Book: Clovers and How to Grow Them

T >> Thomas Shaw >> Clovers and How to Grow Them




The aim should be to have the crop put up in heaps, usually called
"cocks," but sometimes called "coils," before the second night arrives
after the mowing of the clover; and in order to accomplish this, it may
be necessary to work on until the shades of evening are drawing near.

When there is a reasonable certainty that the weather shall continue
dry, it is quite practicable to cure clover in the winrow, but in
showery weather to attempt to do so would mean ruin to the clover. In no
form does it take injury so quickly from rain as in the winrow, and when
rain saturates it, much labor is involved in spreading it out again. Nor
is it possible to make hay quite so good in quantity when clover is
cured in the winrow, as the surface exposed to the sunshine is much
greater than when it is mixed with timothy or some other grass that
purpose, nevertheless, to cure it thus, especially when it is mixed with
timothy or some other grass that cures more easily and readily than
clover. It may also be taken up with the hay-loader when cured thus,
which very much facilitates easy storing. But when it is to be lifted
with the hay-loader, the winrows should be made small rather than large.

When the clover is to be put up into cocks, these should be small rather
than large, if quick curing is desired. In making these, skilled labor
counts for much. The cocks are simply little miniature stacks. The part
next to the ground has less diameter than the center of the cock. As
each forkful is put on after the first, the fork is turned over so that
the hay spreads out over the surface of the heap as it is being
deposited. Smaller forkfuls are put on as the top is being reached. The
center is kept highest when making the cock. Each one may be made to
contain about 100 pounds and upward of cured hay, but in some instances
they should not contain more than half the amount to facilitate drying.
When the heap has become large enough, the inverted fork should be made
to draw down on every side the loose portions, which in turn are put
upon the top of the cock. Such trimming is an important aid to the
shedding of rain. An expert hand will put up one of these cocks of hay
in less time than it takes to read about how it is done.

A light rain will not very much injure a crop of clover after it has
been put up into cocks, but a soaking rain will probably penetrate them
to the bottom. To guard against this, in localities where the rainfall
may be considerable in harvest time, hay caps are frequently used. These
may be made from a good quality of unbleached muslin or strong cotton,
or they may be obtained from some of those who deal in tent awnings and
stack covers. When of good quality and well cared for they should last
for 10 to 20 years. Care should be taken in putting them on lest the
wind which frequently precedes a thunder storm should blow them away.
The pins used at the corners of the caps should be carefully and firmly
inserted in the hay or the ground, or the caps should have sufficiently
heavy weights attached to them at the corners to prevent their lifting
with the wind. In putting up the hay the size of the cocks should be
adjusted to the size of the covers used. One person should apply the
covers as quickly as two will put up the hay.

When clover hay is put up into cocks, it undergoes what is termed the
"heating" process; that is, it becomes warm in the center of the heaps
up to a certain point, after which the heat gradually leaves it. The
heat thus generated is proportionate to the size of the cocks and the
amount of moisture in the clover. The sweating process usually covers
two or three days, after which the hay is ready for being stored. When
clover is cured in the winrow, it does not go through the sweating
process to the same extent as when cured in the cock; hence, it is
liable to sweat in the mow, and to such an extent as to induce mold, if
it has been stored away with moisture in it beyond a certain degree. If
a wisp of clover is taken from the least cured portion of the winrow or
cock, and twisted between the hands, it is considered ready for being
stored if no liquid is discernible. If overcured, when thus twisted it
will break asunder. A skilled workman can also judge fairly well of the
degree of the curing by the weight when lifted with the fork.

Under some conditions, it may be advisable to "open out" the cocks two
or three hours before drawing them, that the hot sunshine may remove
undue moisture. When this is done, if the cocks are taken down in
distinct forkfuls, as it were, each being given a place distinct from
the others, the lifting of these will be much easier than if the clover
in each cock had been strewn carelessly over the ground. The lowest
forkful in the cock should be turned over, since the hay in it will have
imbibed more or less of dampness from the ground. But in some instances
the weather for harvesting is so favorable that the precaution is
unnecessary of thus opening out the cocks or even of making them at all.

