Sowing
The time for sowing clover seed is influenced considerably by
the climatic conditions. Under some conditions it may be sown in the
early autumn. It may be thus sown in the Southern States and with much
likelihood that a stand will be secured,
yet in some instances an
inauspicious winter proves disastrous to the plants: all things
considered, it is probably safer to sow clover in the South at that
season than the spring, when vegetation is beginning to start. It may
also succeed in some instances in areas well to the North when sown in
the early autumn, providing snow covers the ground all the winter, but
should the snow fail to come the subsequent winter, or fail to lie when
it does come, the clover plants would perish. The element of hazard,
therefore, is too great in northerly areas to justify sowing the seed
thus. But on the bench lands of the mountain valleys there may be
instances in which the seed may be sown so late in the autumn that it
will not sprout before winter sets in, but lies in the soil ready to
utilize the moisture, so all important in those areas, as soon as the
earliest growth begins in the spring.
The seed may be sown with no little assurance of success in the late
summer. But this can only be done where moisture is reasonably plentiful
from the time of sowing onward, and where the winters are not really
severe. In some of the Central States this method of sowing may succeed
reasonably well. Clover and timothy sown thus without any nurse crop
will produce a full crop the next season. When the seed is sown thus, it
may, of course, be made to follow a crop grown on the land the same
season. It may also insure a crop the following season, when the clover
seed sown the spring previously may for some reason have failed.
While medium red clover is frequently sown in the South and in some
areas of the far West in the months of January and February on the snow,
in the North it is usually sown in the early spring. This also is in a
great majority of instances the best time for sowing. In many locations
it may be sown with safety as soon as the winter snows have gone. On the
whole, the earlier that it is sown in the spring the better, that the
young plants may have all the benefit possible from the moisture, which
is more abundant than later. But there are certain areas, as, for
instance, in the northerly limits of the Mississippi basin, in which
young clover plants perish by frost after they have germinated. This,
however, does not happen very frequently. When the seed is sown on the
snow, or while the ground is yet in a honeycombed condition from early
frost, it must of necessity be sown early. But where the hazard is
present that the young plants will be killed by frost, it will be safer
to defer sowing the seed until it can be covered with the harrow when
sown.
Whether it will be more advisable to sow the seed on bare ground earlier
than the season when growth begins, or to sow later and cover with the
harrow, will depend to a considerable degree upon the soil and the
condition in which it happens to be. On timber soils newly cleaned the
early sowing would be quite safe where the young plants are not liable
to be killed after germination, because of the abundance of humus in
them. On the same soils, early sowing would probably be preferable, even
when much reduced in humus, providing they were in a honeycombed
condition at the time of sowing. This condition is far more
characteristic of clay and clay loam soils, than of those sandy in
texture. To sow the seed on clay soils that are worn would be to throw
it away, unless in a most favorable season for growth. The same would
prove true of the sandy soils low in humus, since these do not honeycomb
at any season. Seed sown on honeycombed ground falls into openings made
in the soil, and is covered by the action of the frost and the sun on
the same. The rule should be to defer sowing the seed where the ground
does not honeycomb until it can be covered with the harrow.
In some instances the seed is sown successfully just after a light fall
of snow in the spring. The seed is carried down into little crevices or
fissures in the soil when these are present, but the seed should not be
thus sown. Usually it is not quite safe to sow clover seed where the
winter snow still lingers to any considerable depth, lest much of it
should be carried down to the lower lands by the sudden melting of the
snows. The chief advantage of sowing before the ground can be harrowed
arises from the benefit which the young plants derive from the plentiful
supply of moisture in the soil at that season. They are more firmly
rooted than plants sown later, and, therefore, can better withstand the
dry weather that frequently characterizes the later months of the
summer. There is also the further advantage that the labor of harrowing
at a season that is usually a busy one is dispensed with.
