Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1899-09-28
GLOVER FAILURE.
Some of Its Causes as Seen by an
Town Farmer.

IOWA farmer.
AS rule, not more than one clover
field out of every three or four is a
good stand even in a favorable season,
and usually it is the fault of the way
the field is managed either at sowing
time or after the nurse crop has been
taken off, says a correspondent Of The
Prairie Farmer. Most farmers do not
cover the seed deep enough. One Of
my neighbors has been trying to seed
certain piece of ground for four
years and has always failed. He in
variably sows his nurse crop CASUALLY
oats, then waits three or four weeks
and then SowS his clover seed on the
hard ground without any covering.
The result is the seed does not come
up, or if it does come up and live until
harvest it is sure to die when the
grain is removed and the young plants
are exposed to the hot sun. The root
is not deep enough to stand the dry
weather that is almost sure to occur
about harvest time and directly after
harvest
Fall wheat or rye is the best nurse
crop have ever tried, preferably
rye, but in many parts of the country
oats is the principal small grain crop
and must be depended upon for a
nurse crop. In seeding clover with
oats cultivate my oats in and harrow
once to smooth the surface of the
ground s'amewhat in order that none
of the seed will get covered too deep.
Then sow my clover seed at the rate
of ten pounds of clover and FIVE
pounds Of timothy seed per acre.
harrow enough after sowing the seed
to thoroughly pulverize all clods and
smooth the surface. Do not be afraid
of losing the seed by covering it up;
it will come out all right.
If you use fall wheat or rye SOW your
grass seed as early in the spring as you
can harrow the field and harrow until
the seed Is we'll covered; it ought to be
covered not less than one inch deep,
and two is better if the land is at all
light. sowed field Of rye to clover
in the spring Of 1897. The ground was
quite hard, SO l narrowed it two or
three times before sowing the seed in
order to get good seed bed, then |
sowed the clover seed and narrowed
as many times more. My neighbor told
me l had ruined my rye, but 1 thought
not, and at any rate 1 cared more for a
good stand Of clover than for few
bushels of rye. The result was had
fair crop Of rye and a splendid stand
of clover. The rye being somewhat thin
gave the clover chance to do it's best
Many times the nurse crop is left
standing until it is too ripe. Let the
nurse crop be what it may, it should be
cut as soon as possible, for every day
it stands after it could be cut lessons
the chance to save the young clover
plants, for it rapidly absorbs what lit
tie moisture there is in the ground and
thereby robs the clover
If the conditions are favorable after
harvest, and nothing is done to prevent,
the clover will head out. 1t is not adj
visable to let it head, for it is the ma
ture of clover after maturing crop Of
seed to die. If the field is so situated
that you can pasture the clover off, it
will be all right, but if not convenient
to pasture run the mower over it set
high enough to clip the heads nicely
and let them lie on the ground. In cut
ting the nurse crop cut the stubble as
high as you can. as the stubble will help
to catch the snow and protect the
young clover. Do not pasture off too
short.