=Storing.=--Storing clover under cover is far preferable to putting it
up in stacks, except in rainless climates. With the aid of the
hay-loader in lifting it from winrows in the field, and of the hay fork
in unloading, the hand labor in storing is greatly reduced, but when it
is unloaded with the horse fork, the aim should be to dump the hay from
the fork on different parts of the mow or stack, lest it should become
too solidly pressed together under the dump, and heat and mold in
consequence.

When the hay is stacked, especially in climates of considerable
rainfall, a bottom should be prepared on which to stack it. This may be
made of poles or rails. A few of these should first be laid one way on
the ground and parallel, and others across them. Where such material
cannot be had, old straw or hay of but little value should be spread
over the stack bottom to a considerable depth. Where these precautions
are not taken, the hay in the bottom of the stack will be spoiled for
some distance upward by moisture ascending from the ground. In building
the stack, the center should be kept considerably higher than the outer
edges, that rain may be shed, and the width of the same should increase
up to at least two-thirds of the height, the better to protect the hay
underneath. The tramping should be even, or the hay in settling will
draw to one side, and the topping out should be gradual rather than
abrupt.

In topping out a clover stack some hay should be used not easily
penetrated by rain, as, for instance, blue grass obtained from fence
corners, or slough hay obtained from marshes. The last-named is better
put on green. If the clover is not thus protected, a considerable
quantity will spoil on the top of the stacks. It is not a good hay to
turn rain. The shape of the stack should in a considerable degree be
determined by its size. It is probably preferable to make small stacks
round, since they are more easily kept in shape, but large stacks should
be long rather than round, as large, round stacks call for undue height
in bringing them to a top. Because of the ease with which rain
penetrates clover, it is very desirable to have it put under a roof.
Where it cannot be protected by the roof of a barn or stable, the aim
should be to store it in a hay shed; that is to say, a frame structure,
open on all sides and covered with a roof. Such sheds may be
constructed in a timber country without great cost.

Should the clover hay be stored a little undercured, some growers favor
sowing salt, say, from 4 to 8 quarts over each load when spread over the
mow. They do so under the conviction that its preservative qualities
will be to some extent efficacious in preventing the hay from molding,
and that it adds to the palatability of the hay. While it may render
some service in both of these respects, it would seem probable that the
benefits claimed have been overrated.

The more frequently clover hay is handled, the more is its feeding value
impaired, because of the loss of heads and leaves which attend each
handling of the crop. Because of this, it is not so good a crop for
baling as timothy, and also for other reasons. It should be the aim when
storing it for home feeding to place it where it can be fed as far as
possible directly from the place of storage. In the location of hay
sheds, therefore, due attention should be given to this matter.

In climates that are moist, some growers store clover in a mow when it
has only reached the wilting stage in the curing process. When thus
stored it is preserved on the principle which preserves silage. The aim
is when storing to exclude the air as far as possible by impacting the
mass of green clover through its own weight, aided by tramping. It
should be more or less wilted before being stored, according to the
succulence in it, and it is considered highly important that it shall
also be free from external moisture. When thus stored it should be in
large mows, and it should be well tramped, otherwise the impaction may
not be sufficient. To this method of storage there are the following
objections: 1. The hay has to be handled while it is yet green and wet.
2. There is hazard that much of the hay will be spoiled in unskilled
hands. 3. Under the most favorable conditions more or less of the clover
is pretty certain to mold near the edges of the mass. Where clover can
be made into hay in the ordinary way without incurring much hazard of
spoiling, the practice of storing it away in the green form, except in a
silo, would seem of questionable propriety. The making of clover into
ensilage is discussed in the book "Soiling Crops and the Silo" by the
author.

=Securing Seed.=--As a rule, seed is not produced from the first cutting
for the season of medium red clover. It is claimed that this is due to
lack of pollenization in the blossoms, and because they are in advance
of the active period of working in bumble bees, the medium through which
fertilization is chiefly effected. This would seem to be a sufficient
explanation as to why medium red clover plants will frequently bear seed
the first year, if allowed to, though the first cutting from older
plants will have little or no seed. But it is claimed that the ordinary
honey bee may be and is the medium for fertilizing alsike and small
white clover, but not that through which the mammoth variety is
fertilized.

