Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-04-26
TERMS, $500 PER YEAR.
WHOLE NO. IVA.
AGRICULTURAL.
A Paper on 0lover-Its Adoption to Wis
oonsin's Purposes.

Tread at the Wisconsin Agricultural and
horticultural Convention, by O. NJ Richards. !
We presume that great many OF
the faamers of Wisconsin have q
kind of general idea that clover is a
good thing that il makes pretty
fair food when cured; that it is pass,
able for pasture +; that by blowing
under crop of clover you pillow un-
der a certain amount of manure of
some kind, either good, bad or indef-
ferent, and that it you have few
bushels of seed to sell when it is
worth So or 80 per bushel, it is real-
~ good thing. Bat that any sys-
tematic effort has been made by any
great number of Wisconsin farmers
n it's cultivation, as to enable
them to speak with any degree of
certainty of it's value as a crop, we
are very much inclined to doubt. We
do not pretend to be able TO answer
the question of exact value of the
clover to the farmer, but from our
own experience in its cultivation, we
feel fully warranted in making the
assertion that if the clover plant was
better understood it would be appre
ciated, so that it would form the ba-
sis of our agriculture.
In speaking of the valuo of clover
to the farmer, we have Lo learned
theories of our own or others to set
forth. We think we can better SUBJ
serve their interests by giving a SIM
pie statement of experience and ex>
periments extending over a period
of some years. BY way of a premise
it may be we'll to state the reasons
that caused Us to experiment with
clover as a fertilizer
We are one of Wisconsin's work
ing farmers. One who believes that
by a system of cultivation we sue
coed in taking a certain amount of
money out of our farms and putting
it in our pockets. If at the same
time we decrease the productiveness
of our farms, we not only fail to
make money but are actually the
losers. On the other hand wa be-
lieve that if the land pays 81 per
acre over and above the cost of cul,
tivation,it is worth $40 per acre and
no more. 1t it produces S. it is
worth $50. IfS10,it is as well worth
500 per acre as the first was worth
SO.
And again =; if you increase the
productiveress of say 200 acre farm
ST per acre, at the same cost you not
not only add 5000 10 your income,
but add $1,000 to your capital. and so
on in like proportion.
If the production Of your land de-
creases, your income is falling off,aud
your capital melting away.
Several years ago we became pain
fully conscious of u gradual decrease
in the yield of our crops. To rem
edy matters, we commenced feeding
stock cattle, sheep and hogs. We
not only fed all the grain and coarse
food the farm produced bpt we
bought great deal of corn from our
neighhors
After pursuing this policy for a
few years, we found it not allogeth
err satisfactory; we could not always
depend upon buying corn at prices
that left a profit 10 feeding it, and
what was worse, with all our feeding
we could not make manure enough
to keep our land up to the produce
tive standard that we wanted it. We
next turned our atten ton TO clover
and the result has more than equaled
our most sauguine expectations.
In the spring of 1869 we sowed 20
acres to clover, sowing it with oats,
putting 10 pounds 10 the acre. A.
Ter the grain was cut the clover
made remarkable growth; it head
ed out nicely and much of the seed
matured sufficiently to grow. o.
the 18th of October following we
commenced to turn the clover under;
it took good teams and good plows
to go through it. The next spring
we planted to corn and harvested 60
bushel to the acre. The next spriog
plowed the ground and sowed TO
oats, This brought the seed plowed
under in 1869 to the surface the re-
suit was that We had the ground
nicely set to clover again. The oat
crop was as good as we ever hand
led. The next season We cut two
bouncing crops of hay, then plowed
the ground in the fall The two fol-
lowing years, 1873 and 1874, we pro.
duced large crops OF corn. In 1875
sowed to oats and again seeded to
clover, sowing ten pounds of seed
per acre raised heavy crop of
oats and a good stand OF clover. In
1875 cut heavy crop of hay the lat
ter part of June also secured 4 BUSH
els of seed to the acre during the
season. We are satisfied that 20 acres
is all right and intend to cut hay
and seed crop next season.
On the first day of June, 1875, we
turned ninety good young hogs, av-
eraging $50 pounds, on Is acres of
that clover that was sown the spring
before. On the 18th day of Septem-
Der following, the hogs averaged a
fraction over $50 pounds, gain of
100 pounds each, or 600 pounds for
each acre pastured.
On the 25th day of May, 1874, we
turned 100 shoats (mostlv fall pigs)
that averaged 100 pounds, on twenty
acres of clover sown the spring be-
fore. On the goth day of Septem Der
they weighed 1941 pounds each, or
SGT pounds gain to the acre of Glow
err.
Jan. /, 1875, we turned 95 head of
shoats that averaged 125 pounds on
the same 20 acres of clover. On the
lat of October they averaged 230
pounds, gain of 237f pounds per
acre. We then plowed up the pss-
ture, ond it was about as effectuaIly
dressed with hog manure as one
could desire.
Last spring (1876) planted to corn
commencing May 4th. 1t came up
--. L. H. >,