Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-01-09
CLOVER, vETcH, ARTlcH0KEs.
L. L. Brooks Writes of His Ex=
perience.

I want to give a little more O.
my experimenting and what
have seen of others in clovers in
this valley. l have come to the
conclusion that the Willamette
valley is going to be one of the
most successful places in the
United S rates to raise clover and
clover seeds. While travelling g
up and down this valley buying
and shipping vetch seed, I made
it business to observe those that
raise clover, and the results. One
man sold $500 worth of clover
seed from I3 acres; another four
acres of the best of his alsike
land Welded nine bushels of seed
per acre, and he sold it for 12H
cents per pound or an average of
$3.50 per acre. for the four best
acres; his whole alsike field
brought him in 12H cents a
pound for I2o bushels or 5000.
Alsike seems to be adapted to
the fat white soil. There are
= thousands of acres of this kind in
this valley that could be bring
ing in good returns from the seed
and have the hay crop and past
ure extra, with one-tenth the
work it takes to raise wheat after
once started. Alsike is a peren-
nial, will live for years and is
adapted to wet land; it should be
sown from May IS 10 June IS
after the rains are over and the
ground is warm; the ground
should be worked down fine, and
sow eight pounds per acre, with
out any thing sown with it for
good results. IF wanted for past
ure rape can be sown with it
six pounds alsike and four of
rape. To be sure of a good stand
SOW iuoculated seed and SOW 100
pounds of land pasture per acre.
The experiment station at Cor
wallis says $50 pounds of land
plasture give the best results.
I have had good luck sowing
fifty pounds per acre. Red clo-
yer should be sown at the same
time of year, and use inoculation
material and land plasture, only
red clover should be sown on
higher ground than alsike; rich
rolling land is best-if we'll
manured, that much better. I
know of some fields of red clover
that yield seven bushels of clover
seed to the acre, worth from II
to 12H cents per pound; and just
across the road the wheat only
yielded seven bushels per acre,
worth 65 to 70 cents per bushel; (;
the clover brings $52.5o per acre
and the wheat $4.9o, while the
wheat draws from the soil and
makes it less valuable each year,
while clover feeds from the air
and builds up the soil, besides
yielding generally two tons OF
good clover hay per acre, besides
the seed crop and winter pasture
and it shut off the winter plowing
to about every third year. And
when the clover is plowed under
it enriches the ground and if sown
to wheat will yield thirty to forty
bushels per acre. Raise one
crop of wheat and SOW right down
to clover.
The result has been that ninety
farmers out of every hundred
plow their clover up afterit has
been sown one year because it
did not do much good. 1t was a
thin stand and looked pale and
weakly. The reason of this is
because it was not inoculated for
clover, and probably the ground
was not prepared properly nor
inoculated seed used nor land
plaster. I am sure clovers will
do as we'll here as in any other
country after the ground has been
thoroughly inoculated, and farm
ers can make three or four times
as much money per acre with less
than half the work and the land
will be growing richer everyt
year, besides much more stock
can be raised and fed better.
When we farmers all learn to
feed up all crops raised on the
farm the land will soon be as
productive as ever it was. The
old worn out land that was corn
ed to death in Indiana, Illinois
and Iows. has all been brought
back to yield as good crops asl