The Globe-republican., 1903-12-03
c2st!s' } ~:
-lA!lSSEz-zA, NfI1MesB3~
,GyAY| -sttA7!ll,rl
Za2Ebaa:z,|R| 1851 .kF)F
A one.Yesr Glover Crop.

~ One.YesT Glover Crop.
In a report Of the North Dakota
farmers institutes D. G. Smith, Il
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, il properly seeded, we can
generally get catch and we can as a
rule carry 1t safely through the first
winter under the STOW that fills the
high stubble over 1t. We are delight
ed and say, 1--WE 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, "We can not
raise clover" Now I wish to offer a
suggestion. 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 60 earn
estly about raising clover for a one
year crop, get the use Of It that year
for hay or pasture and then plow 1t
down either that fall or in the follow
ing spring? Why should we not raise
clover for a 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 a
change it would make in this valley II
one-tenth Of our lands. were every year
in clover meadow or pasture and a
like amount powed down every year!
BY blowing down one-year clover
meadow or clover pasture we would
get a large measure of the benefits de-
rived from 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, II so re-
proachful a term as "ldle" 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 | think we should seed
the clover with timothy and that
would cost less. Then, II the clover
fails, as it sometimes will, We have
the timothy left. It should not dis
lis at all to recognize that
clover will sometimes fall 1t some
times fails in the best clover c0un-
tries
Whatever the theories may be as
to the draught of timothy on the,
soil, we are coming to recognize pref
ty plainly that timothy sod in quick
rotation brings us back the nearest
to prairie sod Of anything we have,
md every man Of us knows that a
3od Of timothy and clover mixed
would be far better than timothy
llone. After while we may conf
lently expect to get down to clean
lover seeding without the timothy.
either red clover or alsike would, |
hink, answer for this one-year crop.
either would as a rule, live through
he first winter and each has its ad-
'antases. | prefer alsike clover be-
ause it is q better sheep feed, be-
ause it ripens more evenly with timo-
by and, above all, because it better
ndures in the land. However, it
hould be said that my experience has
cen mostly with alsike. 1t is my
Experience that where | have once
own alsike clover, there always
ave a sprinkling of it. The clover
acteria is abundant with it, as it is
/ the red clover at the experiment
tation. For me, until gain more
'isdom, shall mix some alsike clo-
er with every quart of timothy seed
GREATER sown.