The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-25
Catch crops for Sowing Now.

The seeding of crops for providing winter and spring grazing and spring and early summer hay crops and for providing cover for the soil durlng
 the winter and thus preventing loss l The best crops for these purposes are l crimson clover and the Hairy and Eng l fish vetch. Crimson clover should be
 time time from July to the end of septem- Der. ~The Hairy vetch should pc | sowh in August and September ana
 the English vetch In October and NO. vember. These crops. in addition to their value as winter and spring leeds and conservers of fertility, are great | improvers of land both as humus max | ing crops and as gatherers oe nitrogen i pertinent. conducted at the laware
 Experiment station. 1t Eas found nar 6nat
 an average crop of crimson clover | gen per acre. with the exception of one crop. which yielded 2lS pounds , to
 the acre. Thirty days before fuli to from one-half to fourteen -fifteenths of the yield at full bloom. and from | I2 to 50 per cent, of the nitrogen was
 found in the roots so tbs snaS value to tRe | land was still very great, 1t being eH- l timated that after moving the crop | the average nitrogen left In the sou average from 30 to 40 per cent. of the total nitrogen of the crop. The Hairy
 and English vetch are equally as val, as nitrogen Ratherers; indeed, in sew l eraI cases reported on the Hairy vetch ! has been found to provide more nitro gen for the soil than crimson clover; | for the previous crop good stands Of | crimson clover and vetches can be So-
 cured by merely breaking s,., the surface drss {, harrow or cultivator. and then sowing the see dand rolling. But where | land has not been so cultivated then
 broken before the seed is sown. All
 dressing of lime, say % to 35 bushels | to the acre to make the soil slightly
 the bacteria grow freely. An, acid condition is fatal to this growth. and without the bacteria the crop will not
 flourish. Where clover of any kind
 infected with the proper bacteria Tor crimson clover. but where this iG not
 the case inoeulated seed should to1 ,,sS be soil from a clover field. The vetches also require inoculation if sown on
 land upon which these plants have
 seed of all these crops can be had from T. W. Wood & Sons. of Richmond. Va. or the bacteria can be had from
 the Virginia Experiment Station at a
 cost of 25 cents per acre, Wherever the wild vetch grows vetches of both
 kinds will succeed without tuoculatiop. Crimson clover is seed that geOmi : mates very quickly. and is apt to ba
 killed out just as quickly if a contin- ued hot season should set in just after Eerminatton. It Is we'll therefore, not to SOW all the intended crop at one time, but to seed an acre or two one
 day and then to wait few days and
 seed again. and so proceed until all the
 crop is sowed. Some, if not all. of the
 servings are sure then to make a
 stand In sowing those crops of crim-
 son clover and vetches always seed
 with them mixture of wheat. oats
 and rye in equal parts. Sow 10 to la
 pounds of the clover seed and three
 fourths Of bushel of the grain mix
 ture per acre If sowing vetches. SOW
 one-half bushel of Yetch soed with
 three .fourths of a busheI of the grain
 mixture. If the crop. Is only intended
 for pasture. and to improve the land
 two ar three pounds of Dwarf Essex
 rape per acre may be sowu with the
 crimson clover and grain. and thus in