Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-12-11
Agritnltnral Department.
EX.GOY. BROWN, OF GA, on CLOVER.

EX.GOV. BROWN, OF GA, ON GLOVER.
I am satisfied our peopleare neglecting their
best interests, whenever they neglect to cult
vate largely of grasses, as it is scarcely any
labor to make the grass crop, and it is the
most available made on the land when pro-
duced. A word as to the mode of sowing and
cultivating it: have never, in single in
stance, failed to get a stand when have
sowed in March, with oats. prepare my
land thoroughly; then SOW the oats and plow
them in; and, after they are plowed in-when
1 would be ready to leave the field, if l only
intended to make an oat crop-l sow down
the clover seed upon the fresh plowed land, at
the rate of bushel of clean seed to six acres
of land, and brush them in with a brush cut
in the woods near by, having heavy top,
which makes a light load for two horses
running over, covering the seed, and levelng
the ground, as our fathers formerly did their
turnip patches. A bushel to six or seven
acres is more than is usually put upon land,
but I have found it, in the end, much the
cheapest to put enough seed to be sure to
get good stand the first year. Some object
to covering it with brush, and say it does just
as we'll to SOW it on wheat or even on land
unprepared, and leave the seed on top of the
ground. Ifsowed on wheat in the snow, which
we seldom have here, or if sowed in n very
rainy time, this will do; but take one year
after another, and risk the season, and it is
entirely too uncertain.
OF an ordinary season, the clover will, the
year it is sowed, grow up considerable height
before frost, if the land is good; and with it
will be good coat Of crab grass, and con-
siderable crop of weeds. Just before frost l
put my two-horse mower in and cut all this
down, and dry it and stack it, and it makes
fine crop of hay. The stock will cat all the
young clover and the crab grass, and even the
tops of the rag weeds, when they are cut green
and dried with the hay. But not the least
benefit from this course is the fine order in
which your land is left for moving in the
spring. If you do not cut down the grass
and weed crop in the fall, you will find, in the
spring, that the large dry weeds are very much
in your way, and it will be necessary to en-
ploy hands to gather them and pile them out
of the way, before you can reap your crop OF
clover.
In reference to the quality Of land best
adapted to its growth, state that, in my opin-
ion, it does best upon stiff, black, rich river
bottom, which needs no manure to make a
good crop. If you put it on uplands, and ex.
pect good crop, you must manure your land
we'll before you SOW and when it is once set
with clover, if you cultivate it properly, you
may keep it perpetually rich. If you have
poor lands, and wish to enrich them with
clover, you must turn over several successive
crops in the green state, giving them to the
land and, if you have the patience, in this
way you can soon improve it until it will pro-
duce a good crop for use, and may then keep
your land rich for the future. But you need
not expect a heavy crop of clover on poor
land, any more than you may expect heavy
crop of any other sort.
My Judgment, however, is that clover is the
best of all fertilizers. 1t enriches the land,
and continues to keep it rich, if you continue
to alternate the clover with other crops, or to
run it a considerable portion Of the time in
clover
The first two acres which I sowed in river
bottom, in Cherokee county, as an experiment,
were sowed in the middle of corn field, that
it might be sure not to be pastured the first
year. With the clover, l sowed some herds
grass seed. For three successive years l got
heavy crops of clover from the land The
clover decidedly predominated over the herds
grass. On the fourth year, the crop was pref
ty equally divided between the two; and the
fifth year it was about three-fourths herds
grass
As already stated, you do not pasture it the
first year, and your first crop is saved, the
next spring after it is sowed. That year you
may NOW it twice, and the next year twice.
The third year you should cut the first crop
and save it for hay, and you should turn the
second crop under with a two-horse turning
plough, giving it to the soil, and either SOW it
in wheat that fall, which is probably best, or
cultivate it in corn, the next spring. 1t
should not stand more than three years, with
out being turned under, as the fourth years
crop will not be a very good one, and the
wild growth and broom sedge will become
troublesome by the fourth year. [ may also
remark, that the crop cut each year, which,
in Cherokee Georgia, is ready for the mower
about the last of May, is much the best for
hay. The second crop will make your horses
slobber, though the hay is very good for cat
tie. The proper time to NOV the crop, IS
when it is in full bloom, and q few blooms,
here and there, of the earliest, are beginning
to fade preparatory to ripening the seed.