Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-03-16
Clover Is Essential.

Clover is the most important crop on
the farm for keeping up the land. Old?
Yes. But perhaps you remember that
once when the Queen of France demand
ed something absolutely new In . frock
the dressmsker replied, "There is moth
ing new-except what has been forgot
ten" Maybe the forage crops specialist
of the United States Department Of
Agriculture had just that thought In
mind when be made the statement just
quoted. Farmers have been drifting
away from clover. Apparently, some Of
them have forgotten the old truth that
clover is the most important crop for
keeping the land productive, and the
clover story needs to be told again.
Crops demand a soil containing four
things-organio matter, nitrogen, pot
ash, phosphorio acid.
OF these four essential things, clover
supplies two, organic matter and nitro
gen. II can not add phosphorus or pot
ash, but it can return what it takes out.
The most important point Is that clover
in the crop rotation will supply the nitro
gen or most of Ii. Numerous demon
s,rstioDs of that fact have been made by
state experiment stations. Land on
which clover is grown in rotation with
other crops makes better yields than
land on which no clover 10 grown. The
specialists believe that unless there is q
more general return to clover, produc-
tivity will certainly decline.
Here are some of the things they say
about sowing clover this spring.
Glover seed is high-probably 80 cents
a pound at retail. Do not plant it unless
you plant 1t right.
Have the seed tested. The state seed
laboratory or the seed laboratory of the
United States Department of Agriculture
will do it. You can't afford to take q
chance by not testing IL.
Glover seed Is most commonly sown
on winter wheat in the early spring.
This Is ordinarily good practice, but If
the wheat field was left rough In the
fall the seed bed may not be favorable
and much seed may be wasted. Glover
needs seed bed that is firm below but
tine and loose on top. Use drill when
possible. On losmy soil harrow the seed
IN on wheat, but do not attempt II
when the land is wet.
IL farmers would take as much pains
seeding clover as they do seeding alfalfa,
there would be fewer clover failures.
As rule red clover will not do well
on land that is "sour" either naturally
or because 1t has been so long cropped
that the lime in the soil has been used
up. There are occasional exceptions.
Glover has been known to do we'll on
land that had lime requirement OF
| |, 400 pounds an acre, but this land had
been heavily msnured and fsrtilized
Usually clover wants soil that is neutral
or nearly so. IL is a safe statement that
in most cases where clover goes out ol
fails to make Q fair crop two tons o
ground limestone an acre would help q
great deal. In many cases this woult
make the difference between success
and failure. In other cases lime ma,
have to be supplemented with phos
phoric acid or potash. The use of pot
ash will not be warranted when the pric
is as high as it Is, except In the rare cas-
when this element is decidedly the limit
ing factor. Lime, however, 10 funda
mental. There is generally no use seed
ing red clover on "sour" soil.