The Portland daily press., 1894-01-18

GOuuu III Happy AcdftS d ulrtn.
Lester Hollis,
WHY 1T PAYS TO GROW GLOVER,
As Explained to Hay Farmers by The Rural
New Yorker.
1t is fact that the roots of timothy
are about as long and heavy as those of
clover. When timothy is cut for hay
and permitted to grow up again-the
second growth to be plowed under-it
will probably weigh quite little more,
in rowen and roots, than a clover crop
treated in the same way--very nearly
twice as much, according to expert
menfs at the Storrs Agricultural school.
1t is also true that clover dies out at the
end OF two years, for the same reason
that oats, wheat and rye die at the end
of one year, because they have lived to
the end of their lives and will not con-
tinue to put up new blades and stems
from their roots year after year as tim
othy does.
AS to selling, prime timothy ranks
far above clover in the markets. This
is not because it is more nutritious, or
because it contains more actual food to
the ton, but because it is better suited
to feed to horses. You never hear of
people preferring timothy to clover
Tor feeding cows, sheep or any other
stock that provide anything but work
in return for their food. Timothy is
peculiarly the hay for horses, because it
is the best rough forage to feed with
the big rations of grain these animals
receive. 1t is also surer to seed, cheap
er to cut and cure and easier to handle,
and will sell for a greater price per
pound.
Why, then, should hay farmer raise
clover at all? The chief reason is that
it does work that timothy never can
do. Floating all about us in the air are
vast stores of nitrogen which have es-
capped from former combinations that
held it in solid form. Nitrogen can
take the form Of solid or a gas-like
ice and steam. Nitrate Of coda, for ex-
ample, is solid that looks much like
salt. Heat this with a fierce heat, and
the nitrogen in this nitrate would go
away in the form of gas and remain
in the air. And so from our fires and
from the decay Of plants and animals,
nitrogen escapes into the air, where it is
lost so far as most Of our plants can
make use of it, unless it be washed out
OF the air by rains and snow.
This nitrogen is the most valuable of
fertilizing substances. When we buy
it in fertilizers, it costs II cents
pound. The chief reason why clover is
more valuable than timothy is that the
former can in some way make use of
this free nitrogen" in the air, while
timothy can use only the nitrogen that
is in the soil. The timothy gives you
back what you feed it, while the clover
not only does that, but also brings back
to the soil in solid form part of the
nitrogen that had previously gone away
as gas. Your timothy makes you
buy nitrogen for it, while the clover
makes you a present of it. By using
crops of clover and cheap phosphoric
acid and potash, you can keep up the
fertility of your farm and continue to
sell good crops. By raising nothing
but timothy, you will have to buy nit
rogen in addition to the other SUBJ
stances.
Just look at the difference between a
ton of clover and ton of timothy:
POUNDS IN ONE TON.
Nitro Phos. Pot Manurial
gen. acid. ash. value.
Tfmothy........ 40 II So $907
Glover. 1919 IA 40 500
That shows you that timothy is
made to sell, while clover is made to
feed, and this difference in value also
shows about the difference the two
plants have in collecting nitrogen. AS
to feeding value, for all animals but
horses, the clover is of very much more
value than the timothy and will make
more meat or milk, pound for pound,
To sum up, the reason why a hay farm
er should grow clover is that this plant
will gather nitrogen for him, while,
with timothy alone, sooner or later he
must buy nitrogen or feed his high
priced timothy at loss to make ma
nure