Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-04-12
ABOUT RED GLOVER.
IHs value - Stock Food and - . n.
stoeer or FertilIty.

ABOUT RED GLOVER.
gAs value - stock Food ana q . Ne.
stoeer Of FertilIty.
Is furnishes more stock food in .
IgreenSer dry state than any forage
'cnop tat can be, produced without
cu,os~i(0n and BY sowing tho seed
breadea It's largest yield is the
season sfper the seed is sown. This is
not the cage with any of the true
grasses. except tisnethy. Several of
them. like blue grass. do not become
well established in the soil or furnish
large amount Ut seed till several
years after the seed Ia sown. As psstur-
age for swine red clover has no equal.
1t has often been shown that an aero
in red clover will supports given
number of pigs longer than an acre IT
corn. The latter requires much cult
walton. but the former none. An acre
in red clover will furnish food for FIVE
medium-sized pigs for about five
months. and if The season is favorable
they will require no grain. For fat
tening sheep no forage crop is equal to
clover. Most dairymen recommend red
clover in moderate quantities FOR milch
cows. They say it increases the yield
of milk and improves its quality by
imparting peculiar. sweet. agreeable
flavor which is communicated to the
butter and cheese made from it.
A field of red clover will furnish two
crops of hay. or one of hay and one of
seed, if the season is favorable, or it
will supply excellent fall pasturagc
after the main crop is harvested. The
second crop of clover hay is very de-
sirable food for calves and sheep of all
ages. It is most excellent food for
cows that are giving milk during the
winter. For converting into ensilage
it is not likely that there is any crop
superior to red clover. 1t does not
furnish as much bulk or weight as
sweet or common old clover, but it
makes up in quality what it lacks in
quantity. Few animals except cattle
will eat corn ensilage. but sheep, pigs
and fowls will devour that made from
red clover. which does not require to
be chopped before it is put into the
silo. 1t supplies the place of roots and
other kinds of green food better than
any field product. AS soiling cropit
is superior to any forage plant except
alfalfa. On rich soil it will stand cut
fin,oS d,rv1 tho
growing season, and scarcely any of it
will be wasted.
The production of nearly all crops
tends to impair the fertility of the soil
and to reduce its productiveness. Red
clover, on the contrary, restores fertil-
ity to the soil that produces it. and
makes it "yield more abundantly."
A large crop of red clover can be raised
on land naturally too poor to produce
paying crops of corn. potatoes or
small grains. A good crop can also
be produced on land whose fertility
has been reduced by raising corn or
any of the small grains several seasons
in succession. Red clover is the tired
fields "sweet restorer. How it
takes plant food from the soil and at
the same time contributes to it ma
terials to form other. and in many re-
spects more valuable, plants is not with
certainty known. Some believe that
it takes nitrogen as well as carbon
from the air and deposits it in its
roots, branches and leaves. Others
think it takes no nitrogen from the
air, but that its roots play the part of
vegetable scavengers. taking things
from the soil that other plants reject,
digesting them. depositing them near
the surface of the soil, and leaving
them where they can be appropriated
by corn. wheat and other grains.
Possibly both theories are correct.
That red clover leaves are able to abb
sorb nitrogen from the air is not UNI
likely. That its roots penetrate the
soil deeper than those of most plants
raised in fields is certain. That they
have enormous appetites and are not at
all particular about their food is obvi-
Gus. They get good living where the
roots of other plants starve. Farmers
who are more Interested in paying off
mortgages and in getting money to
erect new buildings than in botany and
agricultural chemistry will care COM
paratively little about the way clover
benefits the soil. They want to add
to their capital and not to the
worlds stock of scientific informa-
ton. 1t serves their purpose if
they get results. Clover is not,
like most grasses. FESTIVE crop; it
makes a rapid growth; 1T crowds out
most kinds of plants; its roots take
complete possession of the soil. When
the plants die the roots soon decom-
pose and furnish food for corn, pOta-
toes. wheat and the less valuable small
grains.
The roots of red clover weigh about
as much, in their green or dry state.
rs the portions of the plant that are
above orround They furnish a LARGE