Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1903-12-12
A One-Year Glover Crop.

In a report of the North Dakota
farmers institutes d. c. Smith,
farmer of that state, is quoted as fol-
lows:
What is our present experience with
clover in the Red river valley? Does
it not amount to about this? We have
found that, if properly seeded, we can
generally get catch and we can as
rule carry it safely through the first
winter under the snow that fills the
high stubble over it. We are delight
ed and say, I'VE can raise clover"
The following winter the clover, no
longer having the stubble to catch the
snow and protect it, dies and we then
sit down in woe and say, I'VE can not
raise clover" Now 1 wish to offer
suggestion. 1 might call it a new idea
but for its being so apparent that the
only novelty in it is the recognition of
the conditions named coupled with
their frank acceptance in our farm
practice. Why should we not go earn
estly about raising clover for a one
year crop, get the use of it that year
for hay or pasture and then plow it
down either that fall or in the follow
ing spring? Why should we not raise
clover for one-year crop as we do
corn, barley and millet? A one-year
crop of clover costs less and is far
better than any of them, dollar for
dollar, for renewing the soil. What
change it would make in this valley if
one-tenth of our lands were every year
in clover meadow or pasture and
like amount plowed down every yeari
By plowing down a one-year clover
meadow or clover pasture we would
get a large measure of the benefits ce-
rived from a two-year crop of clover.
We would thus get a quicker rotation
which might fully compensate us for
losses in other directions. One-halt
| less land would thus lie idle If so re-
| proachful a term as idle may be ap-
| piled to land covered with clover. A
| dollar an acre would nearly pay for a
| full seeding alone of clover, but for
| the present 1 think we should seed
the clover with timothy and that
would cost less. Then, if the clover
| fails, as it sometimes will we have
| the timothy left. 1t should not dis
| courage us at all to recognize that
| clover will sometimes fail. 1t some
times fails in the best clover coun-
| tries.
| Whatever the theories may be as
| to the draught of timothy on the
| soil, we are coming to recognize pret-
! ty plainly that timothy sod in quick
| rotation brings us back the nearest
| to prairie sod of anything we have,
| and every man of us knows that a
sod of timothy and clover mixed
| would be far better than timothy
alone. After a while we may conf
| IDENTIFY expect to get down to clean
| clover seeding without the timothy.
i Either red clover or alsike would. 1
| think, answer for this one-year crop.
Either would, as a rule, live through
| the first winter and each has it's aS-
vantages. l prefer alsike clover be-
cause it is a better sheep feed, be-
| cause it ripens more evenly with timo-
| thy and, above all, because it better
| endures in the land. However, it
should be said that my experience has
been mostly with alsike. 1t is my
| experience that where 1 have once
sown alsike clover, there 1 always
have a sprinkling of it. The clover
bacteria is abundant with it, as 1t is
in the red clover at the experiment
station. For me, until 1 gain more
| wisdom, 1 shall mix some alsike clo-
| yer with every quart of timothy seed
| hereafter sown.