Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1901-04-25
RED CLOVER SEED.

Things Horth Knowing When Buy
inS-Impuri:ics and Authorizations.
Reports coming from various sections
10 Botanist Pieters of the agricultural
department. that with advancing prices
large amount of adGlterated clover
seed is offered and that where buyers
are not sufficiently careful or well in
formed much is actually sold. This au-
thority further tells that the clover
crop for 1900 has net been up to the av-
erage in either quality or quantity, es-
pecially in the states that furnish the
higher grades European dealers are
offering seed in America. and although
much of this is doubtless American
seed that was exported during times
of low prices. it is possible some seed
of the European variety may find its
way to America. The use of European
clover seed would undoubtedly prove
disappointing to the American farmer,
since the plant seems to be i'll adapted
to the climate prevailing in the clover
growing sections of the United States.
The variety has not been extensively
tried in America owing to the high
price the seed usually commands at
home. but as far as trials have been
made it is clearly unfit for planting in
the latitude of Washington.
The quality of a sample of clover seed
depends upon its cleanness, the per-
centage of germinable seed, the vigor
of termination and the origin of the
seed. The cleanness of n sample de-
pends both upon its freedom from bro
ken seeds, dirt and other inert matter
and upon the absence of weed seeds
and the seeds of other cultivated
plants. The seeds of timothy and of
white and alsike clover are often pres
ent. and although they must be consid
cred impurities they cannot be called
| injurious. Timothy may sometimes be
present in such quantity as to be OBJ
| jectionable, not from the nature of the
| plant. but because the seed can be pur-
| chased at n much less cost than clover
seed, and n farmer does not want to
pay for clover when he gets timothy.
More serious is the presence of con-
| siderable quantity of weed seeds, espe-
cially if among the lot are the seeds of
some of the more pestiferous weeds.
In some localities low grades of clo-
yer seed are demanded because the clo-
yer is to be used as green manure, and
| it is thought that the weeds will fur
nish green material for plowing under
and can thus do no harm. This is true
to a certain extent, but the weeds fall
| far short of the clover as a green ma
nure, and the value of the sod will be
| reduced in proportion to the abundance
| of weeds. 1t is poor economy to pay
! for weed seeds and to allow them to
occupy the ground at saving Of % to
80 cents on the acre for seed. More
over, when a sample of clover seed is
very foul, it nearly always contains
large quantities of the seeds of the
worst weeds, such as sorrel, buckhorn,
plantain and sometimes dodder.
The seeds of dodder are fortunately
not yet common in American clover
seed and are most rare in well cleaned,
home. grown seed, but the danger Of the
| spread of this pest should not be under
rated When it is realized that dod-
| der plant can attack one clover plant
after another until it has destroyed the
clover over an area of several square
feet, it will be seen that not even one
dodder seed in a pound of clover seed
| should be tolerated.