 corn and oats for a number of years has been very effective 
 
 The clovers, however, are subject to a very much more 
 ■dang-erous, thoug^h, fortunately, as yet an uncommon para- 
 site, the clover dodder, {Cuscuta epithymiitn). The dodders 
 belong to the morning- glory family, and are near relations 
 to the common bind-weed, the morning" g^lor}-, moon flowei 
 and sweet potato. The genus Ctiscuta, or dodder, contains 
 upward of a hundred different species, forty-four of which 
 have been found in America, and thirty-nine of these are 
 found in no other part of the world. They occur on various 
 native plants such as smart weed, goldenrod and sunflowers. 
 The read-^r, passing through a slough in the fall of the year 
 that has been allowed to grow up to weeds, common to such 
 locations, may have noticed a vine of reddish or yellow color, 
 closely entwined around some weeds and which, on examina- 
 tion, has no connection with the ground. This is one of 
 the dodders. Dodder grows from seed and if it finds no 
 suitable plant upon which to take hold, dies: , If, however, 
 it reaches a stalk of clover or alfalfa, the clover dodder 
 pierces the bark with small and short rootlets which are 
 called suckers or haustoria, and then lets go of the ground 
 and lives from the plant, like a worthless son-in-law, who finds 
 it easier to live off his wife's parents than to make a living 
 for himself. 
 
 The dodders contain little, if any, green coloring matter 
 in the minute scales on the stems, which are their substitute 
 for leaves, or in the stems themselves, and, hence, cannot 
 assimilate, that is, make starch out of raw material as the 
 ordinary green leaves do, but must derive their nourishment 
 entirely from the plant upon which they livefL They are, 
 therefore, essentially parasitic. The stems of the dodder 
 are small and fleshy, orange or reddish in color, and are 
 twisted around the stalk of the host, or plant on which they 
 feed. At the base of the flower and at the joints of the 
 stems may be found minute scales which are rudimentary 
 leaves ; but the plant in its present stage of development has 
 no need of green leaves, as it finds food already prepared in 
 the host plant. The reader will find, on the following page, 
 an illustration of this detestable parasite, by referring to 
 which he can follow the description herewith given the more 
 readily. The flowers appear in clusters around the stem. 
 
118 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 THE CLOVER DODDER. {Ct4 scuta Epithymum.) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 119 
 
 soon forming- a capsule, which contains four seeds. The 
 capsule does not split into lobes, but opens by a trans- 
 verse circular line. Each seed contains a thread-shaped 
 embryo, which is spirally coiled in the albumen. The 
 albumen is the nourishing- material stored up in the seed out- 
 side of the embryo or g-erm. This embryo is dependent for 
 its development upon the albumen stored up in the seed. 
 The number of flowers in the cluster range from ten to 
 twenty, and the seeds are of a pale g-ray color, difficult to 
 detect with the naked eye, and, hence, the rapid spread of 
 the parasite. As an example of the difficulty in detecting 
 these seeds, we notice the report of the Delaware Experiment 
 Station on a sample of alfalfa sent for examination, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 The purchaser remarked that it was one of the purest samples of 
 seed he had ever seen, and an examination proved this fact, the propor- 
 tion of impurities being only four-tenths of one per cent, mainly dirty; 
 but a close examination revealed the presence of Cuscutn, or dodder seed, 
 at the rate of seven hundred and twenty to the pound. This seed, when 
 sown at the rate of lifteen pounds to the acr^, which is about one-half 
 that generally sown in Germany, would furnish nearly eleven thousand 
 Cuscuta seed to the acre, or enough to give one seed every two feet, in 
 drills two feet apart. The sowing of this much Ciiscuta seed upon 
 an acre of land, would, at the least, be a dangerous procedure, and 
 might result In a total destruction of a crop In the course of two or three 
 years. Every precaution should be taken against the introduction of 
 this parasite into the state. In Germany its presence has proved a 
 national calamity, and well nigh forced German farmers to abandon the 
 growth of clover. The flax dodder, according to Ledoux, broke up the 
 culture of flax in North Carolina and paved the way to cotton culture. 
 In Germany the fight against the Cuscuta has been vigorous, but the 
 enforcement of stringent laws and the sharp eye of the German govern- 
 ment over the quillty of clover and alfalfa seed has done much to reduce 
 this evil. 
 
 It will be seen from the above what untold daniag-e 
 might be done to the clover interests of the West by the 
 introduction of this seed. When the seed falls to the 
 ground it usually remains dormant until the following 
 spring, when the embryo begins growth by sending one end 
 into the soil, and with the other sends up a stem, turning 
 from right to left, or contrary to the sun's apparent motion. 
 If it is in reach of a clover plant it seizes it by means of its 
 sucker-like points, which it at once throws out and then goes 
 on fastening itself to the foster plant and others in the 
 vicinity. It then lets go its hold on the ground. Dodder 
 is an annual and therefore can be destroj'ed before it has 
 ripened seed, and should be in every case where it is observed. 
 The best method we know of to get rid of it is to cut th-e 
 infected portion close to the ground and then burn it. The 
 
120 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 mowing, however, should be as close as possible, inasmuch as 
 the dodder flowers quite low. Where seed is suspected it 
 should be sifted carefully through a seive, the seed being bul 
 half the size of clover. 
 
 Our attention was first called to this parasite by the 
 receipt of a sample from Mr. J. N. Downing, of Hall Town. 
 Missouri, with the statement that it prevailed largely in his 
 district and was introduced in seed shipped in during the 
 previous spring. It has been reported elsewhere in Missouri 
 and Canada. The sample was submitted to Prof. Pammel, 
 of Ames, Iowa, and also to Prof. McBride, of the Iowa State 
 University, from whose replies, published in the Home- 
 stead of October 18, 1889, and from Bulletin No. 8, of the 
 Colorado Experiment Station, the above description has been 
 taken. Subsequently we received a package of dodder on 
 clover from the southern part of Iowa, which, however, on 
 examination by Prof. Bessey, of the Nebraska Experiment 
 Station, was pronounced to be a native dodder, different from 
 the Cuscuta epithymum, and which had adopted the bad 
 habit of living on clover instead of its natural host. Bul- 
 letin No. 8, of the Colorado Experiment Station, above 
 mentioned, reports three species of parasite on alfalfa in 
 that vicinity. These are the Cuscuta epilinum^ or the flax 
 dodder, Cuscuta Gronovii, a species abundant in wet, shady 
 places from Canada to the Rocky Mountains, through Min- 
 nesota, Iowa and Texas, and also parasitic on the great 
 rag weed {Afnbrosia irifida,) and other members of the sun- 
 flower family. This is the most common of all the species 
 and is frequently found in Iowa, especially about Ames and 
 Des Moines. Fortunately for the West', although the 
 various dodders are generally distributed, they do not usually 
 attack cultivated plants. *We have mentioned most of the 
 spots certainly known to be infested with clover dodder. 
 We have dealt with the subject thus fully, in order to warn 
 our readers of the danger of trifling with it wherever it 
 appears, as nothing but the most prompt and vigorous 
 measures will be efficient in dealing with this parasite. 
 
 ''^^~ 
 
CLOVER SEED AND ITS INSECT ENEMIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 While some clovers are grown for pasture and fertility, 
 others for pasture, seed and fertility, others for seed and fer- 
 tility, and still others for hay, seed and fertility, it is impor- 
 tant in every case that the plant should seed abundantly. 
 Even if the farmer never takes a seed crop, it is important 
 to him that the plants should bear more or less seed every 
 year. Many clovers being- annuals, others biennials and still 
 others short perennials, it is important that the stand should 
 be mantained by self seeding- ; everything, therefore, that 
 bears upon the seed crop is of interest to every clover grower. 
 
 A full crop of clover seed of any of the varieties is the 
 result of the harmonious •'co-operation of man, nature and 
 insects. Nature must provide the soil and a fitting season, 
 man must do his part in preparing the soil, sowing the seed, 
 and, so to speak, superintending the work, while the insects 
 must perform the indispensable work of cross fertilizing the 
 seed, a work which they can depute to neither man nor 
 nature. In order, therefore, that the farmer may act intelli- 
 gently and co-operate with nature and his insect friends, it is 
 important that he should know something of the process of 
 insect fertilization of the clover plant. # 
 
 To give the reader full and accurate information on this 
 point, we have requested Prof. L. H. Pammel, of the Iowa 
 Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, to explain in detail the 
 method by which red and mammoth clover are pollinated," and 
 the part which various insects play in this important work. 
 This he has kindly done in the following : 
 
 In order to understand the method of pollination, we must have a 
 
 1121) 
 
122 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 K-lear understanding of the parts of the flower. The clover flower con 
 sists of two kinds of organs, known as tlie essential and non-essential. 
 The essential are absolutely necessary in the production of seed. Th( 
 non-essential, which surround the former, consist of two sets of modified 
 leaves, the outer known as the calyx. This is green and made up of ac 
 onlarged lower portion which bears five bristle-shaped lobes. Next tc 
 the calyx is the colored part of the flower, known as the corolla, or, in 
 common language, the blossom. It is made up of five parts known as 
 petals. Flowers, like clover, in which the petals are unlike in size. Afe 
 known as irregular, and many irregular flowers need insects to carry 
 the pollen. In some flowers both calyx and corolla are absent, but in no 
 case can seed be produced where the stamens and pistil, the essential 
 parts of the flower, are absent The stamens occur next to the corolla, 
 while the pistil is found in the center. The corolla of the clover floret* 
 consists of the following parts: An upper, larger petal known as the 
 bearer, two lateral petals known as the wings, and two lower petals 
 resembling the keel of a boat, which are united and are commonly 
 known as the "keel." The keel contains the ten stamens, each stamen 
 consisting of an anther, at the end of which 's attached a thread-like 
 affair known as the filament. But in the case of clover the filaments 
 are united to form a tube, the anthers containing the pollen. The pistil 
 is also found in the keel. The expanded portion contains the unde- 
 veloped seed's. The narrow neck is known as a style, the tip is the 
 stigma. The color of the clover flower is especially attractive to insects. 
 The honey which the insect seeks is contained in the tube formed by the 
 union of the fine, thread-like bodies or filaments. 
 
 When an insect like the burabie-bee lights on the flower, it uses the 
 keel and wings (the latter being attached to the tube containing the 
 nectar) as a resting place, its weight pressing the keel down and causing 
 the pistil and stamens, the latter being somewhat shorter than the pistil, 
 to come in contact with the underside of the bee's head. The insect is 
 certain to leave some of the pollen from another flower on the stigma. 
 The honey is obtained by the insect thrusting its proboscis into the 
 united filaments of the stamens, which has a slit on the upper side to 
 crive place for a free tenth stamen. Self-polliDatio", or pollination of 
 the flower from its own stamens, is not excluded, as the insect leaves th« 
 flowers. Does self-fertilization occur? Charles Darwin (Cross and 
 Self-Fertilization, page 3G1) says: "One hundred flower heads on 
 plants protected by a net did not produce a single seed, whilst one hun- 
 dred heads on plants growing outside, which were visited by bees, 
 yielded sixty-eight grains weight in seed." making a total of 27:iQ seeds 
 for the one hundred heads. Mr. Sirrine (Bulletin i3, Iowa Agr,icultural 
 Experiment Station, page 90) found that when pollea of the same flower 
 was used, no seed set. Prof. Cook (Bulletin 20, Division of Entomology 
 United States Department of Agriculture, page 87) found that in ten 
 heads of white clover from which insects were excluded, no seed set. 
 In a similar pot of ten heads not protected from insects by gauze, seeds 
 set. In ten heads of red clover covered, no seeds set ; in a similar pot 
 not covered, seed were produced. Prof. Beal, in' Grasses of North 
 America, pages 325-328, inclusive, also shows the inability of clover to 
 self-fertilize. It is well known that before the introduction of the 
 bumble-bee Into Australia and New Zealand, clover did not set seed, but 
 since the British Government introduced the bumble-bee in 18:4, clover 
 seeds are produced. They have since multiplied with remarkable 
 
 * The beads of red and mammoth clover are made up of from twenty to sixty flowert. 
 )r florets, each separate lu their etructure and together formiuc: what is ordinarily 
 iuown as the clover blossom. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 123 
 
 rapidity. According to Thompson (Insect Life, volume 4, page 157> 
 they have so greatly increased that he asks whether they may not 
 become a serious pest to the apiarist, as they worlt on all sorts of cu'ti- 
 vated flowers. 
 
 In order to reach the honey an insect must have a tongue from .3.545 
 to .3937 inches (9 to 10 millimeters) long. The honey lies from .2755 to 
 .3937 Inches (7 to 9 millimeters) deep. Any insect sufficiently heavy ta 
 press down the keel can pollinate the flower. Bumble-bees are, of 
 course, the common pollinators. Prof. Osborn informs me that he has^ 
 observed two common species (Bnmhus Peyinsylvanicvfi &ud li. fervidus). 
 My friend, Mr. Robertso", records several m^re. The honey bee can,, 
 no doubt, pollinate red clover, as they often collect pollen. I have 
 taken an interest in bees for many years, and have given some attention) 
 to red clover and honey bees. The following paragraph from a paper 
 published in 1888 may be of interest : 
 
 "In the summer of 1883, in the vicinity of La Crosse, Wisconsin. I 
 noticed large numbers of honey bees on the flowers of red clover. In 
 many cases they were actively collecting pollen, but in some cases honey, 
 through perforations in the corolla made by some other insects. Her- 
 man Mueller says the honey bee ' usually visits the red clover only for its 
 honey, which its proboscis is not able to reach in the legitimate manner 
 — yet I have now and th^n seen hundreds of honey bees on a patch of 
 red clover, all busy collecting pollen.' Here at Ames I have seen red 
 clover visited by several butterflies, especially the large red but'erfly 
 (Danais archippus) , cabbage butterfly (Pleris rapae), the yellow butterfly 
 (CoJciw phllodice), also C. eurytheme, and a fly {Boml)yrius). Red clover is- 
 adapted especially to bees, but Dr. Hermann Mueller of Germany, and 
 Mr. Robertson, of Carlinville, Illinois, record a larg« number of butterfly 
 visitois. Thirteen out of twenty visitors belonging to the butterfly 
 family were observed in Illinois. There is no question that they do occa- 
 sionally pollinate red clover and effect cross fertilization. Mr. Robert- 
 son writes: 'Bumble-bees depress the keel so that their heads and 
 proboscides are well dusted with pollen, but butterflies can insert their 
 thin tongue* without depressing the keel, and even if they get a little 
 pollen on their thin proboscides, it is apt to be wiped off by the closely 
 approximated tin of the petals, which close the mouth of the flower." 
 
