Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-04-27
Value OF RED CLOVER
THIS HAS BEEN STYLED THE CORNERSTONE OF
AGRICULTURE IN MANY SECTIONS OF
THE COUNTRY.
BY j. M. Westgate.

creasing difficulty Of successfully
maintaining stands Of clover upon the
farm.
With continuous cropping and the
consequent depletion of the soil of
humus and plant food the difficulty of
| growing red clover is greatly in
creased. This condition must be met
and solved, since the loss Of clover or
Its equivalent from the rotation leads
rapidly to a rundown farm and I'M
profitable crop yields.
It should be emphasized, however,
that the mere Introduction Of red
clover into the farm rotation is not
IN itself a sufficient procedure to main
tain indefinitely the productivity of
the farm. The clover plant adds only
the nttrates to the soil and removes
large quantities Of potash. phosphorus
and lime from the soil, especially
when cut for hay and the manure re-
sulting therefrom is not returned to
the land. The increased supply Of
nitrogen may in fact stimulate the
soil to increased yields temporarily
only to leave It, after a few years, in
a condition worse, than If no clover
had been grown.
1t is important that considerable
care be taken in choosing the seed to
be soWn. If poor seed is used, the ex-
pected crop may be partial or total
failure.
Red clover seed may be poor and
undesirable from several points of
view. Such seed is constantly being
sold to farmers and should be recog-
n ~ H.
developed, many seeds being shriveled
and dull brown in color. Such seeds
will not produce plants. Often red
clover is adulterated by the use Of yell
low trefoil, dead clover seed. cheap
imported seed or weedy screenings
Each of these constituents reduces the
stand of healthy plants and makes the
purchaser pay for what he does not
get transportation included. He is
likely to get an undesired crop of
weeds, some Of which may become a
decided menace to his locality.
Some Of the weed seeds appearing
In red clover seed can be removed by
the farmer by the use Of wire-cloth
sieve containing twenty meshes to the
linear inch. Most Of the clover seeds
of medium size are held back by such
sieve and practically all the smaller
weed seeds pass through. The true
clover dodder which is very noxious
pest In clover fields, is quite effective
ly removed In this way. Most of the
seeds of the field dodder are also re-
moved. Seed Of buckhorn, wild cor
rot wild chicory, thistles and othe IS
Of similar size, are mostly held back
bV the sieve The sma H. grained c1ouar
seed imported from Europe largely
passes through sue a sieve. An easy
method Of separating buckhorn seed
from clover has been devised This
method consists of mixing with the
seed containing the buckhorn thor
oughly wetted sawdust. The buck
horn seed becomes sticky on being wet
and readily attaches itself to the saw
dust. The entire mass is then imme-
diately screened, when the larger par
ticles of sawdust, with the buckhorn
are readily separated from
the clover seed. This work should be
done Immediately before sowing the
clover seed, which, with the small
particles Of sawdust that pass the
screen, need to be dried only sufl-
GENTLY to enable the seeding to take
place readily. This is an effective
means Of removing practically all
buckhorn seeds and Is easily accom-
plished by the farmer who handles a
comparatively small quantity Of seed
which is not necessarily bulked i'm
mediately after the somewhat damp
seed has been screened out.