The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-08-21
Vol. 15.
Ag culture.
CIR SON CLOVER.


Georgia Trucker and Farmer.
correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
The planting Of crimson clover is
increasing very rapidly at the South,
as its merits become better known
and the proper method of culture
better understood.
I suppose more failures have re
suited from late planting than from
anv other cause, although other fail
ures have been brought about by
covering the seed too deeply, sowing
on poor land, deficient in potash, and
bv planting in an exposed piece of
land where the young plants had no
protection faOm the direct rays of
thes One of my neighbors plowed
in his clover seed last summer with
turn plOw and then wondered why
they did not come up. I will ex-
plain in passing, that this gentleman
is not actually one of my neighbors,
but a city man who owns place
near us on which he spends the money
which he makes in the city.
Our best success has come from
clover sown in August and up to the
middle of September. That planted
in November of last year amounted
TO nothing at all, and that sown in
October gave half a crop.
Our finest patch was on piece of
rich clay loam. The land has been
in sweet corn with cow peas sown
between. The ears of corn were
sold green and the stalks cut and fed
to stock. The peas made a rank
growth and were cut for hay about
August 18th. As the vines had
lodged badly, quite a heavy stubble
was left on the land. The corn had
been cultivated almost perfectly
level and it was therefore, an easy
matter to prepare the seed bed for
our clover. We went in here after a
light rain with a cutaway harrow
and worked the top up WE'LL. then
sowed our seed-a peck to the acre
and narrowed them in lightly with
a smoothing harrow. By this means
the stubble and trash were left on
top Of the ground, and this not only
helped to bring up the seed, but fur
nished the needed protection to the
young plants. Within d week. they
were up nicely and grew off we'll
from the start.
Another patch was sOwn a little
later among some growing beans on
sandy fiat, the seed being narrowed
in between the rows Immediately
after cultivating the beans. This
patch did not do nearly so we'll as
the first, and l am inclined to think
that it was not all owing to the time
Of planting, but was principally at
tributable to the soil which although
fairly fertile, was not nearly SO rich
inpotash as the clay land upon which
the first patch was planted all sandy
soils being more or less deficient in
this element of plant food. When
We take into consideration the fact
that crimson clover contains a very
large per cent. of potash, we can
readily see that its absence would
materially affect the crop. Another
time | should use on this land about
about 200 pounds of muriate of pot
ash, or 500 pounds of kainit to the
acre, as this has been found to give
fine results by those who have
tried it.
Clover will not grow on poor land,
ami it is useless to waste seed on
such ground unless you supply the
potash and phosphoric acid arti-
fciaIIy. Nitrogen it will get from
the air. washed out a number of
plants last spring, and was aston
i~bcd at the large number of tuber
clcs formed on the roots of a single
plant, and in which the bacteria live
that gather the nitrogen from the
air 1t has been estimated that
good crop of crimson clover will
gather and store in the soil in the
neighbOrhOOd of $15 worth of nitro
gen to the acre besides giving you
good crop of hay. Is not this worth
working for? Is it not cheaper than
buying nitrogen on the market at 10
cents per pound? See that the
chemicals, potash and phosphoric
acid, are supplied to your soil, and
get your nitrogen, which costs three
times as much, free from the air, by
growing crimson clover and COW