 Th. Pergande expresses the belief that different species of thrips, 
 which are found in many kinds of flowers, may effect cr'ss pollination 
 (Psyche, volume 3, number 100, page 381). Prof. Osborn informs me- 
 that two kinds of thrips are common in clover bhssoms, Thrips tritici and 
 Pliloethrips-nigra, but these certainly cannot generally efifect crosi fer- 
 tilization. 
 
 Can the honey Lee effect cross fertilization in mammoth clover 
 (Trifolium viediiim) ? It probably can do so as it does in the common 
 red I have not studied the flowers of mammoth clover carefully, but so 
 far as I can see, the flowers of the forms in the Collesre collection are 
 about the same size as red clover. One form has much smaller heads a^d 
 the flowers are also somewhat smaller, but I am inclined to think that 
 mammoth clover is pollinated principally by bumble-bees. 
 
 The work of honey bees in fertilizing white and alsike clover is well 
 known ; in fact, tbey can easily accomplish this. One other thought 
 suggests itself to me in this connection. I believe it is generally sup- 
 posed that the second crop of clover produces more seeds than the first. 
 This 1 t" ..ik is due to insects, there being a much larger crop of bumble- 
 bees at the time of the second bloom than at^the first. 
 
 Our readers, even thof^e who have the least familiarity 
 with scientific terms, will, v/itli the forcj^-oinj^- explanation, be 
 
124 
 
 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 able to understand fully the structure of the blossom of red 
 clover, and the method of pollination with the further aid of 
 the illustration herewith presented. Fig-ure 1 in the illus- 
 tration represents the floret, or one of the minute flowers ol 
 which the clover head is made up, separated from the head, 
 and viewed from below. Figure 2 represents the same flower 
 •with the larger petal stripped off and viewed from above. 
 
 The calyx of which 
 Prof. Pammel speaks 
 is marked a in fig- 
 ures No. 1 and 2 in 
 the illustration. Im- 
 mediately above it is 
 the corolla, or what 
 is usually called the 
 blossom, marked h, 
 made up of five parts 
 known as pet als. 
 The bearer or vexil- 
 lum is the upper, 
 larger petal, marked 
 c in figure 1, while 6 
 represents the lower 
 border of a wing oi 
 small petal bent out- 
 wards, f its outer surface and g a pouch swelling at its base. 
 The lower petals form what is described by Prof. Pammel as 
 the keel or carina, and in figures 1, 2 and 3 are marked h. 
 Figure 5 represents the right half of the carina or keel, from 
 without, while figure 4 represents the right wing or side petal 
 from within, the claws in both being broken off short. Fig- 
 ure 6 represents the pistil, /, and stamens, w, without which 
 no flower can exist, and, hence, called the essential organs. 
 They are found emerged from the depressed keel. It will 
 thus be seen that gravitation of itself would cause the pollen 
 from the stamens to fall away from instead of towards the 
 pistil, or part to be fertilized. This explains why insect 
 fertilization is necesssary. Let us now see how a bee 
 fertilizes clover. It clings with its fore . legs to the 
 wings, or lateral petals, resting its middle and hind legs 
 on the lower part of the flower, the keel and wings are 
 drawn down to the stamens and the anthers are thrust up 
 against the underside of the bee's head as described by Prof. 
 Pammel above. In going to another flower it carries the 
 pollen with it and places it on the vital parts of the second 
 plant, thus producing cross-fertilization. 
 
 THX BED CLOTSB BLOSSOM. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 12b 
 
 It follows, therefore, that everything- which favors the 
 increase of bumble-bees is of advantage to the clover g-rower, 
 and it need not be said that their nests should be protected 
 instead of ruthlessly destroyed. It will also be seen, in view 
 of what has been said as to the ability of the honey bee tc 
 fertilize red and mammoth clovers while gathering- pollen it 
 not honey, that it will inure to the advantage of every farmer 
 to keep a few hives of bees, always selecting the Italians, as 
 larger and the more industrious. In fact, while we have 
 seen the Italians and their crosses working on mammoth 
 clover year after year, we have very rarely seen the native or 
 black bee engaged in this useful work. It would be well 
 worth all the cost involved, if the Department of Agriculture 
 were to import some of the giant Asiatic bees for the purpose 
 of securing, by means of a cross on our native bees, a variety 
 with sufficient weight of body and length of tongue to enable 
 it to perform the office of the bumble-bee in fertilizing the 
 red and mammoth clovers. If the produce of these could be 
 again crossed with the stingless bee of South America, the 
 result would be what might well be called the "granger's- 
 bee," or the "clover grower's delight." 
 
 -As stated in Chapter III, the mammoth clover is too late 
 in maturing to furnish both a hay and a seed crop. The 
 seed, must, therefore, be taken from the first crop, as it is 
 usually termed. It is desirable, however, to use some method 
 of getting rid of the lower twelve inches of the stalk on. 
 account of the great bulk of the crop. Where it is possible, 
 this should be pastured off. The stock may be allowed free 
 range of the field up to June 10th, in the latitude of central 
 Iowa, in ordinary seasons. It is better to let the crop be well 
 started and then put on enough stock to eat it down closely. 
 This will not only reduce the amount of haulm to be handled,, 
 but also thicken up the stand by favoring branching. Some 
 farmers practice mowing about the 10th of June. This, 
 however, requires to be done with a good deal of sound judg- 
 ment, as sornetimes the growth is so rank by this time that 
 there is danger, if rain should follow immediately, of the cut 
 clover smothering out the plant, or at least allowing the 
 weeds to get the advantage of the clover. 
 
 Clover should be cut for seed with a reaper of some kind, 
 when ripe, that is, when all the heads are turned brown or 
 black. The most convenient implement is the old-fashioned 
 self-raker. When this is not available some farmers use the 
 ordinary binder, removing the apparatus for binding the 
 sheaf and substituting the flax attachment. The cost for the 
 ♦lax attachment is about live dollars. This is said to throw 
 
126 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 the g-avels with the clover heads up and therefore in the best 
 -hape for drying^. Others remove the binding* apparatus, 
 Leaving" the deck board and dropper, and bolting- on the latter 
 SI three-inch board of the same thickness, extending- eig-liteen 
 ■inches to the rear. They then bolt a piece of iron half an 
 inch wide, a quarter of an inch thick and eig-hteen inches 
 long, on the rear end of this dropper and at right ang-les to it, 
 Trending in a semi-circle upward to the driver's seat and to 
 the end of which they attach a small rope or cord bring-ing- it 
 up throug-h a small pulley fastened on the top of the machine 
 .and above elevating- rollers and extending- to a treadle on the 
 foot board in front of the driver's seat. Wood pieces are put 
 in in lieu of the iron parts that have been removed with the 
 oinding" apparatus. In this way the clover can be cut and 
 lumped in such gavels as seems best. Where the stand is 
 ihin it can be cut with the ordinary mower and raked in small 
 windrows, taking- care to rake it only when slig-htly damp, 
 especially after it has had two or three days of hot sun. 
 
 The threshing- should in all cases be done with a huller 
 where one can be obtained. The hulling- attachments, while 
 jften the only practicable means of g-etting- the seed, leave 
 much of it in the straw and chaff, and when these are used it 
 will pay to thresh the chaff the second time. Whenever the 
 g-rowing- of clover seed has been established, threshers will 
 find it profitable to procure huUers, and in good seasons will 
 _io a ver}' profitable business. 
 
 The seed crop of the common red clover comes from the 
 second g-rowth. It is not true that the first crop does not 
 seed. The only reason that the seed does not materialize is 
 the lack, in most seasons, of insect fertilization, due to the 
 •time of cutting-. To insure a g-ood crop of seed the first crop 
 should be removed not later than the first week of July, 
 .althoug-h when the autumn is peculiarly favorable a crop of 
 seed can be g-rown on cutting-s as late as the middle of that 
 month. The method of handling- is the same as that men- 
 tioned above in the case of mammoth clover. With both it 
 is a mistake to allow the clover, after being- cut, to lie in the 
 g-avel long-er than is necessary- for easy threshing-. If a 
 huller cannot be secured it should be stacked and well covered 
 and allowed to remain until the cold winter weather. 
 
 The seed crop of the alfalfa is taken from one of the last 
 cuttings and the white and the alsike from the first. No 
 special directions need be given as to the threshing of either 
 of these, as they all thresh readily. Great care, however, 
 should be exercised in handling them after cutting, as the 
 •seed in all shells out quite readily. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 127 
 
 If insects are essential to the pDllitiatioii and fertilization 
 of clover seed, they also play an important part in its destruc- 
 tion, and one of the most 
 diflicult problems in g"row- 
 ing- clover seed is to escape 
 the ravag-es of insects that 
 prey upon the seed. We, 
 therefore, conclude this 
 chapter with a description 
 of the habits and life his- 
 tory of two of the most 
 dang-erous clover seed 
 pests, having" described in 
 the previous chapters the 
 insects that prey upon the 
 leaf, the root and the ha}- 
 after it has been cured. 
 The most dangerous, 
 perhaps, of these is the 
 clover-seed midge, illustra- 
 tions of which will be 
 found on this page. In 
 explanation of these illus- 
 trations, after Riley, and 
 for the purpose of more 
 
 THE CLOVER-SEED MIDOE (MALE). 
 
 readily indent i f yi n g- 
 the midge, should it 
 appear in any field, we 
 call the attention of our 
 readers more particu- 
 larly to figures 1 and 2 
 herewith given. Fig-- 
 ure 1 represents an 
 enlarged back view of 
 the male, with scales 
 stripped off in order to 
 show the structure , . 
 
 , , , THE CL0VER-9KEO MIDOE (FEMALEf. 
 
 more clearly ; b repre- 
 sents the eye, the palpi and the basal joints of the antennae 
 highlv magnified ; c represents the male organ highly magni- 
 fied ; d represents the highly magnified antennul joints ; 
 
128 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 (? represents a tarsal claw, and/" forms of scales. Figure 3 
 shows an enlarg-ed view of the female, with ovipositor by 
 which it deposits its eg^g"s, extended ; b represents the 
 head more enlarged ; c, the tip of the ovipositor higfhly mag-- 
 fied, and d a great enlargement of the antennal joints. In 
 figure 3 a represents the maggot or larva en- 
 larged and from the under side, while b repre- 
 sents the head drawn out and more highly magni- 
 fied. With this explanation the reader will be 
 able to determine for himself the presence of this, 
 pest. 
 
 There are two distinct insects that pass under 
 the common name of clover midge. The one^ 
 the clover-seed midge, {Cccidomyia Leguniinicolay 
 Lint.), the other the clover-leaf midge, {Cccidomyia 
 ^^-j^ tfifolii, Leow), which lives in the folded leaves of 
 /^(^\ white clover and sometimes of the red. The 
 r"^'^'^"^ first, which is now under discussion, affects only 
 ^/ the seed, and seems first to have been observed in 
 
 ^J« ' America by Prof. J. A. Lintner, in 1877. The 
 larva was described briefly in 1878 in a report on 
 THE LARVA, some of the injurious insects of the year, to the 
 New York State Agricultural Society. Prof. Riley, of the 
 Department of Agriculture, observed it in 1878 and described it 
 in the annual report for the Department of Agriculture for 
 that year. It was observed by Prof. Forbes in Illinois in 
 1879, and since that time has extended over almost the entire 
 clover growing region of the United States, with the excep- 
 tion, perhaps, of southern and western Iowa and the region 
 beyond the Missouri. The eggs of the midge are so small 
 that it is almost impossible to see them without very good 
 eyes, their average length being .01 of an inch. They are 
 described by Prof. Riley as being "long, oval in shape, their 
 length three times their breadth and one end slightly larger 
 than the other. Their general color is pale yellow and an 
 orange streak is more or less apparent according to the age 
 of the embryo." The female simply pushes the eggs down 
 between »he hairs which surround the seed capsule of the 
 9oret or minute flowers of which the clover head is composed, 
 which stage of development occurs in central Iowa in the lat- 
 ter part of May. In other words, the egg is deposited before 
 the bloom appears, but after the head is formed. By the 
 time the larvaj are hatched, the mouth of the floret is open, 
 and the maggots or laTvai work their way throgh the mouth 
 of the flower down to the seed. 
 
 The larvae or maggots hatched from the egg seem to 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 129 
 
 vary much in color, some being- brig-ht orang-e red, others 
 ■white and occasionally with a ting-o of pink. Some are 
 smaller than others, the g-rcatest variation being- in the 
 males. It is these mag-g-ots that do the damag:e, feeding- 
 upon the clover seed, while yet in the doug-h state, and issu- 
 ing-, when they have completed their g-rowth, in the last part 
 of June, from the head, to underg-o their second transforma- 
 tion in the soil. The sig-ht of these larvae or mag-g-ots leav- 
 ing- the clover is said to be an interesting- one. The head, 
 which one moment seems destitute of animal life, becomes 
 the next fairly swarming- with the mag-g-ots. From nearly 
 every closed floret one emerg-es, wrig-gfles violently and works 
 its way out and falls to the g-round. 
 
 It should be stated in advance that insects of this kind 
 exist in f oui* stag-es, the eg-g-, the mag-g-ot or larva, the pupa, 
 in which- stag-e the insect passes throug-h its transformation, 
 and to outward appearance to the superficial observer is 
 dead, prior to assuming- the fourth stag-e, that of the perfect 
 fly. It will, therefore, be understood when we speak of 
 larvae that we refer to the mag-g-ot stag-e, and of pupae to the 
 stag-e in which the insect passes throug-h its final period of 
 transformation. This insect is, in the latitude of central 
 Iowa, two-brooded, while in the more southern latitudes it is 
 supposed to be three. After the insect has taken on its 
 pupal stag-e, which is said to last about ten days, but no 
 doubt varies, it emerg-es as a fly, and after mating-, is ready 
 to lay a second crop of eg-g-s in the second crop of clover, 
 hence, it will be readily seen how vast are the means of 
 multiplication. 
 
