Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-01-25
GRASS AND GLOVER.
suggestions Relating to Early Seeding and
the Handling OF Seed.


the Handling OF Seed.
I adopted tho rule of early sowing
about ten years ago. after having made
some disastrous failures from late SOW
ing. Farmers on clay land can not de-
pend on narrowing in the spring for not
more than once in three or four years
will the land get dry enough to harrow
before the wheat is too large to have
harrow pass over it. Think more than
half tho farmers in the country will tell
you that clover seed sown early will be
killed by freezing, and yet little in-
vestigation would show that there is
more danger of late sown clover being
killed, for the simple reason that there
has been no freeze to cover it, and its
sprouts lie directly on the surface, and
on account Of not being covered it starts
sooner than the seed which was sown
earlier and has been we'll covered by
frost.
In regard to the handling of seed
clover, we can not lay down q set of
rules which are never to be deviated
from. There is no difficulty whatever
in hulling the mammoth clover from
the field, as it is cut the last of July or
first of August, when the days are long
and the sun hot, and two or three days
will dry it out perfectly after the heavi-
est rain. With the medium or common
red clover which must often be threshed
as late as October, threshing from the
field is very uncertain and unsatisfac-
tory, and in q neighborhood where near
~ every farmer grows clover seed, and
machines are scarce, the farmer will
often lose his crop unless he stacks it
or puts it under cover. In the fall of
1886 there were thousands of acres of
clover out for seed in q radius of ten
miles of my farm. and not threshed at
all, because the machines could not get
around to it. Often machine could
not run until after noon on account of
heavy dews followed by a cloudy morn
ing; and light rain, if followed by
cloudy weather: would keep the ma
chine idle for two or three days.
should have lost my little crop of six
acres if l had not stacked it, but hav-
ing it stacked and perfectly dry, the
machine came and we ran it through
before tho dew had dried off on the
neighboring farm where the clover
was IN the swath. ~
There is, no difficulty in stacking
clover SO as to keep the water out, but
the stack must he covered with some
other material. Carry the sides of your
stack up perfectly straight and build
The stack square at the ends. Make it
only twelve feet wide and as long as is
necessary, and top it out with a slope
toward the prevailing winds. Then Law
at tho top and also at the lower edge =
four by four studding and put board
roof on it, the boards lying directly on
the clover and being nailed lightly to
tho studding. Arranged in this way
elover will keep dry and the huller can
come directly after a rain and thresh
while your neighbor waits for his to
Try. 1t will probably be cheaper and
bettcrin the long run to build barracks
convenient to the barn yard, so the
slower straw can be run. into the yard
md then the barracks can be flled
with corn fodder for winter use. Such
barracks need have no floor except u
temporary one or rails or poles to keep
The clover or fodder from the ground.
md can be used to shelter the tools
temporarily in the summer, or fc, driv-
ne under with q load when q sudden
ain comes up. It will also be very
convenient for curing out beans or
room corn or any Of the catch crops
.rown on the farm. - ~ 2. Brouas. IL
t0untry Gentleman.