Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-04-28
MONEY IN cLovERsEEp.
One Of the Most Profitable Crops That
Can BE Raised on a Farm


one of the Most Profitable Crops That
Can BE Raised a Farm.
Farmers are ever on the lookout for
some crop which they can raise and
for which there shall be a ready sale
and good prices Last year cloverseed
was so high that the retail dealer pro-
cured it at high rates and sold it at
cost. thus losing. or rather sacrificing,
his profits and losing even the cost of
transportation. This he did to hold
his patrons and trusting to profits on
other seeds to carry on his business
This is not an isolated = lance, nor is
1t confined to dealers in eeds- Some
thing like it occurs in every business
and in almost every year.
If what has here been said be true,
argue that cloverseed will be a good
crop and more often a profitable crop
in any year. The more the value of
clover as forage plant and also as
fertilizer or green manure by plow-
ing it under is understood and practiced
the more demand will there be for
cloverseed.
The second crop in the season OF the
common or medium red clover IS the
one which furnishes the most seed II
the first crop is mown and carried from
the land in the shape of hay the second
or seed crop will not do its best The
question now comes up: "How shall
we manage to raise the crop?"
In the dairy counties of New York.
to-wit: Delaware, Herkimer, Oneida,
Onondaga aud others, the clover land
is pastured very closely, so much so
that even the mich cows cannot do
their best; hence by the middle of June
the pasture or clover acres are almost
bare of all vegetation. They are meas
urably clean of foul or weed seeds also.
] They are enriched by the droppings of
the kline, and, by the way, these are
beaten fine right at this stage of the
season. Clover runs its roots down
deep into the soil, ana now even If the
season be somewhat dry the clover
plant starts to grow. It's abundant
foliage soon covers the entire surface
and thus binders evaporation. Season
able showers help to perfect the crop
When all the heads are Drowned and
the seed is fully formed or perfected,
which can be ascertained by eXamina-
ton, the crop is mown, and after cur
ing a little is raked into wind-rows and
left to dry out. Generally it is taken
up out of those rows when the thrash
ing machine, or rather the clover
huller, comes to tit the crop for market.
A machine of this kind is quite expen-
sive, and there are few farmers who
own one unless they also make the
season in going from one field to an
other to labor for pay.
In some sections where cloverseed is
grown on almost every farm, sharp
ers" come around and contract for the
= seed. AS rule, it is better for man
who has the seed to sell to enter into
correspondence with a reliable seed
store, or rather business firm, and as
certain current prices. A good COM
mercial paper quotes prices, but these
are only approximately correct or to
be depended upon. Samples may be
sent, but these should fairly represent
the whole crop and not be extra
cleaned or freed from foul or impure
seeds. Every farmer ought to estab-
lish character for fair dealing in all
his business transactions; to do so may
reduce prices at times, Dut IN tne long
run it pays big.
1t has been noticed that the clover
chaff, as | call it, is left to rot in piles
and considered of little or no value.
There is considerable nutriment in this
chaff, even more than in wheat straw,
and if kept dry and sheltered and given
to stock cattle it would all be eaten
and thus save other or more valuable
feed. 1t is good economy to let moth
ing go to waste.-Charles w: Murt-
feldt, in st. Louis Republic.