 There are but two methods known of combating- the clo- 
 ver-seed midg-e. The first is that of cutting- the first crop, 
 whether in the meadow or in the pastures, before the first crop 
 of the midg-e leaves the head. To make this method effective, 
 it would have to be done, not merely on one farm, and all 
 parts of it, pastures as well as meadows, but on all the 
 farms of the neig-hborhood. It is very difl&cult, if not impos- 
 sible, to induce farmers to co-operate in this way, however 
 much their interests mig-ht require it. The second method, 
 which is almost equally as difficult, is to abandon for the time 
 being- the use of the common red clover, add sow mammoth in 
 its stead. This variety, as stated in preceding- chapters, comes 
 in bloom some two or three weeks later than the common red, 
 and matures its seed crop about the time the second crop of 
 the common red is in bloom. The midg-e so far has not been 
 able to time its visits so as to make the mammoth the medium 
 for producing- the second crop. This method, sug-g-ested by 
 
130 CLOVICR' CULTURE. 
 
 the well known periods of the appearance of the midg"e, seems 
 to have been found entirely practicable in Ohio and eastern 
 states where the midg-e has fully established itself. It is im- 
 portant to use very g-reat care in procuring- seed, as the midg-e 
 is likely to be carried in the seed and planted where it will 
 develop and form a new starting- point for this pest. Clover 
 seed should never be purchased except after being- examined 
 with a strong- mag-nifying- g-lass. With or without a g-lass 
 the best way of detecting- it is by running- a handful on white 
 paper, and if the mag-g-ots are in the seed they will be easily 
 recog-nized. Where they are found the seed should be re- 
 jected, althoug-h they would probably be destroyed by the hot 
 water treatment known as that of Jensen for smut ; viz., 
 steeping- the seed just before sowing-, first in water at a tem- 
 perature of 120 deg-rees, and then afterward in w5.ter of the 
 temperature of 135 deg-rees. Althoug-h we have never tried 
 this on clover seed, oats has been found to endure this tem- 
 perature for fifteen minutes. Miss Eleanor Ormerod, of St. 
 Albans, Eng-., formerly consulting- entomolog-ist of the Royal 
 Ag-ricultural Society, states that the midg-e has been found" in 
 American seed exported to Eng-land, and emphasizes the ne- 
 cessity for the g-reatest watchfulness in, purchasing- clover 
 seed from any locality known to be infected. 
 
 Like most other insects when they multiply in g-reat num- 
 bers, the clOver-seed midg-e seems to have its parasites. Prof. 
 Riley, in his report to the Commissioner of Ag-riculture, to be 
 found in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 
 1879, pag-e 196, describes two parasites which work on the 
 midg-e and g-reatl}' reduce their numbers. The first is a chal- 
 cid, called Eurytonui funcbn's, belong-ing- to the same family 
 as the joint worm fly. This parasite, which is very minute, 
 underg-oes its transformations within the seed, and g-naws an 
 irreg-ular hole throug-h the seed larg-e enoug-h to let it out 
 shortly after the time when the mag-g-ots have left the seed to 
 g-o into the ground. An examination of an infected field by 
 Prof. Riley on the 20th of June showed that five-sixths of the 
 seed had been destroyed by the midg-es, and that four-lifths of 
 the midg-es had been destroyed by this parasite. 
 
 Another parasite, belong-ing- to a different famih*, called 
 Phitygaster error, (Vitcli,) has been found working- on the 
 midg-e in New York. Instead of underg-oing- its transforma- 
 tions entirely within the seed, the parasite stays with the 
 midg-e, g^oes with it into the g-round and emerg-es as a fuU- 
 g-rown parasite from the cocoon of the midg-e. Prof. Beal in 
 his work on g-rasses, p. 391, states that the larva (of the fall 
 l)rood, of course) has been found in seed on the market, and 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 131^ 
 
 that this explains the rapid distribution of this insect. This 
 emphasizes the importance of farmers procuring- their seed, 
 wherever it is possible, from the growers and from men of 
 well known reputation whose fields have not been infected by 
 the insect. 
 
 Another clover pest, well known in the East, and which 
 has become somewhat common as far west as Iowa, is the 
 clover-seed caterpillar, {grap/iolipha intastindana, Clemens.). 
 These caterpillars now seem to be quite widel}'' distributed,, 
 having" first appeared in New York, Pennsj'lvania, Washing-- 
 ton and Michigan prior to 1885. They were first noticed itt 
 ver}' great numbers at Ames, Iowa, the last of May, 1891^ 
 The following description is ta- 
 ken mainly from Bulletin No. 14, 
 Iowa Experiment Station, Au- 
 gust, 1891. The moths increased 
 from the time they were first ob- 
 served until the 3d of June, and 
 on the 25th of June an examina- 
 tion of one hundred and sevent}-- 
 seven heads showed ninety-one 
 heads infested by the caterpil- 
 lars of the moth and eighty-six 
 not infested. At this time man}- 
 larvae were full grown and some 
 were spinning their cocoons. 
 The hay was cut at this date and 
 an examination of forty-eight 
 clover heads taken from scattered bunches showed two-third& 
 of them infested, while of forty-two heads from a different 
 field, cut two days earlier, only three were found infested. The 
 accompanying illustration, original with the Iowa Experi- 
 mental Station, will enable our readers to identify this pest; 
 a represents the larva, or caterpillar; b, the pupa, or larv<L 
 underg-oing its transformation to a moth; r, the moth, all 
 these greatly magnified, while d represents the moth in its 
 natural state. ' The larvaj are dirty white and the pupse a light 
 brown, while the moths arc small, brown and often nearly 
 black, with white lines and dots marking- the wings. The 
 larva:- are about one-fourth of an inch long, while the moths 
 are from one-third to two-fifths of an inch, with wing-s ex- 
 panded. The damage done by this insect is by eating into the 
 florets or small flowers, of which the clover head is composed,, 
 and later into the seed vessels of the florets, causing the flo-w- 
 ers to dry up and the seeds to shell from their receptacles like 
 chaff. Inasmuch as the track of the larvrc is uniformlv from_ 
 
 THE CLOVEB-SEED CATERPILLAR. 
 
132 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 the base of the blossom or floret upward, and the young- larvae 
 arc found almost invariably near the base, and beg-inning- their 
 work on the florets there, it would seem that the eggs are de- 
 posited at the base of the floret. In working upward they 
 usually form a spiral track around it. 
 
 The second brood were observed at Ames, pairing during 
 the last week of July, and by August 5th the larvae were 
 found in great numbers. This rate of growth would seem to 
 indicate that there are three broods per year in the latitude of 
 Iowa, and possibly, though not probably, four. 
 
 Since the foregoing was written. Bulletin 19 of the Iowa 
 Experiment Station has been issued, containing the results of 
 careful investigations during the season of 1892, by Mr. H. A. 
 Gossard, assistant entomologist, who has given special atten- 
 tion to this species. This investigation shows that the insect 
 is three brooded in Iowa ; that moths appear in late May or 
 earl}' June, deposit eggs in June in the involucre of the clover 
 head or in the florets, and larvae occur in heads of clover in 
 latter part of June. When the clover is not in bloom, eggs 
 may be deposited in the crown and the larvce work on other 
 parts of the plant. Pupation occurs in late Tune or early 
 July and moths appearing during Jul}' deposit eggs for second 
 brood. These mature and produce moths for third brood in 
 early September, and caterpillars of this generation, the third 
 brood, become parti}- grown and hibernate, pupating in spring 
 and producing the first brood of moths of the following season. 
 
 The remedies recommended are : 1st, rotation of crops, 
 not keeping clover on same ground over three years, and only 
 two if the field becomes badl}- infested; 2d, that seed for new- 
 crop be planted on land as remote as possible from old clover 
 fields ; 3d, that infested fields from which seed is desired 
 the following year be pastured in fall to clean up all late 
 growth and leave the field free from vegetation in the fall, and 
 that no manure be applied at the time to furnish places for 
 larvae to hibernate ; 4th, that clover infested during the spring 
 be cut as early as practicable, while larvae are in heads, han- 
 dled as carefully as possible to prevent shaking larvae from the 
 heads, and stored in stacks or barns, where the larvae are found 
 to perish ; 5th, when read}- to change from clover to another 
 crop, plow under some time in October, November or early in 
 spring, burying the larvae as deeply as possible, and roll or 
 harrow to pack the surface. 
 
 Several parasites have been reared at Ames, and these 
 will assist in reducing numbers under ordinary conditions. 
 
THE CLOVER ROOT TUBERCLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 In previous chapters we have assumed certain facts, 
 namely, that the clovers of all kinds fertilize the soil while at 
 the same time furnishing-, in the crop, a very large amount of 
 nutritive material of the richest quality; second, that the fer- 
 tilizing- material furnished by the clovers is in the form of 
 nitrogenous compounds which we have grouped under the 
 general name, nitrogen, and third, that this surplus of nitro- 
 gen is obtained from the atmosphere through the medium of 
 the tubercles or nodules on the roots of the clovers, eighty 
 per cent, of the atmosphere being- nitrog-en, and therefore fur- 
 nishing an inexhaustible supply. 
 
 Having- assumed these facts so frequentl)' and stated them 
 so confidently, it is but due to the reader that we should g-ive, 
 in as brief and concise a manner as possible, the reasons for 
 this frequent assumption and confident statemerrt. The fact 
 that clover adds materially to the fertility of the land on 
 which it is grown, notwithstanding the heavy drains it makes 
 upon its resources, is too well known to need argument. The 
 fact that this fertility is mainly in the form of nitrogenous 
 compounds might well be suspected from the fact that all 
 kinds of grain which make heavy drafts on the nitrogen in 
 the soil do better after clover than following any other crop, 
 and has been very clearly proved by analyses of soils in pots on 
 which clover has been grown, the analyses having been made 
 both before and after growing the clover, and in a way which 
 precludes any material errors. 
 
 The fact having been ascertained that clover does in some 
 way obtain a supply of nitrogen, under certain circumstances, 
 
 (133) 
 
-134 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 quite independent of the supply in the soil, the interesting- and 
 important question arises, how does it obtain it? It was a1 
 first supposed, and quite naturally, that it obtained it by 
 means of its long- tap-root, but, while it does no doubt in this 
 way restore a certain portion of the nitrates that have been 
 washed down by rains into the subsoil, the amount has been 
 found to be very inconsiderable compared with the entire 
 amount obtained. It was next supposed that the supply was 
 obtained from the nitrog-en in the form of ammonia in the 
 atmosphere. This ammonia, washed out, as it is, by rains, 
 would be equally available for any other plant, and hence, so 
 far as root action is concerned, in no way aids in the solution 
 of the problem. The same remark applies to the small amount 
 of nitric acid that is known to be formed in the atmosphere by 
 electrical action. 
 
 The question has arisen, whether the clovers do not obtain 
 their supply of nitrogen from these two last sources through 
 their leaves. To test this matter clovers have been grown in 
 pots with access to air alone that had been washed by being* 
 passed through water, thus removing the nitric acid or ammo- 
 nia, and the result was precisely the same as in the case of 
 similar pots grown in the open air. Every other means of 
 determining- the source of nitrogen in the clovers having 
 failed, attention was directed to the tubercles in the roots. 
 
 If the reader will pull up a stalk of any of the clovers, 
 during the growing season, he will notice on the roots, some- 
 times on the smaller and sometimes on the larger, certain 
 knots, warts or protuberances. These are the tubercles, a 
 somewhat unfortunate name because associated with disease, 
 but so definitely associated with them that it is useless to 
 attempt to change it now. He will notice that the healthier 
 the plant and the more vigorous its growth, the more of these 
 tubercles will be found, and he will fail to find an3'where a 
 healthy stalk of clover, during the period of vigorous growth, 
 without these tubercles. It was this apparent connection be- 
 tween the number and size of the tubercles and the vigor of 
 the plant that led Prof. Helriegel, of Bernberg, Germany, to 
 investigate, in 1883 and the years following, the cause of the 
 tubercles on the legumes and also the relation they sustain 
 to the plant. As early as 1862 he had been conducting certain 
 elaborate experiments for the purpose of determining whether, 
 other things being equal, the magnitude of crops was propor- 
 tionate to the supply of certain essential elements of fertility 
 in the soil. He had no difficulty in determining that in the 
 case of the cereals, such as wheat, oats and barley, the mag- 
 ■nitude of the yield was proportionate to the nitrogen in the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 135 
 
 soil ; no nitrog"cn, no crop; a certain amount yielding practi- 
 cally the same crop, and the crop increasing- with the increase 
 of nitrogen ; but he soon discovered that certain other plants 
 •were, under certain circumstances, almost entirely independent 
 of any nitrogen in the soil. He saw to his surprise, as far 
 back as 1862-3, clover and peas growing in a crop of pure 
 sand and producing a full crop of seed, while in other years, 
 and apparently under the same conditions, they starved to 
 death. He discovered that when clover and peas, growing in 
 the most barren soil, had abundance of tubercles they pros- 
 pered, and when the tubercles were wanting, death ensued. 
 He then began a series of most elaborate experiments, con- 
 ducted with the greatest care, to discover under what condi- 
 tions the clovers and other legumes were thus independent of 
 soil nitrogen, and from what source other than the soil they 
 obtained it. It is due to the thoughtful reader that we should 
 detail at some length the nature of these investigations. 
 
