The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-11-05

SouS1oue SUCCESSFUL VI yOuuS ouoooof
and from early in May until October,
of bloom. In short, the permanent pas
ture should have more grasses than
can find room to spread themselves,
or make their greatest efforts at any
one period Of the year. 1t is impossible
under American conditions, to provide
a pasture of this kind without making
the largest possible use of the clovers.
and the failure to maintain these clo-
vers in the permanent pasture is the
real reason why, as a rule, it has such
comparatively little productive capaci-
ty.
l am met at once with the argument
that blue grass will strangle the larger
clovers and take complete possession of
the ground. That is true. Blue grass
is essentially monopolist, but, like all
other monopolists, it, in the end, de-
feats its own selfish purposes, and,
hence, must be controlled for its own
good, as well as for the good of the
public. The welfare OF the blue grass
in the pasture requires that about once
every two or three years it be thorough
ly ripped up with a disk, or better, with
a disk drill, and timothy and the larger
clovers be resown. 1t is of no use to
SOW them on the surface and allow them
to take their chances.
When this course has been followed,
we begin to approximate the ideal
permanent pasture, in which orchard
grass begins to make growth early in
April, according to the season, blue
grass following few days later and
heading out in the'latitude of central
Iowa from April to May 10, followed in
a few days by the heads of the orchard
grass, then by the bloom of the white
clover, followed during the latter end
of May by the red, and this again in
two or three weeks by the mammoth,
at which time the blue grass is ripening
its seed and suspending growth, in ordi-
nary years, until the fall rains come.
During this period of suspended growth
the clovers are in the fullness of their
bloom, followed by a rank growth of
orchard grass in August, and by the
time the c1overs have ripened their
seed the blue grass beginning its fall
work, which it continues without inter-
ruption until the ground freezes.
Hence have a continuance through ev-
cry day of the summer, whether wet or
dry, hot or cold, of fresh herbage and
bloom. Clovers thus maintained in the
the permanent pasture, in spite of the
blue grass, fill the sod with nitrogen
and make it possible for the blue grass
itself to attain to far great luxuriance
than when it is allowed to occupy to the
exclusion of everything else but white
clover. More than that, the clovers
balance the ration of the stock grazing
ON the pasture, adding to it abundant.
ly the flesh-forming elements, thus not
only largely increasing the yield, bu,
very greatly improving its quality as
far, at least, as young and growing
stock is concerned.
l have been greatly interested fol-
some years past in watching the grad
ual extension of red clover on both
sides of road winding through piece
of wild prairie. 1t began With LONE
stalk here and there some years ago
and has now extended until for two OF
three rods on either side the prairie
has every appearance of a rich clover
field. This first seed was evidently
dropped by passing teams. The soc
had been broken by the farmers turn
ing out with their wagons in mudd!
times, or by cattle being driven along
the roadside. The seeds had beer
dropped from wagons loaded with ha,
or in some other way, and wherever
the sod was broken and the seed plant
ed, the clovers grew. Why not, then
bresk the sod and at the time sow th'
Iclover? believe it is entirely practi
cable for any farmer having wild pral
rie in sections, where clover growing
is success, and in normal years, t,
seed down unbroken prairie with com
mon red or mammoth clover, and il
the course of two or three years trans
form it into an old clover sod, which
when turned under, will yield bum
per crop of corn the first year.
i OF course, we shall be met by the old
old story that the wild nature must b
i, taken out of the land by breaking it III
in the orthodox way, and growing.
number of crops of grain. But Glove
grows wherever it has an opportunit
that is, when the 500 is broken in an
way and planted along the roadside
have seeded with prairie to clover b
simply hauling over it second-cro
clover, in which there was too httl
seed to pay for thrashing, and allowin
the cattle to eat what they wanted an
the wind to blow the rest where
would, and without disking or drilling
Why not take hint from nature
method and save time and labor i
Transforming a wild prairie into
permanent pasture by the use of clover
, From ''Clover Farming" by Henr
:. Wallace.
|
t A basket of grapes was purchased
Boston the other day, in the bottom {
g which was found:
y "Packed October IL 1901 Purchase