The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-01-21
GRASS AND CLOVER.
Suggestions Relating to Early Seeding anc
the Handling of Seed.

Suggestions Relating to Early Seeding and
the Handling of Seed.
adopted the 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 q
harrow pass over it. think more than
half the farmers in the country will tell
you that clover seed sown early will be
killed by freezing, and yet q little in
vestigation would show that there is
moro 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 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 ont perfectly after the heayi-
est rain. With the me lium 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
ly 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
1885 there were thousands of acres Of
clover cut for seed in radius of ten
miles of my farm. and not threshed ut
all, because the machines could not get
around to it. Often q machine could
not run until after noon on account of
heavy dews followed by 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 1 had not stacked it, but hav-
ing it stacked and perfectly dry, the
machine came and we ran it through
before the 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
IL. l. l. 81,
other material, Garry 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 slope
toward the prevailing winds. Then lay
at the top and also at the lower edge !.
four by four studding and put a board
roof on it, the boards lying directly on
the clover and being nailed lightly to
tho studding. Arranged in this way
clover will keep dry and the huller can
come directly after a rain and thresh
while your neighbor waits for his TO
dry. 1t will probably be cheaper and
| better in the long run to build barracks
convenient to the barn yard, so the
clover straw can be run into the yard
and then the barracks can be filed
with corn fodder for winter use. Such
| barracks need have no floor except Il
temporary one or rails or poles to keep
the clover or fodder from the ground.
and can be used to shelter the tools
temporarily in the summer, or for driv-
ing under with a load when sudden
rain comes up. 1t will also be very
convenient fer curing out beans or
broom corn or any of the catch crops
grown on the farm. w T. BrotCn, in
\ Country GentkeBI0M