 For a soil material to be used in his investigations, Prof. 
 Helriegel selected fine quartz sand, such as is used in the 
 manufacture of glass. This was washed twice and boiled in 
 concentrated muriatic acid three times for the purpose of 
 removing completely every vestige of fertility. As culture 
 vessels, he used cylinders of white glass of different sizes, 
 each having a hole in the bottom for drainage. Pieces of 
 ■quartz that had been washed carefully and then heated red 
 hot were put in the bottom to afford air drainage. Upon this 
 was placed a thin layer of unsized wadding and on this the 
 sand, which after fertilization in a porcelain vessel was crum- 
 bled into the culture vessels under slight pressure in order to 
 secure the proper degree of porosity and density. The seeds 
 to be used for this purpose were selected with extreme care. 
 From a large number of samples the very heavy and very light 
 were excluded. The remainder were then sprouted between 
 folds of blotting paper, and if there was developed any defect- 
 ive root or abnormal growth it was rejected, the object being 
 to secure even results. Fourteen vessels thus prepared were 
 sown to barley and fertilized with commercial fertilizers, con- 
 taining potash and phosphoric acid, but no nitrogen. Nitro- 
 gen in the form of nitrate of lime was then given in the 
 following proportions: No. 1, .0336 grains; Nos. 2, 3 and 4, 
 two-thirds of the amount; No. 5, one-half the amount; Nos. 6, 
 7 and 8, one-third of the amount; Nos. 9, 10 and 11, one-sixth 
 of the amount; No. 12, one-twelfth, and Nos. 13 and 14, none. 
 At the end of the first week after sprouting the plants were 
 exactly alike; no difference whatever could be noted. A few 
 days afterward, or as soon as the reserved nutriment in the 
 
136 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 seed was about exhausted, Nos. 13 and 14 began to fail. For 
 a few days after this no perceptible difference could be noted 
 in the growth of the other plants. No. 12 then dropped behind 
 ani a few days later Nos. 9, 10 and 11, and, after a short inter- 
 val, all the others up to No. 1 could be identified by their ap- 
 pearance, so that in a month from the time the first plants^ 
 appeared the row of pots showed clearly which had received 
 the larger amounts of nitrogen. This was manifest not merely 
 in the height and general vi^or of the stalk, but in the num- 
 ber of shoots or stools put forth. No. 1 put out five shoots- 
 or stools; Nos. 2, 3 and 4 put out four, one only of them bear- 
 ing a head ; No. 5, from three to four, one bearing a head ; 
 the remainder from one to two, but all failed to head. Later 
 on, however, the main stalk consumed the side shoots to build 
 itself up. The next lower also consumed their earlier-formed 
 parts in their effort to develop heads. The results of this 
 experiment with a non-leguminous plant are only what might 
 have been expected, inasmuch as it has been repeated over 
 and over again and always with the same result, namely, that 
 within certain limits the yield of the cereals or non-leguminous 
 plants is dependent upon the amount of nitrogen in the soil 
 available for the plant. 
 
 ; Having thus demonstrated that the cereals were abso- 
 lutely dependent upon the amount of available nitrogen in 
 the soil. Prof. Helriegel conducted a series of elaborate 
 experiments with the legumes, of which we give one typical 
 case. Fourteen pots were selected, identical with the others, 
 the soil material, the manner of filling and the fertilizers 
 being precisely the same. No. 66 having the same amount 
 of nitrogen as No. 1 in the barley experiments,' and Nos. 77, 
 78 and 79 corresponding in amount to Nos. 13 and 14 of the 
 barley table, or, in other words, with no nitrogen. The 
 plants all came up well and evenly, and there was no differ- 
 ence in the pots up to the end of the second week. The third 
 week there was a difference not only in growth, but in color. 
 Those that had no nitrogen were somewhat higher and of a 
 somewhat greener color, while those that had been fertilized 
 with nitrogen were darker, and the more nitrogen, the darker. 
 The fourth week a difference in the development began to- 
 appear. -Pots 77, 78 and 79 fell back, showing signs of 
 nitrogen hunger. The new leaves were smaller and they 
 seemed to be formed by pumping out and drying up of the 
 lower leaves. The numbers grew normally and by the end of 
 the sixth week the whole row of experimental pots very 
 accurately reflected in their condition and appearance the 
 amount of nitrogen each had received. During the seventh 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 137 
 
 week the picture very suddenly and decidedly chang-ed with- 
 out any apparent cause. No. 77 continued to be in a 
 starving- condition, but two plants in 79 took courag-e and a 
 little later, two in 78 followed the example. Their sickly 
 green color g-ave place to a healthier, new leaves grew 
 stronger and broader and without consuming any of the 
 earlier developed leaves. From this time on they made 
 rapid growth and by the eleventh week they had overtaken 
 those abundantly supplied with nitrogen and passed many of 
 them. From this time on there was no relation or correspon- 
 dence whatever between development and the quantity of 
 nitrogen supplied, while the harvest bore the same general 
 result, and subsequent analyses showing, in some cases, 
 plants containing less nitrogen than had been given the 
 vessel in which they grew, in others more, and in some large 
 quantities of nitrogen where none at all had been given. 
 On this Prof. Helriegel says : 
 
 Three years of this kind of experiment demonstrated two facts 
 clearly, first, that the legumes had found a source of nitrogen somewhere 
 else than in the soil, and that, second, ihey might or might not thrive 
 •even though the soil was amply supplied with nitrogen in a form render- 
 ing it available for other plants — in short, while the harvested plant con- 
 tained abundant nitrogen, whether the soil had or had not contained any, 
 «eemed to have no connection with or influence upon the amount con- 
 tained in the plant. Chance seemed to rule. The thriving pea vine two 
 months old might fail utterly, although supplied with abundant nutri- 
 ment in the shape of complete fertilizers, or it might do well with one 
 from which nitrogen had been wholly omitted The first inference was 
 that the pea had some source from which to provide nitrogen other than 
 the soil, or, rather, some peas had and others, apparently under precisely 
 the same conditions, had not. What was the source? And why could 
 some plants draw on that source and others not? 
 
 It is impossible for us to g-ive details of all the experi- 
 ments undertaken to answer these two questions, for they 
 cover upwards of 200 pages of Prof. Helriegel's work, of 
 which we aim to give our readers only the substance. One 
 cannot read them without admiring the patience and intelli- 
 gent discriminations of the investigator, without admiring 
 also the methods of true science which seeks to narrow 
 downward gre^ually by experimental proof until one by one 
 the facts are set aside as demonstrated, all bearing one way 
 and leading up to one inevitable conclusion. As stated 
 above, it was first discovered that plants that did well without 
 nitrogenous fertilizers had tubercles on their roots ; those 
 that did not do so well, had fewer, those that did not do well 
 at all, had none, or nearly none. The connection between 
 the presence of tubercles on the roots of the legumes and the 
 capacity to obtain nitrogen, where there was none in the soil, 
 
138 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 could not long- remain unsuspected, and numerous, long" and 
 carefully conducted examinations only served to confirm the 
 investigator in the certainty that tubercles and power were 
 closely correlated. Tubercles and power was the law, while 
 also no tubercles and no power was also a law. There was 
 no visible cause for the tubercles. What was more natural 
 for the scientist than to suspect an invisible cause. Recent 
 discoveries in other fields sug-g-ested that probably the tuber- 
 cles were of bacterial origin. To determine this, wadding, 
 which lets in air, but strains out bacteria, was placed over 
 the pots. The result was that no bacteria could get in, 
 hence, no tubercles were formed, hence, no nitrogen was 
 taken up, hence, no thrift in the plant. Nitrogen hunger, 
 nitrogen starvation, was nature's answer to the question oi 
 the experimenter. 
 
 Pursuing his investigations further, Prof. Helriegel 
 found that some pots left uncovered thrived, others did not, 
 and none covered with wadding did. The scientific infer- 
 ence, therefore, was that whether they throve or not depended 
 on whether bacteria found an entrance by chance. Another 
 equally clear inference was that the ground where clover, 
 beans, peas and other legumes had grown must be full of it. 
 This was readily tested by placing soils in which these plants 
 had grown in the vessel with water, and after the sedimen i 
 had all settled to the bottom, and the water had become clear , 
 decanting carefully so as to take nothing but the clear water . 
 He then watered the plants that were drooping from nitroge a 
 hunger, and straightway every plant thus treated develope d 
 tubercles and acquired the power of securing nitrogen, when 
 there was none in the soil in which it grew. He then took 
 of the same water and sterilized it by boiling to kill all th € 
 bacterial life, watered the plants with this, protecting them 
 by wadding from accidental bacterial inoculation, and the 
 result was that no tubercles were formed, no power to take up 
 litrogen was developed and there was no thrifty growth. 
 
 The illustration on the following page will aid the reader 
 .n securing a clearer comprehension of what occurs as root 
 lubercles are developed in the legumes. It is taken from the 
 Lehrbuch der PJlanzenphysiolo^ie, by Dr. A. ' B. Frank, 
 professor in the Agricultural High school at Berlin. ^ 
 
 • Figure A in the illustration is a root of the lupine on 
 which are several root tubercles. Figure ^9 is a section of a 
 root tubercle ; at f is seen the central woody-fibrous co rd 
 ind around it, within the root bark, the fleshy parts of the 
 Dactcrial tissue. Figure C shows the first stage of infection^ 
 which precedes the formation of the tubercles ; ^, <? is the 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 139 
 
 TUBERCLKS ON THK ROOT OF THE SUPINE. 
 
140 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 epidermis beneath which are the root-bark cells ; in the cell t 
 the infecting- spore has entered ; in the bark cells lying- next 
 beneath, infection has also taken place, and they have thereby 
 become filled with a thick, shining- protoplasm, with enlarged 
 cell g-erms. This fig-ure is magnified one hundred and 
 seventy-five times. Fig-ure Z? is a more advanced stage of 
 the development ; / was the point of infection ; beneath, the 
 cells of first infection have by a process of cell-division, intro- 
 duced g-reater complexity and formed other infecting- cells, 
 which are themselves upon the point of further sub-division ;. 
 y, r is the root bark ; //, h, h rootlets ; en is the endodermis, 
 or inner skin within which lies the fibrous or woody part of 
 the root, not shown in the cut. This fig-ure is magnified 
 seventy times. Figure ^ is a cross-section of a root with a 
 voung- tubercle. By means of a further increase of the 
 infected cells the bacterial tissue b has been formed, which at 
 w, rti is in process of further development through division ; 
 f is the fibrous or woody cord of the root from which run 
 branches throug-h the bacterial tissue ; r is the root bark. 
 The fig-ure is only slightly mag-nified. Figure F is from 
 cells of the bacterial tissue, whose contents are clouded and 
 thickened by being- filled with masses of bacteria. The cell 
 germs are visible and a few starch granules. The figure is 
 magnified 230 times. Figure 6^ is a number of bacteria 
 from the cells of F magnified 1090 times. Figure ^ is a 
 cluster of the Rhizohinum legtiminosarum^ produced by a 
 gelatine culture of the bacteria ; in the center is seen a few of 
 the latter within which clusters are visible. At s is seen 
 the cluster separated ; at z the zoogloa state composed of a 
 cluster that has united. 
 
 At the same time that Prof. Helreigel and others were 
 prosecuting these investigations. Prof. W. O. Atwater, then 
 of Middletown, Connecticut, was performing the same 
 important service for America. In 1881 he instituted a 
 series of experiments which were repeated in 1882, and 
 brought positive evidence of the acquisition by peas of large 
 quantities of nitrogen from the air during their period of 
 growth. The investigation was unavoidabl}' interrupted 
 until 1885, when four other series of investigations revealed 
 large losses of nitrogen during germination and early growth 
 in all cases where root tubercles were not formed. The 
 results of the experiments of the first series were reported to 
 the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
 for 1881, and those of the first and second series together 
 were reported at the meeting of the British and 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 14. 
 
 in 1884, and in detail in the American Chemical Journal, 
 volume 6, page 365 (February, 1885). The question foi 
 ■study. in the first series was: Will peas grown under norma) 
 conditions acquire any considerable amount of nitrogen free 
 or combined from the air? When the subject was resumed 
 in 1885, it was to obtain an answer to the two following ques- 
 tions : What effect has the addition of soil infusions on the 
 formation of root tubercles, and is there any definite relation 
 between the quantity and the number of root tubercles and 
 the quantity of atmospheric nitrogen obtained by the plant? 
 We cannot follow the experiments in detail. Suffice it to say 
 that they were conducted with sea sand, thoroughly washed 
 and boiled and the methods adopted were almost identical 
 with those adopted by the German experimeoiters. They 
 covered, as in the German experiments, the cereals as 
 well as the legumes, and the conclusions to which Prof. 
 Atwater arrived were, that the cereals could not obtain nitro- 
 gen from the atmosphere, while the legumes could and did. 
 His conclusions may be summed up as follows : That the 
 leguminous plants in general are able to secure large quan- 
 tities of nitrogen from the air during their period of growth ; 
 that there is scarcely room to doubt thai ix^e free nitrogen of 
 the air is thus acquired by the plant ; that without root tuber- 
 cles there was in no case any large gain of nitrogen, and that 
 with them there was uniformly more or less gain, and that 
 the greater the abundance and number of root tubercles 
 the larger and more vigorous the plants and the greater the 
 amount of atmospheric nitrogen acquired. Still further, 
 that the connection between the root tubercles and the 
 acquisition of nitrogen is: clearly demonstrated, but that the 
 relation of the bacteria to the root tubercles and to the 
 acquisition of nitrogen, and in general how the nitrogen is 
 obtained, are questions yet to be solved. In conclusion Prof. 
 Atwater says : 
 
 This subject has a wider significance than what has been said above 
 implies. The future welfare of our race, material, intellectual and moral, 
 depends upon the food supply, or, in other words, upon the product of the 
 soil. This in turn reduces Itself essentially to a question of phosphoric 
 acid, potash and nitrogen. Enough of the first two for an indefinite time 
 to come is assured in the deposits of phosphates and potash salts already 
 discovered, but the probability of a sufficient supply of nitrogen has been 
 questioned. This costliest of the fertilizing elements escapes from our 
 soils Into the air and into the sea, and is taken away by crops, and not 
 completely returned. Artificial fertilizers promise to meet but a small 
 fraction of the coming demand. If, as has been urged, the exhaustless 
 stores of the atmosphere are not available to plants, the outlook is dark 
 enough. But if the farmer may use his crops to gather it, without money 
 and without price, we may dismiss our solicitude. With the assurance 
 
142 CLOVER CULTUKiS 
 
 that plants obtain nitrogen from the air, the fear of staryation for thi 
 over-popul Jted earth of the future may be Ignored. That research will 
 bring the brighter answer to this problem, there seems to be most excel- 
 lent reason to believe.* 
 
 In 1891 we visited the celebrated Experiment Station con- 
 ducted by Sir J. B. Lawes, of Rothamstead, England, the 
 oldest and in many respects most complete experiment station 
 in the world, and found that not only had this distinguished 
 experimentor and his scarcely less distinguished assistant, Dr. 
 Gilbert, full faith in the capacity of clover and other legumes 
 to obtain nitrogen from the atmosphere, but that their experi- 
 mental grounds furnished ocular demonstration of the truth of 
 this theory. A large number of plots had been sown with the 
 clovers, peas, beans, lupines and other legumes, and fertilized 
 more or less with nitrogen, while each alternate plot on the 
 same kind of soil, to which no nitrogenous fertilizers had been 
 applied, was sown with the same plant. In very few cases 
 could we detect the slightest difference in the plant, visiting 
 them as we did at the period of their greatest luxuriance, 
 showing conclusively that though much nitrogen might be 
 applied, the legumes found it easier to assimilate the nitrogen . 
 in the atmosphere than that in the soil. We found the lead- 
 ing scientific agriculturists in Belgium and Scotland holding 
 firmly to the same belief, so that the capacity of the legumes 
 to supply themselves with nitrogen from the atmosphere is 
 not a theory held by a few men here and there, but is now the 
 accepted belief of the agricultural world, and is regarded as 
 among the very greatest discoveries of the age. 
 