Experience has shown, further, that, as a rule, better crops of clover
seed may be obtained from clover that has been pastured off than from
that which has been mown for hay, although to this rule there are some
exceptions. This arises, in part, from the fact that the energies of the
plant have been less drawn upon in producing growth, and, therefore, can
produce superior seed heads and seed, and in part from the further fact
that there is usually more moisture in the soil at the season when the
plants which have been pastured off are growing. There would seem to be
some relation between the growing of good crops of clover seed and
pasturing the same with sheep. It has been claimed that so great is the
increase of seed in some instances from pasturing with sheep till about
June 1st, say, in the latitude of Ohio, that the farmer who has no sheep
could afford to give the grazing to one who has, because of the extra
return in seed resulting. The best crops of seed are obtained when the
growth is what may be termed medium or normal. Summers, therefore, that
are unusually wet or dry are not favorable to the production of clover
seed.

If weeds are growing amid the clover plants that are likely to mature
seed, they should, where practicable, be removed. The Canada thistle,
ragweed, plantain and burdock are among the weeds that may thus ripen
seeds in medium clover. When not too numerous they can be cut with the
spud. When too numerous to be thus cut, where practicable, they should
be kept from seeding with the aid of the scythe. To prevent them from
maturing is important, as the seeds of certain weeds cannot be
separated from those of clover with the fanning mill, they are so alike
in size.

The crop is ready for being cut when the heads have all turned brown,
except a few of the smaller and later ones. It may be cut by the mower
as ordinarily used, by the mower, with a board or zinc platform
attachment to the cutter bar, by the self-rake reaper, or by the grain
binder. The objection to the first method is that the seed has to be
raked and that the raking results in the loss of much seed; to the
second, that it calls for an additional man to rake off the clover; and
to the third, that the binder is heavier than the self-rake reaper. The
latter lays the clover off in loose sheaves. These may be made large or
small, as desired, and if care is taken to lay them off in rows, the
lifting of the crop is rendered much easier.

When the clover is cut with the mower, it should be raked into winrows
while it is a little damp, as, for instance, in the evening. If raked in
the heat of the day many of the heads will break off and will thus be
lost. From the winrows it is lifted with large forks. When the crop is
laid off in sheaves it may be necessary to turn them once, even in the
absence of rain, but frequently this is not necessary. In the turning
process gentle handling is important, lest much of the seed should be
lost. The seed heads of a mature crop break off very easily in the hours
of bright sunshine. Rather than turn the sheaves over, it may be better,
in many instances, just to lift them with a fork with many tines, and
set them down easily again on ground which is not damp under them, like
unto that from which they have been removed.

Clover seed may be stored in the barn or stack, or it may be threshed
directly in the field or from the same. The labor involved in handling
the crop is less when it is threshed at once than by any other method,
but frequently at such a busy season it is not easily possible to secure
the labor required for this work. It is usually ready for being threshed
in two or three days after the crop has been cut, but when the weather
is fair it may remain in the field for as many weeks after being
harvested without any serious damage to the seed. If, however, the
straw, or "haulm," as it is more commonly called, is to be fed to live
stock, the more quickly that the threshing is done after harvesting, the
more valuable will the haulm be for such a use.

When stored in the barn or stack, it is common to defer threshing until
the advent of frosty weather, for the reason, first, that the seed is
then more easily separated from the chaff which encases it; and second,
that farm work is not then so pressing. When threshed in or directly
from the field, bright weather ought to be chosen for doing the work,
otherwise more or less of the seed will remain in the chaff.

In lifting the crop for threshing or for storage, much care should be
exercised, as the heads break off easily. The fork used in lifting it,
whether with iron or with wooden prongs, should have these long and so
numerous that in lifting the tines would go under rather than down
through the bunch to be lifted. The wagon rack should also be covered
with canvas, if all the seed is to be saved. If stored in stacks much
care should be used in making these, as the seed crop in the stack is
even more easily injured by rain than the hay crop. The covering of old
hay of some kind that will shed rain easily should be most carefully put
on.