Various modes of sowing clover seed have been adopted. Sometimes it is
sown by hand. In other instances a sower is used which is strapped to
the shoulder and turned with a crank. Sometimes the seed is sown by a
distributor, which is wheeled over the ground on a frame resembling that
of a wheelbarrow. Again, it is sown with a seeder attachment to the
ordinary grain drill or to the broadcast seeder, and yet again with the
grain in the ordinary drill tubes, or scattered with the same by the
broadcast seeder; which of these methods should be adopted will depend
on such conditions as relate to season, climate and soil.
The seed may be sown by hand at almost any time desired, whether it is
covered or not. The advantages of hand sowing are that it may be done
under some conditions when no other method will answer as well, as, for
instance, when it is sown upon snow or upon the ground honeycombed. The
disadvantages are that it takes more time than some of the other
methods, especially when the sower only scatters the seed with one hand,
that it cannot be thus sown when the wind blows stiffly or fitfully, and
most of all, only a limited number of persons who sow seed are thus able
to sow it with complete regularity. A still time should, if possible, be
chosen for hand sowing; such a time is usually found in the early
morning. When one hand is used, the seed may be sown from a light dish
or pail or sowing-bag, but when both hands are used a sowing-box or a
sowing-sack suspended in front of the breast is necessary. Clover seed
may be sown when a considerable breeze is blowing by having a due regard
to the wind. When facing it, the cast of seed should be low; when going
before the wind it should be high. But when the wind is blowing at
right angles, much care must be observed by the sower as to where he
walks, in relation to the cast that is being sown.
When the seed is sown on grain that has been drilled, the rows of grain
will suffice to serve as a guide to the sower, and when the grain is not
up, the drill marks may be made to serve the same end.
The advantages of the hand seeder held in place by straps are that the
sowing may be done by an individual who cannot sow by hand, that the
seed may be easily distributed and that it may be used with advantage in
sowing seed among brush. The disadvantages are that it cannot be used
when much wind is stirring, and when using it stakes are sometimes
necessary for the guidance of the sower.
The advantages from using the seeder wheeled over the ground are that
the work may be done by any one able to wheel the seeder, that the seed
is distributed evenly, that it may be sown when a fairly stiff wind is
blowing, and that stakes are not necessary for the guidance of the
sower, as the distance of the cast may be gauged at least fairly well by
the wheel marks made. One disadvantage is that it cannot be used with
much satisfaction on certain soils when the ground is cloddy or frozen,
or when it is wet. There is also the disadvantage to all three methods
of sowing by hand, that it is frequently necessary to provide a covering
for the seed by subsequently using the harrow.
The advantages from sowing with the seeder attachment to the grain drill
are that the seed may be made to fall before or behind the tubes as may
be desired, or it may be sown with the seed along with the grain, and
that when sown by any of these methods there is much saving of time as
compared with sowing by hand. In some sections of the prairie the seed
is sown with the grain drill by driving the same across the newly sown
grain rows. If necessary to insure sufficiently thin sowing, the seed
should be first mixed with some substance such as common salt.
In the moist areas of the upper Atlantic coast, Ontario and the Puget
Sound region, the seed is frequently made to fall behind the grain tubes
on clay and clay loam soils, and is covered by running the roller over
the ground subsequently; but in States more inland the seed is usually
made to fall before the drill tubes, when, in some instances, the sowing
of the grain will provide a sufficient covering; but in others the
harrow is used in addition, and sometimes both the harrow and the
roller. When clover seed is sown along with grain and by the same tubes,
it will in some soils be buried too deeply, but in others the objection
does not hold good. The young plants are also injured more by shade from
the grain, since they grow only in the line of the row along with the
grain, and yet this method of sowing clover seed in some localities
seems to answer reasonably well.
When the broadcast seeder is used in sowing clover seed, time is also
saved as compared with hand sowing, but the seed can only fall before
the seeder, and must, therefore, be given the same covering as the
grain, as, when the seed is sown with the grain drill, it will in some
instances be buried too deeply. In other instances it is not so.