 The results, both scientific and practical, of the above 
 investigations demonstrate that clover "receives its nitrogen, 
 not from the soil in which it grows, except- in the earlier 
 stages, perhaps, but from bacterial action in the tubercles 
 found on the root of the clover plant, and that all the legumes, 
 such as beans, peas, etc., derive their nitrogen in the same 
 way. It leaves, however, the precise method in which the 
 bacteria obtain the nitrogen from the only source possible, 
 the atmosphere, still unsolved. It, however, explains some 
 things which have sorely puzzled practical clover growers 
 who never heard of these investigations. It goes far toward 
 explaining why it is that when clover is sown on new lands, 
 the plants seem to take on a vigorous growth for a week or 
 two and then dwindle away and die. This was our experience 
 for some years in sowing clover on new lands, both on the 
 raw prairie and in cultivated fields, and we have no doubt it 
 
 *A detailed account of Prof. Atwater'e experiments maybe found in the second 
 annual report of the Storrs School Experiment Station, Storrs, Connecticut, published 
 In 1889. 
 
CLOVKR CULTURE. 145. 
 
 naa t. a a the <iixperience of many others similarly situatedl. 
 Until we becamv_ acquainted with these investigations we had. 
 despaired of finding- the solution of the mystery. It explains,, 
 also, why occasional plants flourish, especially on portions of' 
 the field where the wild legumes grew. If allowed to remain, 
 and mature seed, the clover gradually spreads all over the 
 field, securing in time a perfect stand. As no subsequent 
 trouble was found in seeding these fields, there can be but 
 one conclusion, viz., that the bacteria were present only in 
 such spots in the field as had grown wild legumes, and that 
 they multiplied readily and extended all over the field. We 
 might state that recent investigations in Germany have shown 
 that it is necessary to inoculate or leaven certain fields or 
 portions of fields with the microbe of lupines, a leguminous 
 plant. The readiness with which clover grows on gravelly 
 points on which nothing but prairie grass ever grew, when 
 covered with manure from cattle, and especially horses that 
 had been fed on clover hay, suggests that inoculation with 
 the microbe is fully as essential as the sowing of clover seed. 
 We have felt that it was due to the reader, before closing 
 this volume, to state briefly the facts contained in this chap- 
 ter, which have been established by the most rigid scientific 
 investigation, in order that they may see that in assuming- in. 
 almost every chapter of this work that clover is not dependent 
 upon the nitrogen of the soil for its growth, we are making 
 no bald, unsupported assumption, but one that has been de- 
 monstrated with almost mathematical precision, and which is 
 nov/ held by scientific men in all countries where science has 
 attempted to aid the farmer in his work. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE-THE WAY OUT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 If the assumptions of the earlier chapters of this work be 
 correct, and the facts stated and the conclusions drawn in the 
 previous chapter prove that these are not mere assumptions, 
 but demonstrated facts and established verities, clover culture 
 becomes a problem of the first magnitude, not only to the 
 individual farmer wherever he may be located, but has impor- 
 tant bearings on the commercial and financial interests of the 
 entire nation. 
 
 If it be true, as the concurrent testimony of the ablest 
 and most reliable scientific investigators in the world with 
 one voice afl&rm, that the legumes are, to a great extent, inde- 
 pendent of soil nitrogen and supply themselves in preference 
 from the atmosphere, why should the farmer in the Atlantic 
 and Middle states invest his hard-earned dollars in nitrogen 
 in the form of nitrates, costing from ten to eighteen cents per 
 pound, when he can, through the medium of the tubercles 
 on the roots of the legumes, draw on the limitless, inex- 
 haustible supply of nitrogen that floats over him daily in the 
 atmosphere. The Connecticut Experiment Station estimates 
 that no less than half a million dollars are expended annually 
 by the farmers of that small, non-agricultural state, for com- 
 mercial fertilizers, more than one-third of which'' is for 
 nitrogen. > Why this waste ? The market gardener must, 
 per force, purchase his nitrogen in the form of nitrates, dried 
 blood, -or in some other condensed shape, because he cannot 
 wait for the two years which the clover plant requires for its 
 perfection. He must have immediate results. Nor can he 
 tolerate any vegetable matter in the soil not thoroughly 
 
 (144) 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 145 
 
 decomposed. He can use nothing that will interfere with the 
 cultivation of the smallest and most delicate plant. It is 
 different, however, with the farmer. He can employ a rota- 
 tion in which the clovers of some kind form a prominent part 
 that will supply him with available forage, and also diversify 
 his crop, while storing his soil with the fertility needed in 
 the future. Two years ago one of the ablest scientists in 
 Europe said to a convention of Scottish farmers, in substance, 
 that it was foil)' for them to invest pounds, shillings and 
 pence in nitrogen where they could grow clover and other 
 legumes. In view of the recent discoveries to which we have 
 alluded in the previous chapter, it is high time for some one, 
 in whose judgment they have confidence, to tell the eastern 
 farmers the same truth. If, for any reason, the clovers 
 cannot be grown, other legumes, such as beans and peas, can. 
 A soil is poor indeed that will not grow beans, and the fact 
 that a comparatively barren soil will grow paying crops of a 
 food rich in nitrogen, itself should suggest to the practical 
 farmer that when the scientists afl&rm that beans, so rich in 
 nitrogen, are largely independent of the soil for their supply, 
 they are but confirming the experience of his life-time. In 
 fact, the most that scientific investigation has done in recent 
 years is to explain the paradox of twenty centuries, viz : That 
 the clovers and other legumes, while furnishing a large 
 supply of nitrogenous food, at the same time actually increase 
 the supply of available nitrogen in the soil. When stated 
 as a distinct and separate proposition, it seems incredible. 
 When offered as the rational explanation of an agricultural 
 paradox, it solves a mystery that has puzzled the student of 
 agricultural science for centuries. The eastern farmer who 
 has spent large sums annually for nitrogen in the form of 
 commercial fertilizers, cannot do a wiser thing than to 
 investigate this subject and learn how he cannot only reduce 
 the expense of cultivating his land, but successfully under- 
 take to restore abandoned lands without beggaring himself to 
 purchase nitrogen. Clover culture, however, means far 
 more to the western farmer than it does to his co-laborer in 
 the Atlantic and Middle states. He has at least two great 
 and distinct advantages, his soils are not made up from the 
 decomposition of the rocks of the immediate locality. In 
 many districts in the eastern states the soil is deposited 
 in situ ; that is, it has been formed by the decomposition of 
 the rocks lying immediately over or under it. Some of these 
 may be rich in potash and poor in phosphoric acid, and others 
 rich in the latter but poor in potash. The sub-soils of 
 large portions of the western states are the result of glacial 
 
-146 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 action, and are covered by the g-rcat northern drift in which 
 the elements derived orig-mally from the primary rocks are so 
 "thoroughly comming-led that it is difi&cult to find a soil desti- 
 tute of the tviTO g-reat inorganic elements of fertility, potash 
 and phosphoric acid. Hence, the important question with 
 him is how to obtain a supply of nitrog-en commensurate with 
 the supply of potash and phosphoric acid in the soil. He 
 has another very great advantage. His soils are not, except 
 in rare cases, so far exhausted by long cultivation of their 
 potash and phosporic acid that they refuse to grow the 
 clovers. They are not, therefore, said to be "clover sick." 
 He can proceed to draw on them at once to the limit of their 
 supply in nitrogen, because he can count with confidence on 
 an abundance of potash and phosphoric acid which are so 
 essential to the growth of clover. He has still a third 
 advantage, viz : That while many eastern soils heave out 
 the clover during the late winter and spring months by purely 
 mechanical action, his soil, when properly drained, holds the 
 clover plant during the entire period of its natural life. 
 
 If, however, he postpones the use of clover and other 
 
 legumes until his soil is exhausted of its natural supply of 
 
 potash and phosphoric acid by continuous cropping with the 
 
 cereals and grasses that are wholly dependent upon soil nitro- 
 
 ■[g-en, his condition will be practically hopeless. He cannot 
 
 rpurchase commercial fertilizers of any kind at present prices 
 
 at the sea-board, paying in addition freights and profits, and 
 
 >then pay freights and profits on his products back to the 
 
 principal markets. When this exhaustion has taken place it 
 
 is too late to grow the legumes, for these are as dependent on 
 
 potash and phosphoric acid as are the cereals on nitrogen. 
 
 When his soil is thus reduced to the condition o'f some of the 
 
 soils of the eastern states, he may as well give up the 
 
 -■struggle. 
 
 The fact, attested by the experience of clover growers in 
 
 :^many thousands of cases, that a good crop of clover roots 
 
 ■. adds to the ordinary crop from fifteen to thirty bushels of 
 
 v com per acre the first year, and almost an equal amount the 
 
 second, and to all other crops in a corresponding proportion, 
 
 should teach the western farmer that his soil needs mainly 
 
 nitrogen, or, rather, that his soil is more deficient in nitrogen 
 
 :than in either potash or phosphoric acid. The best way 
 
 .agricultural chemists have found of analyzing a soil is to 
 
 interrogate it with various commercial fertilizers, and find 
 
 from the varying yield, what great element of fertility is 
 
 lacking. The farmer interrogates his separate fields in the 
 
 same way, when, side b}- side with a crop grown on clover 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 1+7 
 
 roots, he plants corn, wheat or flax on a similar soil that has 
 been cultivated some years and g-ives both plots the same 
 culture and care. The almost uniform answer of the soil in 
 such cases is, "I am hungry for nitrog-en." If, however, he 
 will by the culture of clover and other leg-umes, fill his soil 
 with nitrog-en and conserve the potash and phosphoric acid 
 by carefull}^ husbanding- the manure made on the farm, he 
 can maintain for an indefinite period the fertility of his farm 
 and be in a position to meet successfully the inevitable compe- 
 tition, whether from his neighbors, his own countrymen or 
 the grain growers of the civilized world. The nation that 
 can grow the great cereal products and transport them to the 
 world's markets at the smallest cost will eventually dictate the 
 price of bread. 
 
 It is supreme folly for any man or any class of men to say 
 that his lands are inexhaustible. Many times in the history of 
 agriculture has that claim been made, and as often have those 
 who have made it been brought to confusion by the dire 
 event. All that is needed to exhaust the fertility of any soil 
 for any cereal crop is to keep on growing that crop year after 
 year. It is quite true, as has been affirmed by Sir John B. 
 Lawes and other thoroughly scientific investigators, that it 
 is not possible to exhaust completely the capacity of any land 
 for the production of any one crop provided the soil is good 
 to begin with. Nature loves fertility and hoards it as a miser 
 does his gold. She parts with it slowly and reluctantly, 
 and as soon as she has allowed man to exhaust, it to the 
 point where he cannot grow paying crops in competition with 
 better soils, and has thus driven him from his land, she at 
 once begins the work of soil restoration. 
 
 The strict and accurate truth is that any soil may by con- 
 tinuous cultivation in the cereals be so far exhausted of its 
 nitrogen or other elements of soil fertility, that the crops 
 grown on it are no longer profitable. When it reaches this 
 point of exhaustion and the farmer can no longer make a liv- 
 ing on his farm, it is for him practically exhausted. What 
 we mean, therefore, by soil exhaustion is not the complete 
 removal of one or all of the great elements of fertility, but 
 the reduction! of any one of them to a point where the soil 
 will not produce paying crops. Sir John B. Lawes has for 
 nearly forty years grown continuous crops of wheat on the 
 same land without manure, equal, even in late years, to the 
 average crop of the wheat-growing world, but it has been 
 done, by a S3'-stem of thorough tillage, hand-hoeing and weed- 
 ing, which if done on a commercial basis would reduce the 
 owner to beggary. 
 
148 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 We desire to reiterate what has been said in preceding 
 chapters, that the most complete exhaustion of the soil, para- 
 doxical as it may seem, may be accomplished by the use of the 
 clovers. If by supplying- nitrog-en in the clovers and continu- 
 ally drawing- on the potash and phosphoric acid, which the 
 clovers do so larg-ely, the farmer practically exhausts the land 
 of these, he must then either resort to expensive commercial 
 fertilizers or throw his land into the hands of mother Nature 
 to nurse it back throug-h long years, or it may be centuries, 
 to the condition to which as a foolish and unskillful cultivatoi 
 he has found it a fit subject for his robberies. 
 
 The Western farmer has now reached a point where, 
 willing- or not, he must elect to do one of three thing-s : 1. 
 Continue his present robbery of the soil by continuous grow- 
 ing- of g-rain for sale in the world's markets and thus selling 
 his land by piece-meal. 2. He may by supplying- nitrog-en in 
 the clovers and returning- nothing in the form of manure rob 
 it more completely and reduce it to a more hopeless barren- 
 ness. 3. He may draw on the winds of heaven by means of 
 the miracle-working tubercle in the roots of the clovers, and 
 then by the judicious use of the manure made on the farm in 
 various ways restore the potash and phosphoric acid, trusting 
 to the gradual disinteg-ration of the rocks of which the soil is 
 composed to keep up indefinitely their supply. 
 
