The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-02-12
Crimson Glover,

In answer to the inquiries, "What
kind of hay will crimson clover make,
if sown in the spring? Will it winter
kill9" w. A. Henry OF the Wisconsin
Agricultural Experiment Station writes
in Hoard's Dairyman:
Crimson clover is an annual and not
biennial, as is common red clover;
the plants do not branch very much,
the stems standing more erect and
sitter than red clover, and reaching
height of about eighteen inches when
blossoming. The heads are of bright
crimson or scarlet color and quite at
tractive. When sown in the spring
the plant yields its seed and dies the
following fall, just as spring wheat
does. When the seed is Gown in the
fall, in regions where the plant -four
ishes, the young plants make fair
growth, survive the winter, and the
following spring begin TO shoot blossom
stems which mature somewhat earlier
than red clover, after which the plant
dies. When sown in this way crimson
clover resembles winter wheat as to its
life period. Crimson clover came into
prominence largely through the splendid
returns it has brought to the farmers in
southern New Jersey, Delaware, and
further southwark along the Atlantic
coast. 1t was found that in that section
this clover, if sOwn in the fall, survived
the winter and produced large amount
of growth in the spring favorable for
pasturing, for hay, for seed, or for plow-
ing under to enrich the land. 1t was
found especially advantageous in restor-
ing fertility to the WORKOUT lands used
for farming, trucking, and especially
peach growing.
Most unfortunately this clover is not
sufficiently hardy to withstand the Sc
we're climate of the extreme northern
United States, though the northern
boundary for its successful growing has
not been definitely determined.
A trial at this station last year showed
that the plants were killed out com.
pletely by our severe winter, and the
same report comes from hundreds of
other persons who have sown it at
points as far north as we are. We are
still experimenting with it here at the
station, and there are some farmers try
ing it in the state. The chances are
altogether against us for its succeeding,
and l would advise no one to try it for
fall sowing excepting by purchasing a
few ounces of seed and testing it in q
corner of the garden. So much for
crimson clover sown in the fall.
If sown in the spring, this clover will
terminate readily, make a rapid growth
anu furnish light hay crop the same
season, yielding perhaps one ton of hay
per acre under average conditions. We
tested the plant for spring sowing,
more than dozen years ago at this
station, and found the yield of forage 80
light that we could not think of recon-
mendng it as a forage plant.
| advise our correspondent to take no
further thought concerning crimson
clover, for the purpose he has named,
for The present, but turn his attention
to the good old-fashioned red clover,
which after all is still faithful friend
if treated wisely. Sow this clover next
spring as early as possible upon we'll
prepared land without any other crop,
and by August, with favorable season,
there will be as large yield of forage
for hay as crimson clover will yield,
under the same conditions, and, after
giving this crop, the plants will live
through the winter to yield full one
the following season, which crimson
clover will not do.