Years ago the idea prevailed that clover seed could not be successfully
threshed until the straw had, in a sense, rotted in the field by lying
exposed in the same for several weeks. The introduction of improved
machinery has dispelled this idea. The seed is more commonly threshed by
a machine made purposely for threshing clover called a "clover huller."
The cylinder teeth used in it are much closer than in the ordinary grain
separator. The sieves are also different, and the work is less rapidly
done than if done by the former. During recent years, however, the seed
is successfully threshed with an ordinary grain threshing machine, and
the work of threshing is thus more expeditiously done. Certain
attachments are necessary, but it is claimed that not more than an hour
is necessary to put these in place, or to prepare the machine again for
threshing grain.

Since the seed is not deemed sufficiently clean for market as it comes
from the machine, it should be carefully winnowed by running it through
a fanning mill with the requisite equipment of sieves. It is important
that this work should be carefully done if the seed is to grade as No. 1
in the market. If it does not, the price will be discounted in
proportion as it falls below the standard. A certain proportion of the
seed thus separated will be small and light. This, if sold at all, must
be sold at a discount. If mixed with weed seeds it should be ground and
fed to some kind of stock.

The haulm, when the seed crop has been well saved, has some feeding
value, especially for cattle. If not well saved it is only fit for
litter, but even when thus used its fertilizing value is about
two-thirds that of clover hay. More or less seed remains in the chaff,
and because of this the latter is sometimes drawn and strewn over
pastures, or in certain by places where clover plants are wanted. Seed
sown in the chaff has much power to grow, owing, it is thought, to the
ability of the hull enclosing the seed to hold moisture. The yields in
the seed crops of medium red clover vary all the way from 1 to 8 bushels
per acre. The average yields under certain conditions are from 3 to 4
bushels per acre. Under conditions less favorable, from 2 to 3 bushels.

Within the past two decades the seed crop has been seriously injured by
an insect commonly spoken of as the clover midge (_Cecidomyia
leguminicola_) which preys upon the heads so that they fail to produce.
A field thus affected will not come properly into bloom. The remedy
consists in so grazing or cutting the clover that the bloom will come at
that season of the summer when the insects do not work upon the heads.
This season can only be determined by actual test. In Northern areas it
can usually be accomplished by pushing the period of bloom usual for the
second crop two to four weeks forward.

=Renewing.=--When clover is grown for hay, it is not usual to try to
renew the crop, because of the short-lived period of the plant. But in
some instances it has been found advantageous. On light prairie soils
sandy in texture, located in the upper Mississippi basin, it has been
found possible to grow timothy meadow for several years in succession
with a goodly sprinkling of clover in it without re-seeding. In such
instances, the land is not pastured at all, except in seasons quite
favorable to growth, and in these the pasturing is not close. The clover
plants that grow after the crop has been cut for hay produce seed. The
heads in due time break off and are scattered more or less over the soil
by the winds. In time they disintegrate, and more or less of the seed
germinates, thus forming new plants, some of which, especially in
favorable seasons, retain their hold upon the soil. This method may be
worthy of imitation in localities where it has been found difficult to
get a stand in dry seasons on this class of soils.

When the stand of clover secured is variable, that is to say, partial,
as when the clover is abundant in the lower portions of the land and
entirely absent on the higher ground, it may be worth while to re-sow
the seed on the latter early the following spring. But before doing so,
the land should be carefully disked in the fall, and the clover seed
harrowed or otherwise covered in the spring. Should the summer following
prove favorable, the seed thus sown may produce hay, but not likely in
time to be harvested with the other portions of the field. But though it
should not produce much hay the seed is likely to be benefited to an
extent that will far more than repay the outlay involved in labor and
seed.

If the clover has been sown for pasture, the renewal of the same on
higher ground may be made as stated above, but with the difference that
the same kind or kinds of grain may also be sown at the same time as the
clover is becoming rooted.