 The folly of the first course is as supreme as it is con- 
 spicuous. The farms all over the West that have been rented 
 on one-year leases to croppers attest that folly so completely 
 that he "may run that readeth it," and "the way-faring- man, 
 thoug-h a fool, need not err therein." Heretofore millions of 
 the best acres in the West have been cultivated by farmers 
 who confessed themselves pilg-rims and strangers, and like 
 Abraham of old, though in a far different sense, said they 
 were seeking a better country and would find it as soon as 
 they had, to use their own expression, "skinned" or "taken 
 off the cream" from the lands they occupied. These are the 
 soil robbers who plant neither orchards nor groves, around 
 whose homes are no flowers, on whose porches are no vines 
 to shade their wives from the summer's sun, and who expect 
 as soon as their robberies are completed to find in the farthei 
 West another piece of virgin land to despoil. It is time foi 
 this class of farmers to understand that the limit of the corn 
 lands of America has been definitely marked out, as fixed by 
 their Creator; that these lands are all out of the possession ol 
 the Government and are nearly all in cultivation, and thai 
 while there is a large amount of wheat lands as yet untouched 
 by the plow, they are in capricious and uncertain climates, 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 149 
 
 subject to the vicissitudes of doubtful rainfall, hot winds and 
 destroying- insects, or else yield up their natural fertility only 
 by irrigation. Capitalists can no long-er buy the finest landa 
 in townships and counties, rob them of their fertility by con- 
 tinuous wheat g-rowing- on the bonanza plan, and find in the 
 newer West fresh lands to impoverish. The migration of 
 these bonanza farmers westward must now cease. A farmer 
 who wishes a permanent home for himself and a heritage for 
 liis children must buy it soon. The tabernacle of the wilder- 
 ness must give place to the permanent structure in a land not 
 divided by lot but selected by purchase. The soil robber must 
 henceforth be content with robbing himself and wasting in 
 advance the patrimony of his children. 
 
 If, however, he makes the second election and sees in the 
 recent discoveries of agricultural science an opportunity by 
 clover culture to rob his lands more completely than before, 
 by selling in a distant market the elements of fertility in his 
 land, he should know that in this way he will reduce his land 
 to a degree of barrenness impossible under former conditions. 
 He may by clover culture become thus penny wise and pound 
 foolish. He may adopt the specious though fallacious maxim 
 that "tillage is manure," without stopping to think that im- 
 proved tillage by increasing the yield will onlyr the more 
 speedily exhaust, by the magnitude of the crops which it fur- 
 nishes, the fertility of the land. He may draw upon the great 
 bank, the atmosphere, for his supply of nitrogen, and if his 
 drafts be properly drawn, signed and sealed by the clover-root 
 tubercle, they will not go to protest, but when he draws upon 
 the soil for potash and phosphoric acid, he will get the quick 
 response, "Protested — no funds." Every farmer owes it to 
 those who are to bear his name, to leave the acres that have 
 fed him, richer if possible than he received them from the 
 hand of Nature or a previous purchaser, or if he fails to do so, 
 he cannot with truth have the honorable title of "a good 
 farmer" engraved on the marble that is intended to perpetuate 
 his memory. 
 
 The only wise choice is the third one above mentioned, 
 viz., to grow clover, feed stock, husband carefully the farm- 
 yard manure and restore it to the land without waste. He 
 must necessarily dispose by the sale of his live stock and grain 
 of more or less of the great elements of fertility. ^ Nature, 
 however, is ever struggling to maintain it by the gradual 
 decomposition of rock material of which the soil was first 
 formed, and if he works with her he will be entitled to a 
 well earned reputation for agricultural wisdom. If better 
 methods of tillage hasten the decomposition of the primary 
 
150 CLOVKK CULTURE. 
 
 rock, it only increases his supply of home-made fertilizers by 
 the careful" husbanding- and diligent application of which he 
 is ever restoring- to the land its own. The iuture prosperity 
 of tlio Western farmer depends, more than on anything- else, 
 on whether he elects the part of wisdom, and the prosperity of 
 any section or of any community depends upon the number of 
 farmers who make this choice. 
 
 It cannot have escaped the attention of thoughtful stu- 
 dents of agriculture that in any country that is really pros- 
 perous for any great length of time the farmers have settled 
 down to a system of mixed grain and stock growing and the 
 cultivation of the tame g-rasses that are so essential to success 
 in this line. The ranch system so long dependent wholly on 
 the wild g-rasscs may endure for a time, or as long- as these 
 g-rasses are abundant and free to all, so to speak, "without 
 money and without price," but it should be noted that even 
 the ranchman is turning to alfalfa. Nor should it escape the 
 notice of the thoughtful that among the grasses that form 
 these cultivated pastures the legumes have always had an 
 important place, and that the failure of clover in any nation 
 except as part of a long rotation has always been regarded as 
 a great calamity. 
 
 Circumstances will compel the Western farmer to adopt 
 the same methods. He has, however, a great advantage over 
 all the farmers that were before him. They grew the clovers 
 because they found by experience that they increased the value 
 of all subsequent crops, but did not know how or wh}-. Their 
 farming was on the principle of "cut and try." The modern 
 farmer is now in the position of the tailor who has a rule by 
 which he can cut and be reasonably sure of a fairly good fit. 
 He knows, or at least may know, that by the use of clover he 
 can store up nitrogen in his soil for a crop of wheat, corn or 
 flax following. He knows what plants can obtain nitrogen 
 from the atmosphere and what can not, why timothy always 
 does well after clover, why blue grass flourishes with white 
 clover as a growing mate, and can thus plan his rotations and 
 his seed mixtures with intelligent foresight, as a painter 
 mixes his paints and plans his work, knowing beforehand 
 very nearly what will be the result. • 
 
 The Western farmer has been placed for many years in a 
 peculiarly trying position, and that largely through no fault 
 of his own.-* In the last thirty years a vast empire has been 
 opened up west of the Missouri. Its fabulous wealth has 
 been advertised over Europe and America by railroads inter- 
 ested in its settlement. Population has rushed in, fully im- 
 bued with the idea that unlimited acres of inexhaustible 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 15J 
 
 fertility were to be had for a song-. Payments for the land^ 
 for the improvements and for living- expenses had to be made 
 from crops of ready sale at cash prices in the world's markets. 
 These bulky products had to be hauled from five hundred to 
 seven hundred miles to the nearest water line and from a 
 thousand to fifteen hundred miles to the seaboard, and that, 
 too, as soon as gathered. Paradoxical as it may seem, the 
 pioneer farmer as a rule has not been able to build g-ranaries 
 to store the products of his land. The result has been two- 
 fold — exclusive grain farming- in necessary violation of the 
 well established principles of successful ag-riculture the world 
 over, and the glutting- of the markets of the world with cereals 
 to an extent that has produced acute and severe distress 
 among g-rain farmers everywhere. A cry of distress, both in 
 years of shortag-e and abundance, has been heard in every 
 part of the United States in which the improved g-rasses have 
 not been contiguous to the grain and cotton field. Mean- 
 while the American farmer, by reason of his fertile soil, im- 
 proved machinery and skilled agricultural labor, is crowding 
 the British, the Russian and the Hindoo farmer to the wall, 
 and while suffering himself, is inflicting more severe suffering 
 on farmers in other parts of the world under less favorable 
 conditions. 
 
 We have outlined these existing conditions, not to make 
 the broad claim that clover culture is the panacea for all the 
 ills to which agricultural flesh is h^r, but to show that the 
 evils of a false system can be remedied only by a return to a 
 correct one, and this cannot be done successfully without the 
 introduction of the legumes, and especially of the clovers. 
 What the American farmer needs at present is something 
 that will enable him to maintain cheaply the fertility of his 
 soil, especially in nitrogen, the most costly and at the same 
 time the least stable, of all the elements of fertility in all 
 soils. The potash and phosphoric acid will remain locked up 
 in various soil compounds until it is needed by the plant, but 
 the nitrogenous compounds, as soon as converted into nitrates, 
 the form in which they are assimilated by plants, are liable 
 to be washed out by rains. He needs a system of farming 
 which will enable him to condense his freights by feeding his 
 products on the farm, and shipping them in the form of live 
 stock, butter, cheese and wool, and he needs besides a home- 
 grown forage, rich in nitrogen or albuminoids that' will 
 enable him to use to the best advantage the carbonaceous 
 food products which exist in such super- abundance in the 
 West. In this lies the "way out" for the western farmer. 
 We do not by any means afl&rm that he is not suffering from 
 
152 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 other evils. We know, for example, that he pays more than 
 his proper share of taxes ; that he is the victim of trusts and 
 combines, and that in many localities he is compelled to pay 
 exorbitant freights and excessive rates of interest. We do 
 mean to say, however, that where a system of agriculture has 
 been adopted for any great length of time, these evils diminish 
 in their intensity or disappear altogether. In fact, it is the 
 one-sided system of agriculture adopted in many parts of the 
 West that has rendered it possible to form some combinations 
 and extort usurious rates of interest. In this correct system 
 of agriculture wherever established, the tame grasses must 
 form an essential and indispensible part, and chief among 
 these grasses will always be found the legumes, and especially 
 the clovers. 
 
 The "way out," if it be a main travelled road leading to 
 the city of refuge and not a by-path leading into the forest or 
 a morass, must provide for retaining soil fertility and 
 especially nitrogen. As we have before shown, there is no 
 present way by which that can be done effectively and at the 
 same time economically except by the intelligent use of the 
 legumes. Theorists may speculate as they please, but when 
 the available fertility of any soil, whether of the farm or the 
 district, is so far exhausted that it will not produce paying 
 crops, as it will be in time by continuous cultivation of the 
 non-leguminous plants, it matters very little what political 
 party is in power, or what the rate of taxation or transpor- 
 tation, or what kind of currency may be in use. The "way 
 out " for the western farmer that does not provide for the 
 conservation of nitrogen and its increase, at least to the 
 measure of the supply of the other elements o^ the fertility in 
 the soil, will lead him into worse trouble than he complains 
 of now. It is for the reason that it furnishes the farmer 
 with clear, definite and precise information on a matter of the 
 first importance that we regard the discoveries of Helreigel, 
 Wilfarth and Atwater as among the greatest of the present 
 age. If this important element of fertility cannot, by reason 
 «f deficient rainfall or some other climatic or soil conditions, 
 be furnished by the red and mammoth clovers, then resort 
 must be had to alfalfa, and where this cannot be grown, the 
 supply of nitrogen must be secured by the use of some other 
 legume. The " way out " must be sown with legumes. , 
 
 It is not enough, however, to have a supply of fertility in 
 the soil. There must be some way of using to advantage 
 the products furnished by this raw material provided by 
 nature and husbanded by man. No country ever became 
 permanently rich which was burdened with the trasportation 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 155 
 
 of crude products to a consumer from a thousand to five 
 thousand miles distant. It matters little how cheap freig-ht 
 rates may be, for the obvious reason that competitors are 
 likely to have them as cheap. Freig-ht rates by rail can be 
 reduced about as much in one part of the world as in the other, 
 for the reason that the reduction is the result of inventions in 
 which the whole world shares. Water freig-hts are prac- 
 tically equal with each other, and, hence, it is not the cost of 
 freight, but the fact that freight must be paid, and that, too^ 
 by the farmer, that makes hard times in any country that 
 must find a customer for its bulky or heavy products in a far- 
 distant market. The " way out " must, therefore, suggest a 
 method by which the farmer can convert these bulky products 
 into some more compact and available form. The introduc- 
 tion of the clovers and other cultivated grasses at once reduces 
 the acreage of the cereals and paves the way for successful 
 stock growing, which, in turn, furnishes a means for con- 
 densing freights. 
 
 It requires no prophet to forsee what would be the imme- 
 diate result if half the lands now in cereals in Kansas, 
 Nebraska and southern Dakota were successfully sown to 
 clovers next year. There would be an immediate, though 
 temporary reduction in the yield of cereals which would at 
 once be felt in prices, demand for improved stock to suit the 
 improved conditions, and a decrease in the amount of freights 
 furnished the railroads. It is quite true that a large amount 
 of the corn grown in these states is condensed by feeding to^ 
 stock brought in from the ranges. This system, however 
 convenient or profitable it may be for the time, leads surely 
 and speedily to the soil exhaustion of these states. The 
 feeding is done on comparatively few farms and by men who 
 are feeders rather than farmers, and thus a few acres are 
 ^nriched at the expense of the many. When farmers in these 
 states adopt the method of farming half the land and seeding 
 the remainder to tame grasses, where these can be grown, 
 they will be able not only to maintain the fertility of their 
 soil, but place themselves in the position which farmers the 
 world over occupy, wherever agriculture is permanently pros- 
 perous. 
 
 Nor are we advocating any new or untried policy. Corn 
 is grown in nearly every state in the Union, and yet there are 
 but seven corn surplus states, or states that grow an amount 
 beyond their home requirements, and the surplus pro- 
 duced by two of these is comparatively small. This policy 
 has been largely adopted in all the states east of the Missouri. 
 As the sfrasses and leofumes travel westward, elevator 
 
154 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 properties on the lines of the railroads leading" to the greal 
 grain markets first decrease in value, then stand empty and 
 finally are burned up or torn down. 
 
 The progress of clover and g^rass culture may be noted 
 €ven in the political discussions, and especially those that 
 grow out of agricultural discontent. These discussions move 
 west with the tame grasses. The granger legislation of 1873 
 affected Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, while that 
 of 1889 affected only, to any great extent, the states west of 
 the Missouri and south of the Ohio rivers, or, in other words, 
 the grain and cotton growing as distinguised from the grass 
 growing states. No less significant is the fact that the 
 so-called granger legislation of Iowa in 1884-88 had for its 
 object, not the cheapening of rates on crude products, but the 
 cheaper distribution of its own products within that state. 
 
 It will be seen that the culture of the clovers and other 
 grasses is far reaching in its consequences. In urging it as 
 we do, we are on main traveled roads. We point to the expe- 
 rience of all farmers in all countries for the last hundred 
 years ; we point to the fact that where once introduced it has 
 never been abandoned, until the soil refused to grow clover ; 
 we point to the fact that where it is once established, land uni- 
 formly advances in price, and the rate of interest as uniformly 
 falls ; we point to the fact that where it is once established 
 diversification of industry naturally follows. For example, 
 the great dairy interest is confined almost wholly to the regions 
 where the clovers and other tame grasses have proved a suc- 
 cess. Creameries have been built by the score in advance of 
 the grass and clovers, and only in rare instances have they 
 succeeded beyond the white, red and crimson, of the clover 
 fields. While it is true that there is a natural limit to the 
 tame grass belt, it is also true, and we call attention to the 
 well known fact, that the clovers have a wider Western range 
 than any of the other cultivated grasses, and, as we have 
 already shown, where clover ends, alfalfa begins. Where, by 
 reason of the unsuitable subsoil, it is impossible to grow 
 alfalfa, other legumes, such, for instance, as the soy^ bean, 
 will be found to take its place. The necessity of the intro- 
 duction of some legume that will supply the place of the 
 clovers and alfalfa in semi-arid regions is so urgent, or will 
 be in a few years, that every clime will be searched by enter- 
 prising farmers and experiment stations to find something 
 that will meet the want. The right plant will be found when 
 it is needed, just as the right man appears in every great 
 ■crisis of a nation. 
 
