The Bottineau courant., 1910-08-19
GROW CLOVER SEED AT HOME.
Necessary to Grow Something Besides
Small Grain Crops to Maintain
Per Acre Yield.


By J. H. SHEPHERD, Dean ana Profes-
sor Of Agriculture, Agricultural
College. North Dakota.)
People in North Dakota are becom-
Ing interested in growing clover much
more than the most optimistic Of us
had anticipated. The reason for this
Is not far to search, as we find it nee
essary to grow something besides the
small grain crops to maintain our per
acre yield of grain. Weeds are crowd
ing in thickly and corn grown in
check rows is proving the best field
means Of keeping them down and at
the same time preparing the land
for immediate cropping with small
grain. Wild oats are making heavy
inroads and in the Red River valley
district we find that two years in
grass rids us of most of the oat seed
that is in the ground.
The growth of corn necessitates live
stock to put it in marketable form,
and the growth of live stock necessi
tates the growing Of a hay crop and
pastures. Glover has made such an
excellent showing in the older part
of the state that we are becoming
quite encouraged with it as a crQG.
One Of the things which make our peo-
pie hesitate to sow clover seed Is the
fact that they must put in Is pounds
to the acre of seed, which is costing
them about $3.50 per acre. A venture
of $3.50 per acre for seed Of any sort
looks like quite an outlay and makes
the failure to produce crop serious
loss to the grower.
Another feature which has made our
people hesitate to invest in clover seed
Is the fact that in some instances
they have obtained seed that had
low growing strength and in others
bought Mammoth clover when they
asked for the medium red variety, and
in still other cases had clover seed
delivered to them which contained the
serious weed pest known as dodder.
All of these points make it almost
necessary for our people to grow
clover seed at home, as we are very
much easier able to see and know
what the seed is like which is grown
on neighboring farm than we are
with that which has come from sew
eral hundred miles distant.
Every clover grower has been i'm.
pressed with the fact that the heads
of clover are usually well filled with
seen when grown here, showing that
it has a disposition to give good re-
turns to the man who will grow the
seed for market. Trials on the sta
tion farm at Fargo and the results of
the few farmers who have saved the
seed and threshed it in the state indi-
cate that the yield of clover seed
will range from two to four bushels
per acre.
A special precautionary arrange.
ment is necessary in handling the
crop of clover from which seed is to
be secured. It does not naturally ripen
in time for the seed to be fully ma
tured and ready to thresh when it is
run through the machine. To avoid
this, it is necessary to cut the first
growth of red clover early, somewhere
from the goth and 25th of June, in.
stead of allowing it to come to the
blossoming stage, as is ordinarily
done when it is to be used as hay
crop The growth of clover is very
succulent in the latter part of June
and it is very difficult matter to get
it cured into hay. 1t Is early enough
in the season that the weather is not
very hot, and the stems are so full OF
sap that it frequently requires much
work and entails much risk of spoil.
ing the crop of hay. Some of our
farmers who have tried saving it have
given up the plan and simply allow it
to fall on the ground and act as a
mulch in the stubble.
If the seed is the crop that Is de-
sired from clover land, it is. of course.