The depth to which the seed of medium and other clovers ought to be
buried should vary with soil and climatic conditions, and with the
season of sowing. The more stiff the soil, the more moist the climate,
and the earlier that the seed is sown, the less the covering required,
and vice versa. As has been shown, under certain conditions (see page
22), early sown clover seed does not require any covering artificially
given, and sometimes when sown later, a reasonably copious rain will
provide sufficient covering, providing it falls quite soon after the
sowing of the seed. But in certain of the soft, open, spongy soils of
the prairie, it may sometimes be buried to the depth of at least 3
inches, with apparent benefit. Lower than 5 or 6 inches in any soil,
clover seed will not germinate till brought nearer the surface. On all
soils that lift with the wind, the seed should, as a rule, be buried
deeply. Ordinarily, from half an inch to an inch, or an approximation to
these distances, is considered a proper depth to bury clover seed.
Some authorities recommend sowing medium and other clovers without any
nurse crop. The advantages claimed are that more or less of a crop may
be obtained the same season, and that a stand of clover is more certain
when the seed is sown thus. The first claim is correct in the main. In
some localities favored with long seasons for growth, as in certain
areas of Missouri, for instance, good yields may be obtained from sowing
the seed thus. This has happened even in Minnesota. But in other areas
and under other conditions, the yield would be light. In some
localities, as, for instance, the Willamette Valley, Oregon,
satisfactory returns have been obtained by sowing clover seed and rape
seed in May and then pasturing both.
The chief objections to sowing clover seed thus are, first, that in a
great majority of instances a sufficient stand of the plants may be
obtained when the seed is sown with a nurse crop; and second, that when
it is not thus sown, the first cutting of the hay will contain more or
less of weeds. That a stand is more assured when clover seed is sown
alone in areas where adverse weather conditions prevail cannot be
disputed. Nevertheless, the fact remains that whenever in order to get a
stand of a short-lived crop, like clover, it is necessary to sow it
alone, and in many instances get but little return the same season, it
will be well to consider if there is not some more satisfactory way of
securing a crop that will prove an equivalent. In northerly areas the
stubbles of the nurse crop frequently render substantial service to the
clover by holding the snow on the crop, and also by protecting it more
or less from the effect of the cold winds. The old-time practice of
sowing clover with a nurse crop is likely to be continued,
notwithstanding that it has some disadvantages.
These disadvantages include the following: 1. The young plants are
liable to be weakened by the crowding and by overmuch shading from the
grain when it grows rankly and thickly, and to such an extent that they
perish; 2. When the grain lodges, as it frequently does, on rich
ground, the clover plants underneath the lodged portions succumb from
want of light; 3. Where the supply of moisture is low, in the struggle
for the same between the stronger plants of the nurse crop and the
weaker plants of the clover, the former secures the larger share. As a
result, when the nurse crop is harvested, should the weather prove hot
and dry beyond a certain degree, the clover plants will die. This is an
experience not at all uncommon on the loose prairie soils of the upper
Mississippi basin.
Injury from crowding and overshading may be prevented, or at least
lessened, by pasturing the nurse crop with sheep for a time, at an early
stage in its growth. The lodging of the grain may also be prevented by
the same means. Injury from drought may also be lessened by cutting the
crop at the proper stage of advancement, and making it into hay, as in
the ripening stage of growth it draws most heavily on the moisture in
the soil. The oat crop is the most suitable for being thus dealt with.
Clover seed may be sown with any of the small cereal grains as a nurse
crop, but not with equal advantage. Rye, barley, wheat and oats are
probably suitable in the order named. Rye shades less than wheat and
oats and is harvested early; hence, its suitability for a nurse crop.
