Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1916 — TROUBLE IN GETTING STAND OF CLOVER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TROUBLE IN GETTING STAND OF CLOVER

Enriching the Soil by Plowing Under or at Least Growing Cowpeas or Other Legume, the Addition of Phosphates and the Use of Lime If the Soil Is Sour Are Important in Securing Stand of Clover.

(By C. B. HUTCHINSON. Missouri College of Agriculture.) Our recent dry seasons have discouraged many who had difficulty in getting stands of clover, but if proper methods of seeding are used there should be little difficulty on most of the farms in this section. If it were possible td predict a very dry year at sowing time, it would be better not to use any nurse crop which takes up the moisture needed by the clover, but as this cannot be predicted, it is better to have a thin stand of some nurse crop which will keep down the weeds without taking too much moisture from the clover or shading it too much. A stand of clover is dependent upon many factors, such as weather conditions, soil, quality of the seed, and weeds. If a nurse crop is used, rye, wheat and oats are usually ranked for their efficiency as nurse crops in the order given, but farmers reverse this order because they would rather have oats and wheat in their bins. The nurse crop, of course, does not directly aid the clover, but is used to keep down the growth of wild grasses and weeds which tend to crowd out and destroy the young plants. In many cases where weeds do not bother, the alone than where it must compete with the grain crop. On thin lands and dry seasons a nurse crop is generally a disadvantage, but under favorable conditions a stand can usually be secured with a nurse crop and the use

of the land for the season-is not entirely lost. If a nurse crop is sowed in tfee- fall the clover may be broadcasted on the meadow the following February or early in March on a frosty morning when the ground is nicely “honeycombed” with frost. With the soil in this condition, the clover seed lodges in small cracks or crevices and is covered when the ground thaws. The usual rate of seeding the clover at this time is about six or eight pounds. Some prefer to drill the clover seed with a disk drill, crossing the rows of wheat or rye at Yight angles. The seed should be run into the main hoes of the drill, so it will be covered. Run the disks shallow and the wheat or timothy plants will not be disturbed to any great extent. Another method which is preferred by some is to sow the clover and timothy on the wheat after the ground is dry enough to work and cover by a light harrowing. Timothy and clover may also be ■owed alone in the spring, but if the land is foul with weeds, a light seeding of grain, to be cut for hay when it is in the soft dough or milk stage, will help to keep the weeds under control. JThese suggestions are more fully discussed in Circular 68 of the Missouri agricultural experiment station at Columbia. The circular is entitled “The Seeding of Meadows and Pastures.”

No Especial Treatment Was Given This Field.