The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1920-03-05
DEPARTMENT URGES
RETURN TO CLOVER
Corn Wheat Clover the Most Import
ant Combination; Use Abandoned
. Because of Wartime Need.

It is time to get the land back into
clover, says the United States depart.
ment of agriculture.
During the war the department OF
agriculture impressed on the farmers
the worlds need for cereals, and the
acreage in wheat and corn was ma
terially increased. This naturally re-
suited in a decrease in clover. Judg-
ing from the figures gathered by the
bureau of crop estimates, covering
the production of pure clover hay,
the acreage in this crop decreased
in 1918 below that of 1917 and about
20 per cent in the main portion of the
clover belt. When it is considered
that between the census years 1899
and 1909 the acreage had already de-
creased some 40 per cent in this area,
the decline in clover culture seems
to have gone so far as to threaten
to be serious.
Rotation Widely Supported.
The practice of rotating crops is adj
vocated by the department and all
agricultural experiment stations. Of
all the rotations the most important
is corn-wheat-clover, with oats in place
of wheat where the corn occupies the
ground too long to permit seeding
wheat in time.
The Ohio station found that in con-
tinuous culture for 20 years the yield
of wheat fell from 9.24 bushels as an
average for the first decade to $40
bushels the second, while in a 3-year
corn-wheat-clover rotation the yield
of wheat rose from 9.92 bushels the
first decade to 1878 the second. The
Indiana station found that clover in
the cornwheat-clover rotation increas-
ed the total value of the products
over that produced when timothy took
the place of clover by $8.07 in n
case and $3.50 in another. The ILL
nois station, as a result of a long
series of trials, found that corn af-
ter clover yielded twice what corn
after corn yielded and also more than
corr in the corn-oats rotation. The
Missouri station found that a 6-year
rotation with clover and timothy the
last three years was financially prof
liable and maintained the PRODUCTIVE
ity of the soil.
Some rotation should be used, and
clover should be an important ele-
ment in the rotation, but the partic-
ular rotation selected must depend
on local and economic conditions. The
organic matter in the soil is used
up most rapidly when the land is in
corn or wheat. 1t can be replaced by
turning under crop residues, but le-
gumes alone can add nitrogen as well
as organic matter to the soil.
Rich Soil Under Clover.
The Pennsylvania station found
that of soils under various crops the
soil under mature clover was richest
in organic matter and in nitrogen,
followed by the soil containing clover
residue or under young clover. c. G..
of the Ohio station said in
the Ohio Farmer: Inability to dress
land once in 8 to 5 years
with manure, or failure to pillow under
full crop of clover or it's equivalent
frequently, may be expected,
or later, to bring about conditions
in which commercial nitrogen can be
used with profit"
But can the general farmer afford
to buy commercial nitrogen when he
can get the nitrogen through the clo-
yer crop? This is the question far
mers must consider now. In spite
Of the high cost of seed, farmers will
be we'll advised if they do not neglect
the clover crop.