The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-01

Crop bulletins often state that wet
weather has interfered very materially
with the making Of clover hay in many
sections. No hay is more difficult to
make right, and none is more valuable
for feeding when cured in a perfect man
ner. It is a question, however, whether
there is any considerable loss from fail
ure to save clover hay. Glover is usually
grown, primarily, for the benefit of the
land. 1t forms the preparation for other
crops. If the first crop of clover could
be taken to the barn, fed to the stock
and all the manure returned to the
field and distributed over the surface
as evenly as the clover was, the soil
would not lose much by the operation
probably about 20 per cent on an aver
age.
A commercial fertilizer is valued by
the farmer according to the number of
pounds of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash contained in it. If these three
elements of plant food are in available
form and do not cost in the fertilizer
any more per pound than the current
prices OF these three minerals the fer
tilizer is supposed to be a good invest
ment. Glover hay has been analysed and
its manurial value estimated by the
same method, and it is found that one
ton cotains nine dollars worth of these
three elements of plant food. The man
who is after quick returns and cares
naught for the future, may find nine
dollars worth Of commercial fertilizer
more valuable than ton of clover in the
soil, as part Of the latter will not become
available at once, but this plant food is
stored up, and succeeding crops feed
off it.
Prof. Armsby is a careful authority on
these matters and he affirms that when
both the solid and the liquid manure is
saved from the stock it contains four
ffths of all the plant food that was
originally in the food. The per cent.
varies with the character of the stock,
whether matured or growing, etc. But
the majority of farmers have not found
it practicable to provide means for saw
ing all the manure, and returning it to
the land in anywhere near a perfect
manner. This being true there is
heavy loss to the soil of a field when a
crop of clover s-RenloVed.
There are several sides to the ques-
ton There is much land so fertile by
nature that commercial fertilizers will
not return their cost in farm products
at low prices. That is to say that SO
worth Of fertilizer will not produce that
many dollars worth of corn or wheat.
Equally then will a ton of clover hay not
have manurial value of 50 on that
farm 1t may not be worth more than
half that much. Estimating IL at $3.50
a ton as it stands on the ground, If all
iq ~ ha
is there much profit in making the hay,
thus adding the expense and robbing
the field of the value Of the clover as a
manure, when the hay is fed to stock
at current prices? Here Is a problem
for each man to solve for himself
There is another side to the question.
Commercial fertilizers owe much of their
effectiveness to the facility with which
they can be distributed over the surface
of the field. Each square foot gets its
share and one plant is not given a double
portion while another gets none. When
an even growth of clover is plowed I'M
der the distribution is about perfect, but
it is rarely the case that barnyard ma
nure is applied so evenly. A spreader
may handle well-rotted manure in such
way that every plant gets a portion, but
usually manure is not incorporated with
the soil half so effectively as a crop Of
clover turned under as green manure
The result is that even If we do save all
the manure, the application is so faulty
that some plants suffer while others get
an excess, and there is loss by teaching.
Half the plant food of clover lies in the
roots, and it is better to have only the
roots than nothing, but if we are de-
pending upon clover to build up the
fertility of the soil 1t is never fair to the
land to sell clover hay or waste the ma
nure from il when fed on the farm. and
close calculation will prove that when
we take time from the tillage Of corn
and other spring crops to remove the
clover from the fields we play a losing
game at least half the time AS a mulch
10 the ground growing a second crop and
as a store Of plant food TO be returned
TO the ground, a ton Of clover is usually
worth as much on the ground as it is in
the NOV.
Timothy hay contains only two-thirds
as much manurial value as clover. and
yet its market price is considerably
greater. The clover hay contains more
dust and horsemen do not want it. Sell
Ing timothy hay off the farm may not
be good thing TO do, but its relatively
high price and low manurial value makes
the practice more excusable than the
selling OF clover hay. The clover is the
richer food for stock and the richer for
plants. 1t should stay on the farm.