 Again, any "way out," especially for the Western farmer, 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 155 
 
 must provide some method for utilizing- the great surplus oi 
 carbonaceous food products that exists on his farm. Western 
 states have a very great surplus of this carbonaceous food. 
 Corn, their great crop, is highly carbonaceous, and straw, 
 cornstalks and sorghum still more so, and the ordinary tame 
 grasses, outside of the clovers, scarcely less. No one of these^ 
 nor all of them together, can be fed exclusively to young and 
 growing stock, or to milk cows, without great waste of the 
 food. The young grasses alone furnish a balanced ration,, 
 but only for a brief period or the year. 
 
 The continuous waste i-hat goes on for eight months in 
 the year becomes so enormous that no section can compete 
 with other sections ble«sed with albuminoids with which to 
 balance up rations. Oats is about the only stock grain that 
 in itself comes near being a balanced ration, and in default of 
 the legumes farmers are compelled to use oil meal, cotton-seed 
 meal and wheat bran in order to feed their carbonaceous 
 rations without waste. The clovers come in to meet the 
 requirements with nitrogenous compounds, drawn not from 
 the soil beneath, but from the air above, and not only store 
 nitrogen in the soil by means of their roots, but in the form 
 of hay and pasture supply this much-needed want. Eastern 
 farmers who travel through Western Kansas and Nebraska 
 and Dakota and other wheat-growing sections and see the 
 great mass of straw given to the flames each year are accus- 
 tomed to declaim against the thriftlessness of the Western 
 farmer. He is at least as wise as they, for experience has 
 taught him that cattle will eat themselves poor by trying to 
 live on this carbonaceous food, and that for him its main 
 value is in its ash, which he therefore distributes as wisely as 
 possible by heading his wheat and burning his straw. If, 
 however, he can grow clover or alfalfa to balance up this 
 excessively carbonaceous food, the straw becomes at once a 
 rr.ine of wealth. 
 
 English wheat growers are this year, in many cases, get- 
 ting more for their straw per acre than for their wheat, for 
 the reason that they can use it economically and without com- 
 petition, whereas in the growth of grain they are compelled 
 to compete with the whole world. 
 
 In the arid regions of the plains, the mountains or the 
 Pacific coast, the word alfalfa has a charm second only to 
 gold and silver, because it furnishes in the form of hay a 
 ration that improves or balances up every other forage with 
 which it is fed. As the subject of feeding rations become? 
 better understood through the greater number of analyses of 
 western grains and grasses and carefully conducted experi- 
 
156 CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 tnents with balanced rations, the legumes will be rated at a 
 much hig-her value than they have been in times past. Stock 
 growers will even find that it will pay them to grow the 
 legumes solely as a means of stopping the great waste that is 
 now going on by the enforced use of rations too highly carbo- 
 naceous to meet the wants of the animal economy. 
 
 A system of farming that will at once conserve and 
 increase the fertility of the soils of the West, that will, by 
 diminishing the amount of the acreage in cereals and increas- 
 ing that of the grasses, reduce the cost of labor fifty per cent., 
 and that will stop the waste of foods now going on, will at 
 least indicate the "way out" that can be followed with safety 
 and profit. The extended use of the clovers and other legumes 
 will provide such a system, and for this reason we urge it 
 upon the attention of every farmer. Other nations and the 
 majority of our states have already adopted such systems, 
 ignorant of the recent discoveries that have made the way 
 plain, safe and easy. It devolves upon the Western farmer 
 to say whether he will be guided at once by the experience of 
 practical farmers in the past and by the light that science has 
 shed upon the subject, or whether he will continue to waste 
 the fertility of the richest heritage that Providence has ever 
 bestowed upon a people, and reduce to comparative barren- 
 ness the fairest land on which the sun shines. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Pass. 
 
 Prbfaci B 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Clovers and Other Grasses— Clovers not True Grasses, but Members of the Pulse Fam- 
 ily—True Grasses Defined— Difference between Them and the Clovers in Root 
 Growth— Relation of the Clovers to Soil Fertility— Their Relation to Improved 
 Agriculture — Their Power to Supply Other Crops with Nitrogen— Their Ability to 
 Draw Nitrogen from the Atmosphere — Their Importance in Feeding Rations T 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Dlstributiou of the Clovers— The Economic Importance of the Legumes— The Main 
 Source of Supply of Soil Nitrogen— Animal Nitrogen Dependent on Soil Nitrogen 
 —Some Variety of the Legumes Adapted to Every Soil Capable of Supporting 
 Life— Leading Varieties of Clover— Range of the Common Red and Mammoth— 
 Their Peculiar Adaptation to the Drift Soils of the West— Their Probable Western 
 Limit— Range of the White, Alsike and Crimson Clovers and Alfalfa Ifr 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Red and Mammoth Clovers— Their Relation to Soil Fertility in the West— Their His- 
 tory—The Five Essentials of Plant Life— These Clovers Do Well on Compara- 
 tively Barren Soils— Reproduce Themselves Indefinitely in the West by Self- 
 Seeding— Best Methods of Seeding in Fall and Spring— Depth of Covering Re- 
 quired—Experiment at the Iowa Experiment Station— Modern Methods of Cov- 
 ering in the Western States — Conditions under Which One or the Other Should 
 Be Preferred- Mammoth Preferred Where Insect Enemies Are Abundant— Illus- 
 trations of Red and Mammoth Clovers 2* 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Alfalfa— Its Climatic Range, History and Travels— Its DiflFerent Names in Different 
 Countries— Its Specific Purpose a Meadow and a Forage Plant— Its Adaptation to 
 Particular Soils— Its Two Leading Uses— Its Peculiar Adaptation to the Mountains 
 and Plains- Its Use in the Semi-Arid Regions as a Substitute for Clover as Dis- 
 cussed by Prof. Georgeson- Prof. C. L. IngersoU on Alfalf* under Irrigation 44 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 White and Alsike Clover— Difference between White and Other Clovers— Its History— 
 Its Place in the Permanent Pasture— Its Faults— History of Alsike or Swedish 
 Clover— Its Peculiar Adaptation to Wet Lands— Best Methods of Sowing— Its 
 Value as a Honey Plant ^ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Minor Vareties of Clovers— Sweet Clover, Where Valuable— Scarlet or Crimson Clo- 
 ver-Its Climatic Range and Value— Climatic Range of Japan Clover and Its 
 Great Viilue to the Southern Farmer— Value of the Bur Clover to the California 
 Farmer— Description of Various Native Varieties, with Illustrations 68 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Practical Clover Growing— Selection of Varieties for Different Localities— The Ob- 
 ject In View in Growing Clovers— Mixtures With Other Grasses— Mixturea for 
 Different Rotations— Clover S'ckness— Nurse Crops— Western Limit of the Clovers 
 —Method of Seeding on Wet Lands 78 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Curing Clover Hay— Water Content of Green Clover— Iowa Agricultural College Ex- 
 periments—The Problem Stated— Clover Hay-making East and West— Capacity 
 of Clover to Evaporate and Absorb Moisture— Most Approved Western Methods 
 —Damage to Clover Hay in Stack— Value of the Tedder— Numerous Examples of 
 Spontaneous Combustion— Views of Profs. Sanborn and Burrell 90 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Clovers in the Rotation— Importance of Rotations— Distinct Features- Clovers as 
 a Cleaning Crop—Their Value in Supplying Nitrogen— Rotations suggested for 
 different sections iW 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Clover in Feeding Rations— Elementary Principles — Necessity for Balanced Rations 
 —Peculiar Need of an Albuminoid Crop in the West— Feeding Tables — Analyses 
 of Non-leguminous Grains and Grasses— Analyses of the Legumes— Examples of 
 the use of Clover and Clover Hay in Balancing Rations 106 
 
 CHAl'TER Xl. 
 
 (Insect and Other l^uemies— The Clover Leaf Midge— The Clover Root Borer— Flave- 
 scent Clover Weevil— The Clover Stem Borer— The Clover Leaf Beetle— The 
 Clover Leaf Hopper— The Clover Hay Worm, with Illustrations— The Clover 
 Rust— The Violet Root Fungus— Dodder, with Illustration 120 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 / 
 Clover Seed and its Insect Enemi<^s— Necessary Conditions for a Crop of Clover Seed 
 —Prof. L. II. Paromel on. Pollination of Clover- Description of tne Red Clover 
 Blossom, with Illustration- Best Jtethod of Harvesting Clove* Seed— Illustrations 
 and Description of Clover Seed Midge— Methods of Combatting It— Its parasites 
 —Illustration and Description of Clover Seed Caterpillar— Remedies Recom- 
 mended / 182 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 dover Root Tubercle— Pacts Assumed in Previous Chapters— Former Suppositious 
 as to how Clover Obtained Nitrogen— Description of Clover Root Tubercles- 
 Prof. Hellriegel's Experiments and Dcmonstratioaof two Important Facts— Illus- 
 tration of Tubercles with Description— Prof. Atwatea's Experiments and Con- 
 clusion— Conciu'ion of Sir J. B. Lawes-Practical Bearings of the Discovery on 
 Western Agriculture 14S 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Clover Culture the Way Out— Clover Culture a Problem of the First Magnitude— 
 Pi»rchase of Nitrates by the General Farmer Useless— A Solution of the Agricul- 
 tural Paradox— Advantages of the Western Farmer over the Eastern— Western 
 Soils may be Exhausted as well as Fertilized by Clover Culture— When Lands are 
 Practically Exhausted— Western Farmers Must Elect to do One of Three Things 
 —The only Wise Choice— Trying Position of tlie Western Farmer— Clover Cul- 
 ture Indicates the Way Out by Restoring Fertility, by Condensing Freights and 
 by Checking Waste of Carbonaceo\is P'eed— Effects of Clover on Legislation— On 
 the Dairy Industry- Will the Western Farmer Adopt It? 15« 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Alfalfa— Length of roots, 4; its distribu- 
 tion, 14, 15; origin and history, 30-41; il- 
 lustration of, 31; peculiarly a hay and 
 forage crop, S2; conditions under which 
 its cultivation is profitable, 32, 33: cul- 
 t'lre under irrigation, 33; yield of hay 
 per acre, 33 34; number of' cuttings per 
 annum, .33, 34. 42: amount of seed sown 
 per ac-e. 34, .38, 42; English method of 
 culture, 34; when possible in rotation, 
 35; where it can be substituted for red 
 clover, 35; Prof. Georgeson on its culture 
 without irrigation, 36, 40; as a pasture 
 grass, 37; seeding of on prairie grass, 37; 
 cannot be grown on certain soils, 37: 
 preparation of seed bed without irriga- 
 tion, 37, 38; method of curing, 38, 44: 
 best method of storing, 38; when seed 
 should be taken, 38; yield of seed per 
 acre, 38; price of seed per bushel, 38; nu- 
 tritive value compared with red clover, 
 39; its disadvantages, 39,40; Prof. Irger- 
 Boll on, 41,44; preparation of seed bed 
 with irrigation, 42; method of irrigation, 
 
 ■ 42, 43; chemical composition of, 43; 
 where valuable in Nebraska, 44 ; where a 
 8ubsti'ut« for other clovers, 76, 77; as a 
 balance in feeding ra'ions, 106; for young 
 colts, 106; balances all grain rations, 155. 
 
 Alsike— Its distribution, 14; origin of, 49! 
 specially adapted to sloughs and othe' 
 wet lands, 49, 51,77; illustration of, 50i 
 habit of growth as compared with red, 
 mammoth and white, 51, 52; method of 
 seeding on sloughs and wet lands in 
 grass, 52; climatic range of, F2, 53; value 
 as bee pasture, 53; in permanent pasture, 
 74. 
 
 Atwater, Prof. O. W.— Investigations in 
 relation to the tubercles of the legumes, 
 140. 
 
 Blue Grass— In permanent pasture, 74; on 
 wild prairie, 75. 
 
 Bumble Gees— As pollinators of red clo- 
 ver, 122, 125; two varieties of, 123. 
 
 Bur Clover— Distribution of, 11; climatic 
 range of, 60; value as sheep pasture, 60; 
 peculiar relation to alfllaria, 60; a native 
 variety in Nebraska, 60. 
 
 Carbohydrates — Great excess of in West- 
 ern states, 100; prop'^rtion of proper for 
 various uses, 101; proportion found in 
 non-leguminous grains and fodders, 102; 
 proportion found in various legume8,102. 
 
 Carbon, its place in animal economy, 9. 
 
 Clover Culture— Its importance to the in- 
 dividual farmer and to the nation, 144; 
 advantageous to farmers both East and 
 
 West, 145, 150; its effect on succeeding 
 corn crops, 140; maintenance of indefi- 
 nite fertility possible with, 147, 148, 149; 
 may itself exhaust soilp, 148, 149: effect 
 of its westward extension, 153; effect on 
 
 fiolitic'ldis'^ussions. 1.54; never willing- 
 y abandoned when once introduced, 154. 
 
 Clover Flower— Anatomy of, 122, 124; illus- 
 tracion of, 124. 
 
 Clover Hay— Analyses of, 79; moisture m, 
 79, 80: difference in curing, East and 
 West, 80, 8i ; differences in feeding value, 
 81 ; its capacity to absorb and evaporate 
 n\oisture, 81, 82; best practical method of 
 making, 83, 85; »verage per cent, of dam- 
 age in stack, 85; spontaneous combus- 
 tion of, 85, 90. 
 
 Clover rupt, 116. 
 
