The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1916-06-09
HARVEST YOUR OWN
CRIMSON CLOVER
Farmers Advised How To Save Their
Own Seed In View OF The High
Prices This Season.
NICHOLAS SCHMITZ.
Maryland Agricultural Experiment
Station.

The supply Of crimson clover seed
for this fall will be limited as well
as high priced. Every farmer will do
well, therefore, to seriously consider
saving at least enough crimson clover
seed for his own seeding If not for
commercial purposes.
There are good many drawbacks to
saving crimson clover seed for COM
mercial purposes, the principal one
Of which is the tendency of the plants
to shatter their seed as soon as ripe
This makes it necessary to cut the
clover Ia just the right stage, which
Is usually when the last maturing
seeds in the tip Of the head have
reached the soft, dough stage. This
stage is usually reached in week or
10 days after the first blossoms have
begun to fade. There are several
methods of harvesting the crop; the
most successful is with the self rake
reaper, which deposits the newly cut
stems with heads all turned one way
in small punches at the side of the
reaper out Of the way of the horses on
the succeeding round. These small
punches are sometimes placed or
together in small piles to cure but
usually they are left as dropped until
the huller comes, when they are loaded
one at time with large tined barley
fork on tight bottom hay rack and
hauled to the huller.
A Successful Method.
Another method is to cut with the
moving machine with punching at
tachment fastened to the cutter bar.
If an attachment of this kind is not
available then the clover may be har-
vested quite successfully if little
more care is used in cutting at the
proper stage. Since the horses and
mower will pass over the cut clover it
is necessary to cut it before It will
shatter readily. If il becomes too ripe
1t must be cut early in the morning
while it is still damp from the dew,
or in the evening after dew begins to
fall. Some farmers cut after night
until stopped by heavy dews. When
cutting after dark 1t is necessary to
attach lantern on the end of the
tongue and one on the back of the
machine. When cut this way the
clover should be raked and punched
while damp to prevent shattering and
then handled the same as If cut with
q self rake reaper.
Harvesting Small Quantities.
Where small quantity is harvested
small canvas may be attached to
| the cutter bar, the two rear corners OF
which are held by man walking be-
hind The cutter bar is set high
enough to cut the stems just below the
heads. The heads are dropped in piles
and placed under clover or hauled di-
rect to the huller
The seed is generally hulled with a
special huller, which is equipped with
| two cylinders, one for shattering the
hulls off the head and the other for
| rubbing the hulls off the seed. Where
it is desired to save only enough seed
for home consumption and a huller is
not available the seed may be sown
with the hulls on, care being taken
that a sufficient quantity is scattered
over the land to secure good stand.
The. only way this can be determined
is to weigh quantity of the hulls,
then hull out the seed and weigh
| again. In this way 1t can be determ-
ined just how many pounds Of hulls
are required to furnish IL or Is pounds
of seed per acre. which is usually the
rate of seeding.