In pastures, medium red clover may be renewed whenever the attempt is
made to renew the pastures, as by disking them and then sowing upon them
the seeds of certain grasses or clovers or both. The disking is usually
done in the spring and while the frost is out for only a short distance
below the surface. The amount of seed to sow need not be large, usually
not more than 2 or 3 pounds per acre, especially when seed of other
varieties is sown at the same time. One stroke of the harrow following
will provide a sufficient covering for the seed.

=Clover as a Fertilizer.=--It would probably be correct to say that no
plant has yet been introduced into American agriculture that has been
found so generally useful as clover in fertilizing land and in improving
the mechanical condition. Some who have investigated claim that there is
more nitrogen in a clover sod after the removal of a good crop of clover
than will suffice for four average farm crops, more phosphoric acid than
will suffice for two, and more potash than will suffice for six. It
begins to draw nitrogen from the air as soon as the tubercles commence
to form and continues to add thus to the enrichment of the land during
all the succeeding period of active growth. As previously stated, the
nitrogen is drawn in great part from the air; consequently, soil from
which a bountiful crop of clover has been removed will be considerably
richer in nitrogen than before it grew the same, and this will hold true
as intimated above, even though the crop should be removed and sold.
Under the same conditions it will also be true in available phosphoric
acid and potash. But the latter are gathered from the soil and subsoil
while the plants were growing. Consequently, if crops of clover are
grown in short rotation periods and if no fertilizer is given to the
land other than the clover brings to it, while it will be abundantly
supplied with nitrogen, a time will come when the supply of phosphoric
acid and potash may be so reduced that the soil will not grow even good
crops of clover. When this point is reached the soil is spoken of as
"clover sick." Happily, however, nearly all soils are so well stored
with phosphoric acid and potash that this result is not likely to follow
for many years. But lest it should, attention should be given to
fertilizing the land occasionally with farmyard manure, or with
phosphoric acid and potash applied as commercial fertilizers. Because of
this, and also for other reasons, it is usually considered more
profitable in the end to feed clover on the farm and return it to the
land in the form of manure. But clover may cease to grow on land where
once it grew well, because of other reasons, such as changes in the
mechanical condition of the soil caused by the depletion of its humus
and changes in its chemical condition, such as increased acidity. The
remedy is the removal of the cause.

The roots also put large quantities of humus in the soil. Where crops
are regularly grown in short rotations they will suffice to keep it
amply supplied for ordinary production. Because of this it is usually
considered more profitable to cut both the crops which medium red clover
produces in one season, or to pasture off one or both, than to plow
under either as green manure. But when soils are too stiff or too open
in character it may be advantageous to bury clover to restore the
equilibrium. It may also be necessary to bury an occasional crop in
order to put the land quickly in a condition to produce some desired
crop, the growth of which calls for large supplies of humus. When clover
is plowed under it will usually be found more profitable to bury the
second growth of the season than the first. The crop is in the best
condition for being plowed under when the plants are coming into bloom.
If left until the stems lose their succulence the slow decay following
in conjunction with the bulkiness of the mass plowed under might prove
harmful to the crop following the clover. The influence of the roots
upon the mechanical condition of the soil is most beneficial. The roots
go down deep into the subsoil and also abound in fibrous growth. The tap
roots in their decay furnish openings through which the superfluous
water may go down into the subsoil. The fibers adhering to the main
roots so ramify through the soil that when even stiff land is filled
with them it is rendered friable, and is consequently brought into a
good mechanical condition.

While all varieties of clover may be utilized in producing food and in
enriching land, none is equal to the medium red for the two purposes
combined. This arises from the fact that none save the medium red grows
two crops in one season under ordinary conditions. Though the first crop
should be taken for food, as it generally is, there is still ample time
for a second crop to grow for plowing under the same season. This second
growth is ready for being plowed under when time is less valuable than
it would be when the mammoth or alsike varieties would be in season for
being thus covered. And yet the work may be done sufficiently early to
admit of sowing fall or winter crops on the land which produced the
clover.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.