 Clovers— Distinct in form from true grass- 
 es, 3; general habii of root growth, 3, 4; 
 their peculiar relation to soil fertili'y, 4, 
 5, 6; effect of their iutroducti'^n into 
 England, 5: » helpmeet to the true grass- 
 es, 5, 6; distinct from true grasses in 
 function, 6; number of native species, 
 10; why they succeed on poor soils, 18; 
 seeding on prairie lands without cover- 
 ing, 20; circuirstances under which red 
 or mammoth should be preferred, 24, 25, 
 26; red and mammoth, scientific classifi- 
 cation of, 25; selection of variety de- 
 pends upon object in view, 69, 70; mix- 
 tures to be sown, 70, 75; mixtures to b« 
 avoided, 70,71; mixture for two years' 
 rotation, 72; how retained in permanent 
 pastures, 75; western limit of, 76, 77; an- 
 alyses of at different Ftages of growth, 
 79; as a cleaning crop, 93; place in feed- 
 ing rations, 98, 106; how used to balance 
 rations. 103, 1C6; their use in CDnnection 
 with corn stalks, 103, 104; use in combi- 
 nation wiih straw, 105, 106; use in com- 
 bination with ordi-^ary farm feel stuffs. 
 106: preferable to expensive commercial 
 fertilizers, 144; neccssarj' to correct the 
 evils of continued grain cropping, 151; 
 essent al to a correct system of agricul- 
 tu'e, 152; western range of, 154. 
 
 Clover Seed— Conditions of germination, 
 19; depth of covering required, 19,22; 
 surface-sown on winter wheat, how cov- 
 ered, 20; different depths, Iowa Exper - 
 ment Station report, 22; sown on spring 
 grains, 22; yield per acre, 27; insect ene- 
 mies of, 121; management of crop, 125, 
 126. 
 
 Clovpr-seed Caterpillar— Life History of, 
 131, 132; remedies for, 132; parasites of, 
 132. 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 C'over-Beed Midge— Illustrations of, 127, 
 128; history of, 128; description of, 128, 
 129; methods of combating, 129, 130; ex- 
 ported to Eng'and in seed, 130; parasites 
 of, 130, 131. 
 Clover sickness, 73. 
 Commercial fertilizers, annual cost of in 
 
 Connecticut, 144. 
 Comstock, Prof , report on clover-stem 
 
 borer, 111. 
 Cook, Prof.— Description of clover stem 
 borer. Ill; report on clover-leaf beetle, 
 111, 112; descnpti^'n of clover-hay worm, 
 115; experiment on ferti'ization of clo- 
 ver, 122. 
 Corn, why It succeeds best on clover sod, 
 
 74. 
 Corn land, limit of reached, 148. 
 Corn-r">ot worm, opera ions of, 92. 
 Corn-surp'us states, 153, 154. 
 Crimson Clover— Its distribution, 11, 15; 
 habit of growth, 56: yield of hay per 
 acre, 56; where profita»^le, 56, 58; illus- 
 tration of, 57; amount of seed required 
 per acre, 58. 
 Darwin, Charles, experiment on pollina- 
 I tlon of clovers, 122. 
 
 ■Digestible nutrients in non-leguminous 
 grains and fodders, 102; in clovers and 
 other legumes, 102. 
 Dodder— Clover, 117, 120; in clover seed, 
 119; districts infested with, 120; varieties 
 of, 120; new variety attacking clover, 
 120: illustration, 118. 
 Farmers— Modern, peculiar advantages of, 
 150; peculiar position in the West, 150, 
 151. 
 Feeding Rations— Elementary principles 
 relating to, 98, 99, 100; examples of bal- 
 anced rations, 99, 100; table for calculat- 
 ing, 101; various uses of clover in, 1C4, 
 105, 106: use of alfalfa in, 106. 
 Fertility— Exhaustion of, 9^: essential ple- 
 ments of, 17, 18, 91: how readily exhaust- 
 ed, 74. 
 Flax, ancient reputation nsasoil robber, 4. 
 Fungus, violet root, 116, 117. 
 Geary, George, experiment in deep cover- 
 ing of clover, 23, 24. 
 Georgeson, Prof. C. C, on alfalfa without 
 
 irrigation, 38, 40. 
 German feeding tables, 101. 
 Grasses— Definition of, 3; tame, with and 
 without a nurse cro^, 76; for wet lands, 
 77, 78; young, furnish a balanced ration, 
 155. 
 Grass Mirtures— For fertility alone, 71; 
 for short rotations, 72; for sowing with 
 spring grains, 74; for perminent pss- 
 tures, 74; for sowing on wild prairie, 75. 
 Hay caps, use in hay making, 80. 
 Hay shed, cost of, 85. 
 
 Hellriegel, Prof., experiment with the le- 
 gumes, 1,"4, 138. 
 Honey bees as fer ilizers for red and mam- 
 moth clovers, 123. 
 IngersoU, Prof. C. L., on alfalfa under 
 
 irrigation, 41, 44. 
 Insect Pests— Working on clover, 107, 116: 
 number of, working on clover, 107; clo- 
 ver-leaf midge, 107, 108; clover- root bo'-er, 
 108, 109; flavescen* clover weevil, 109, 111 ; 
 clover-stem borer, 111; clover- eaf beetle, 
 111, 118; clover-leaf hopper, 113, J14; 
 clover-hay worm, 114, 115. 
 
 Insects as pollinatorfl of clover. 121, 123. 
 Iowa Experiment Station, experlme-» 
 
 with clover seed, 22. 
 Japan Closer- Its distribution, 11; history 
 o', 58; the soil renovator of the South. 
 68; climatic range, 58; its value to the 
 Southern farmer, 68, 60; illustration of, 
 59. 
 Large-headed Clover— Des'-ription of, 61, 
 62; climatic range of, 61, 62; Illustration 
 of, 65. 
 Lawes, Sir J. B., investigations of tuber- 
 cles on roots of legumes, 142. 
 Legumes— Leading varieties of, 3, 10; num- 
 ber of known sppcies, 3; wider^ngeof 
 usefulnes, 3; Virgil on, 4; Virgil's di- 
 rections for sowing, 4: universil distri- 
 bution, 10; necessary to correct the evils 
 of continued grain cropping, 151; essen- 
 tial to a correct system of agriculture, 
 152. 
 Lintner, Prof.— Rep-^rt on the number of 
 clover pests, 107, 1C8; on flavescent clover 
 weevil, 110: description of clover-leaf 
 beetle, 112, 113. 
 Mammoth Clover— Its distribution, 11, 12, 
 13; yield per acre, 27; illustration of, 29; 
 when to be sown alone, 70, 71; crop of 
 seed per acre, 71 : iu permanent pasture, 
 74; management of for seed, 125. 
 Nitrogen — Its abundance in nature, 8; 
 siurces of supply, 9; it** function in sup- 
 porting animal life, 9, 99; waste of dur- 
 ing summer months, 92; supplied by the 
 clovers, 92; how obtained by clovers, 
 133, 131. 
 Oats, only commonly cultivated cereal 
 
 furnishing a balanced ration, 155. 
 Orchard Grass— When to be sown with 
 clover, 7.;, 73; reasons for sowing with- 
 clover, 73; orchard grass in permanent 
 pasture, 74. 
 Osborn, Prof.— Report on flavescent-clo- 
 ver weevil, 110; life history of clover- 
 leaf hopper, 113,114. 
 Pammel, Prof.— Report on clover rust, 
 
 110; on pollination of Howers, 121, 123. 
 Permanent Past u'-e— Relation of clover* 
 
 to, 48, 49; grass mixtures lor, 74. 
 Phosphoric acid, not liable to be washed 
 
 out of the soil by rains, 151. 
 Plant life, five essentials of, 17. 
 Pollination of clovers by insects, 121, 123; 
 self-pollina'ion of red clover, 122; by 
 bumble bees, 122, 125. 
 Polish- Its p'ace in animal economy, 9; 
 not liable to be washed out of the soil by 
 rains, 151. 
 Prairie, wild, how best seeded to tame 
 
 grasses, 75, 76. 
 Red Clover— Its distribution, 11, 12, 13; 
 how distinguished from' mammoth, 11, 
 25; on what its Feed crop depends, 12; 
 date of introduction into England, 16; 
 early methods of cultivation, 16, 17; it» 
 relation to insect rests, 26; illustration 
 of, 28; nutritive value as compared witb 
 alfalfa, 39; in permanent pasture, 74; 
 on wild nrairie, 75. 
 Red top, in permanent pasture, 74. 4 
 Rilev, Prof— Report on clover-root borer, 
 108, 109; report on flavescent-clover wee- 
 vil, 110. 
 Rotations— Distinct features of, 92, 93; 
 
CLOVER CULTURE. 
 
 Bampies cf, 94, 96: short, 94: three years, 
 94; lour years, 94, C5; fix years, 95; west 
 of the Missouri, S5, 96; lor Minueeota, 
 96; for potato growers, 96, 97. 
 
 Running liuffalo Clover— Description of,. 
 62,63; climatic range of, 63; illustration 
 of, 07. 
 
 Sanborn, Prof., on spontaneous combus- 
 tion, 85, 86. 
 
 Semi-arid region, approximately defined, 
 35,36. 
 
 Sloughs, how best seeded to alslke, 77, 78. 
 
 Soil robbers, operations of, 148, 149. 
 
 Soils of the Eastern and Western states 
 compared, 145, 146; none inexhaustible, 
 247. 
 
 Soy bean, a substitute for clovers, 96. 
 
 Spontaneous combustion of clover hay, 85, 
 90; rrof. Sanborn on, 86, 87; letter on, 
 from H. R. Learning, 86; instance of, 87; 
 charcoal from, described, 87; J.W.Bnpp's 
 report on fifty caf-es of, 88; in Illinois, 
 88; Prof. BurrelTs conclusions on, 88, 
 89, 90. 
 
 Straw in combination with clover, 1 5, K6. 
 
 Sweet Clover— Distribution of, 11; habit of 
 growth, 54; where valuable for forage, 
 54; value as bee posture, 54; illustration 
 of, 55. 
 
 Tedder — Use of in curing clover hay, 80; 
 indispensabl" to secure the best rjualily, 
 82; hew to use it to bent advantage, 83; 
 failure to use it a frequent cause of 
 BpoBtancous combustiou, 85. 
 
 Timothy, iu permanent paf-ture, 74. 
 
 Trifolium Carolinanum— Description of, 
 63; climatic range, 63; illustration of, 68. 
 
 Trifolium fucatum— Description of, 61; 
 illustration of, 64. 
 
 Trifolium involucratum— Description of, 
 62: climatic range of, 62; illustration of, 
 «6. 
 
 Trifolium megacephalum— Description of, 
 
 61, 62: climatic range of , 62; lll;.8tratiou 
 of, 65. 
 
 Trifolium stoloniferum— Description of, 
 
 62, 63; climatic range, 63; illustration of, 
 67. 
 
 Tubercles— The means by which clovers 
 acquire nitrogen, 133; description of, 
 134; connection between their number 
 and the size and vigor of plants, 134; 
 relation to ferMlity of soil, 13-4, 135: Ilell- 
 riegel's elaborate expeiiments therewith, 
 1S4, 135, 13C; illustration and description 
 of, 138, 139, 140; Prof. O. W. Atwatcr s in- 
 vestigations in relation thereto, 140, 141, 
 142; invet ligations of Sir J. 11. Lawes and 
 Dr. Giitcrl, 142; the theory of as an expla- 
 nation of previouEly known facts in rela- 
 tion to clover culture. 142, 143; aft'ords a 
 rational explanation of an agricultural 
 paradox, 145. 
 
 "Wfy Out"— Must prov'de for retaining 
 and restoring soil fertility, lf^2: must be 
 sown with leeumcs, 152; must enable 
 farmers to condense freights, 153; must 
 enable the farmer to economize carbona- 
 ceous foods, 154. 155, 1!S6. 
 
 Webster, Prof , description of clover-hay 
 worm. 115, 116. 
 
 Wet laiids, how best seeded to alsike clo- 
 ver, 77, 78. 
 
 White Clover— Its distribution, 11,13,14; 
 its relation to permanent pasture, 45, 47, 
 48, 49; wherei it diflFerB from red and 
 mammoth clover, 45, 46; method of seed- 
 ing, 46; ash constituents coiBpared with 
 those of red clover, 46; origin of, 46, 47; 
 its peculiar relation to blue grass, 46, 47; 
 its disadvan'aKes, 47, 48; depth of cover- 
 ing necessary, 49; on wild prairie, 75; in 
 permanent pasture, 74. 
 
 Wolff s feeding standards, 101. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Common red clover 28 
 
 Mammoth clover 29 
 
 Alfalfa 13 
 
 Alsike 50 
 
 Sweet clover 55 
 
 Crimson clover 57 
 
 Japan clover 59 
 
 Trifolium fucatum 64 
 
 Larg-e-headcd clover 65 
 
 Trifolium involucratum.. 66 
 
 Buffalo clover 67 
 
 Southern clover 68 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Clover-leaf midge 108 
 
 Clover-root borer 109 
 
 Clover-stem borer Ill 
 
 Clover-leaf beetle 112 
 
 Clover-leaf hopper 114 
 
 Clover-hay worm 115 
 
 Clover dodder 118 
 
 Red clover blossom 119 
 
 Clover-seed midge. . .127, 128 
 Clover-seed caterpillar . . 131 
 Tubercle on roots of the 
 
 lupine 139 
 
IBI 
 
 
 ■ "1 -1 
 
 luii^" 
 
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 ■- 1 
 
 The publishers of the Homestead, the 
 weekly twenty-four pag-e agricultural paper 
 of Des Moines, Iowa, edited by a practical 
 farmer, will send a few sample copies, FREE 
 OF CHARGE, to every farmer not already 
 a subscriber, who will send his name and 
 address, plainly written on a postal card, to 
 the Homestead Co., Des Moines, Iowa. The 
 copies will be ABSOLUTELY FREE, and 
 will be sent to an}' farmer to enable him to 
 judg"e for himself of the merits of the Home- 
 stead as a paper devoted to his special inter- 
 ests. 
 
 THE BEST CLOVER SEED. 
 
 WK PKLI. THE 
 
 VERY BEST IOWA GROWN CLOVER SEED, 
 
 RK -CLEAN ED and freefroiii foul 'eeU. This kind of se°d Is worth a great ..c.. more to the 
 fannerihan ordinary need, as when he sows he miiy know he will not harvest a crop of 
 weeds. We know from compailson that onr stand trd of purity Is hl^^her than most other 
 Arms, and our price, quality cDnsliered. Is lower. Not only is this true of our clover seeda, 
 but In all other llne« quality Is the first consideration. We Issue a very tine catalogue giving 
 descriptions and prices of what wt- soil. We will send you one tree of (?har>.'e If you ask for It. 
 
 IOWA SEED CO.. 
 
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 i)U3 and 90r> Waluut StreettOUes^Moines, Iowa. 
 

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