Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1914 — Crimson Clover a Useful Crop. [ARTICLE]

Crimson Clover a Useful Crop.

A number of ways in which the early appearance of crimson clover in the spring can be turned to the farmer’s advantage are pointed out in Farmers’ Bulletin 579, ‘‘Crimson Clover Utilization.” In the; southern and central Atlantic states 1 this crop is of particular value. /Generally speaking it suffers from the severe winters in the north and from too great dryness west of the Mississippi river. In Florida also it has proved less successful than elsewhere. Crimson clover, says the bulletin, has two great advantages. It is an excellent fertilizer and it can be used for pasture and hay before any other green growth is available, the land being then sown with an ordinary summer-grown crop. The clover itself can be sown toward the end of the summer on land where such late crops as corn or tomatoes are still under cultivation. Its use, therefore, does not interfere with other products and its benefits cost lift’.'.' but the labor and seed involved. To obtain the full value of crimson clover as a fertilizer, the entire green crop should be plowed under, thus adding to the soil a large quantity of nitrogen and humus, or decayed vegetable matter. The poorer the land the greater is the benefit that the succeeding crop derives from this process. A yield of 30 bushels of corn per acre may ordinarily be increased by crimson clover to 45, but on richer land an increase of more than 10 bushels is uncommon. A convenient, method of calculation is to consider a full crop of crimson clover, weighing, with roots and tops, about 10 tons an acre, as the equivalent of a distribution of 8 tons of fresh barnyard manure to an’acre. In this way the soil is greatly enriched each year without interfering in any way with the. regular money croiis, such as corn, cotton or tomatoes. It is, however, by no 1 means necessary to sacrifice the entire crop of crimson clover to fertilizing purposes. Excellent results can be obtained by plowing under merely the roots and stubble. This, it is estimated, returns to the soli 4 0 per cent as much nitrogen as the green crop. When this is done the cloves itself can be used either for pasture, before ordinary grass is sufficiently far advanced to be available or for hay which can be gathered in time to leave the land free for another crop. ■ -. _

Crimson clover intended for hay ■must, however, be cut at the right moment, when the most Advanced heads are beginning to show faded flowers at their base. At this stage the plants contain the maximum amount of protein and dry matter, while the leaves are still present and the stems comparatively green. If the harvest is put off, the short hairs on the stems and flower heads become dry and stiff. In this stage there is danger that they may form hard hair balls in the intestine tracts of horses and mules to which the hay is fed. I hese hair balls, solid, compact, feltlike structures, nearly, always cause death. Early cutting, however, and judicious mixing with other hay will obviate this difficulty to a great ex'tent, and, under any circumstances, cattle are rarely affected. By dairymen, crimson clover hay is considered a roughage feed fully equal if not superior to either red or alsike clover.

For early pasturing crimson clover is even more satisfactory, its chief drawback being the limited period in which it can be utilized for this purpose. This period, however, is ample to enable the ordinary grass pastures to attain a growth which will greatly increase their carrying capacity later in the season. After the cattle are removed, the uneaten plants and the manure left behind are plowed under, the manure of course forming a valuable addition to the fertilizing effect of the clover. As pasture, hay or fertilizer, therefore, crimson clover offers itself to farmers at a time when the ordinary summer-grown crops are not available. Incidentally, it should be said, this clover is valuable for poultry. A tubful o! hand-cropped leaves thrown into the poultry yard will provide the chickens with the best Possible green food at a season when eggs are ordinarily high and everything that promotes laying is most welcome. Small patches of crimson clover are, in fact, grown by poultry raisers for this purpose alone. Methods of growing the crop, the preparation of the seed bed. and the soils and sections best adapted to the purpose are discussed in a previous publication of the Department of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bulletin 550, Crimson Clover: Growing the Crop." Both this bulletin and the new bulletin, “Crimson Glover: Utilization," will be sent free on request.