The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-21
Red Clover.

This valuable forage plant was first in
troduced into England in 1915, during the
stormy times of Charles l., and rapidly
met with favor throughout the kingdom.
IT, properly belongs to the leguminous
family, which includes a considerable
number of other forage plants that are
called artificial flowers, to distinguish
them from the true or natural grasses
called gramineoe. The botanic name
trifolium comes from two latin words,
tres. three, and folium, a leaf, and in Eng
land it is often called trefoil. 1t may al
WAYS be known by having three leaves in
a bunch, and the flowers in dense, oblong,
glObular heads.
There is no grass, natural or artificial.
that is more useful to the farmer or
stockgrower than red clover. 1t has been
STYLED. with some show of reason, the
corner stone of agriculture, and this not
only on account of its vigorous vitality,
but because it adapts itself to a great
variety of soils 1t is widely diffused,
and abounGs in every part of Europe in
North America, and even in Siberia. 1t
furnishes an immense amount of grazing,
yields an abundance of nutritious hay,
and is a profitable crop, considered with
reference to the seed alone. But beyond
all these, it acts as vigorous ameliOra-
tor of the soil, increasing more than any
other forage plant the amount of availa-
bic nitrogen, and so becomes an import
ant agent in keeping up the productive
capacity of the soil, and increasing the
yield of other crops.
SOIL ADAPTED TO ITS GROWTH
Red clover is a biennial plant, and un-
der iudicious tillage may be made a per-
ennial and is especially adapted to ar
gillaceOus soils, but will grow well on
sandy soils, when "catch' is secured,
by the application Of a top dressing of
gypsum or barn-yard manure. l have
seen it growing with vigor upon the field
spathic soils of Johnson county, upon the
sandstone soil of the Chm erland noun
tain, and upon the sandy loans of West
Tennessee, but it finds a more congenial
soil in the clayey lands of the valley of
East Tennessee, on the red soils of the
Highland Rim, and on the limestone
loans of the central basin.
Inc cIayey lands of West Tennessee
nave no superior for the production of
clover IL often grows upon these lands
from four to five feet in height, and forms
mat, when it falls, of great density and
thickness. AS much as four tons of clio
Yer hay have been taken from a single
acre Probably three-fourths of the land
in Tennessee will grow clover remuner-
atively, and of the soils which will not a
large portion is included in the old quilted
fields that constitute the shame and mark
the thriftlessness of too many of the far
mers. 1t may be set down as an infallible
rule in the state of Tennessee that good
farming and abundant clovering go to-
gether.
SOWING CLOVER.
Glover may be sown in the latitude of
Georgia upon wheat, rye, or oat fields or
alone. Instances have been reported to
me where a splendid stand was obtained
by sowing after cultivators in the last
working corn in July This is unusual
however. So is fall sowing The best
time to sow is from the first of January
until the first of April. If sown in Jan
uary or February the seed ought to be
soWn upon snow. This is not only con-
venlent in enabling one to distribute the
seed evenly over the land, but the grad
ual melting of the snow, and the
Slight freezes bury the seed just
deep enough to insure rapid germi-
nation when the warm DAYS of
March come on. For the same reason, if
SoWn in March, theseed ought to be sOwn
when the ground is slightly crusted by a
freeze. II the sowing is deferred until
TOO late for frosty nights, the land should
De well narrowed and the seed sown i'm
medlately after the harrow. 1t will has
portion of seed to grow, to harrow the
land after the seed is sown. With oats
Ihe seed should be sown after the last
narrowing or brushing, with slight after
brushing to cover them.
better stand ofclover, with less seed ,
may always be secured by sowing upon
land prepared for clover l have often
obtained an excellent catch upon CALLED"
places by breaking the land we'll and
sowing the seed without any previous or
alter borrowing.
Upon good, fresh, rich soils where
clover has not previously grown, one
ouShel for eight acres will be sufficient
II Ine soil is thin and unproductive, one
UuSnel for six acres ought to be sown. If
me land has been regularly rotated with
clover, one-half the quantity of seed men
less.
The frequent failure to secure a good
SAND of clover admonishes the farmers
VI me state to exercise more care in the
seeding. When sown late in the spring
many of the seed sprout, and are killed
~ Grry weather. 1t would be all the bet
yer II the clover seed could be buried a
IaI-lnch, or even an inch on loose soils,
beneath the surface after the middle of
March
GROWTH AND MANURE
Fed clover rarely makes much growth
we hrst season if sown with grain.
Nnould the weather be very seasonable
dIIer harvest, and the land fertile, it will
sometimes attain the height of thirty
nGhes and put out blooms, making an eX
oeHent fall pasture. When sown alone it
VIII always blossom in August
AS soon as it begins to grow, in early
sprlng, an application of two bushels of
gypsum or land plaster, upon granite or
o'nuy soils, is absolutely necessary to get
sood growth. In nearly every section
Ql Georgia red clover can be made as use
IuI as 1t is in Tennessee. Still we have
i Ie. eral varieties that may be esteemed a
TyIle more available, even, than the red.
Eof winter and spring pasture and as a
I I3u enrlcher there is nothing more valua-
Ie IMAM the "bur'' clover, and next to
ms comes the scarlet or crimson clover.
i uen there is the Japan clover, (Lespe-
eela Strlata) that takes a hold upon
most any kind of Georgia soil. The time
- NOT lar of when clover viii be valued
Al OeOrgla as much as IL is in Tpnnpssaa