The Grangeville globe., 1920-11-04
THE CLOVER CROP
FOR SEED
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Continued from page -
clover seed may be grown and har-
vested and hulled without interference
from the weather. Bcause the land
is new there are few. damaging In.
sects. Another advantage in the ir
reated section Is that water may be
turned on as needed so that clover
never. suffers from drought. 1t may be
given good start early and the wat.
er withheld later until the ground is
rather dry which condition is favor,
able to the maturing of seed, because
mature plant will exhaust its last
resources to reproduce itself wher
threatened with famine.
In all clover seed sections the time
Of cutting the first crop for hay has a
good deal to do with the amount OF
seed. The value Of early cutting de-
pends on number Of different pc!
culiarities OF the clover plant and the
insects that infest clover fields
In one experiment, cutting one side
Of field OF clover for hay, the fif-
teeiIth of June resulted in yield of
| five bushels of seed per acre in Au-
gust Another part Of tn same field,
not cut for hay, until the twent .ci !
of June yielded per acre less than
two bushels Of seed, which was not
ready to harvest until September
There are various reasons to ac.
count for this difference. In the opiIi-
ion of practical men the vitality of
the clover plant is one Of the main
reasons why early clipping encourages
seed production in the second growth.
During the period While the flower
heads are developing ON clover plant.
when the heads. more vitality Is used
up than at any other time during the
life of the plant. II naturally fol-
lows that If clover be clipped before.
! the heads are formed the vitality of
the plant, which would have beer rs q
| IN the development of the first flow
Fer heads will 90 towards new strong
| growth and the prosiucti0n of NOR,
vigorous second crop plants
Another reason. is that the weather
is not SO hot and the ground not SO
dry in June as it is in July. Clorer
makes Its best growth before extreme
hot weather. Hot weather helps To
load the beads with seed, but 1t is nee
essary to first have considerable
growth of root and stalk to sustain
and develop 4. large number Of seeds
A study of the life cycles and hab-
its of the insect enelGis of clover VII
suggest other reasons for starting the
aeed crop early. Also the friendly
insects wurk to our advantage when
the weather fayors them.
When the season Is normal such
beneficial insects as humble bees ar
mere numerous hi July when they ar
most needed to poilinate the clover
iiorets. Larry asturing and early
Clipping destroys predaceous insects
and encourages the beneficial ones.
Summing 4np the advantages there
are a great many reasons why tn
seed crop should receive careful at
tentiOn early In the season.
Profitable Clover Seed Crops.
Iarge fields of clover seed are conn
mon in the Twin Falls section of Ida
no. The following reports were taken
from the Books Of seed buyer in
Twin Falls:
: Ward ]. Blakeslee raised 101 bushels
'tsea~e OF "A 81 bushels per acrs
Fred Morse of Twin Falls, planted
- ceres IN alsike clever. He sold,
part of the seed crop to the Twin
Falls Milling & Elevator Co. for So
300, and kept enough seed for tive
sears plant'p-
VIM. Boehn, of Twin Falls received
$40 per acre for his seed from II acres
Of red clover.
A forty-acre field on the John Crab
am farm near Kimberly, Idaho. pro
1reef 400 bushels of seed 1t sold for
$1,000.
NJ d. Morgan of Kimberly, had II
acres in alsike clover which averaged
II bushels of seed per acre.
e. L. Wonacott. living 2 miles west
OF Kimberly, hulled $50 bushels of
alsike clover seed from 10 acres.