Winter rye and winter wheat are more suitable than spring varieties of
the same, since, on these the crop may usually be sown earlier, and the
soil is likely to lose less moisture from surface evaporation. The
marked suitability of barley as a nurse crop arises chiefly from the
short period which it occupies the ground. Nor is the shade so dense as
from grains that grow taller. Oats are the least suitable of all the
crops named as a nurse crop, since they are characterized by a dense
growth of leaves, which shut out the sunlight too much when the growth
is rank. Notwithstanding, the oat crop may well serve such an end when
sown thinly and cut for hay. Mixed grains grown together, as, for
instance, wheat and oats, or a mixture of the three, answer quite as
well for a nurse crop as clover and oats. The objection to them for such
use arises from the fact that they are frequently sown more thickly than
grain sown alone.
Clover may also be sown with flax or millet or mixed grains grown to
provide soiling food. When the weather is moist, it is likely to succeed
well with flax, as the latter does not form so dense a shade when it is
growing as some other crops. But flax is usually sown so much later than
these crops, that in some climates the dry weather following injures and
in some instances destroys the young plants. The dense shade furnished
by millet is also detrimental to the clover plants; nevertheless, owing
to the short period which the former occupies the ground, under
favorable conditions a stand of clover may be secured. But since millet
is sown later than flax, it frequently happens that there is not
sufficient moisture in the soil to sustain both crops. Mixed grains sown
as soiling food are usually sown reasonably early, and as they are cut
before maturity, the danger is so far lessened that the young plants
will perish from want of moisture, but since these crops are usually
grown thickly and on rich land, owing to the dense character of the
growth, the plants are much more likely to be injured by the dense shade
thus provided.
Clover seed may also be sown with corn and certain other crops that are
usually grazed down, as rape and mixed grains. When sown with corn, the
seed is usually scattered over the ground just before the last
cultivation given to the corn. Attention is now being given to the
introduction of cultivators which scatter such seeds as clover and rape
in front of them, and so preclude the necessity for hand sowing. From
Central Ohio southward, this method of securing a stand of clover will
succeed in corn-growing areas, the other conditions being right. North
from the areas named, the young clover plants may be winter killed when
the seed is sown thus. The less dense the shade furnished by the corn,
and the less dry the weather subsequently to sowing the seed, the better
will be the stand of the plants secured.
When sown with rape that has been broadcast, clover usually makes a good
stand, providing the rape crop is not sown too late in the season. When
the rape is grazed down, the grazing does not appear to materially
injure the clover, and when the shade has been removed by such grazing,
the clover plants may be expected to make a vigorous growth on such
land. In northerly areas, clover seed may be sown along with rape seed
as late as the end of May. If sown later than that time, the season may
prove too short subsequently to the grazing of the rape to allow the
plants to gather sufficient strength to carry them safely through
northern winters. When clover seed is sown with rape, the seeds may be
mixed and sown together.
Clover seed in several of the varieties may be successfully sown on
certain grain crops grown to provide grazing, especially when these are
sown early. Such pastures may consist of any one of the small cereal
grains, or more than one, or of all of them.
The seed may be sown in these the same as with any crop sown to furnish
grain. A stand of clover may thus be secured under some conditions in
which the clover would perish if sown along with the grain to be
harvested; under other conditions it would not succeed so well. The
former include soils so open as to readily lose moisture by surface
evaporation. The tramping of the animals on these increases their power
to hold moisture, the grazing down of the grain lessens its demands upon
the same, thus leaving more for the clover plants, and they are further
strengthened by the freer access of sunlight. The latter include firm,
stiff clays in rainy climates. To pasture these when thus sown, if moist
beyond a certain degree, would result in so impacting them that the
yield of the pasture would be greatly decreased in consequence.
Medium red clover is quite frequently sown alone; that is, without
admixture with clovers or grasses. It is always sown thus when it is to
be plowed under, as green manure. It is also usually sown alone in
rotations where it is to be cropped or grazed for one year. But when
grown for meadow, which is to remain longer than one season, it is
commonly sown along with timothy. The first year after sowing, the crop
is chiefly clover, and subsequently it is chiefly timothy. Orchard grass
or tall oat grass, or both, may also be sown along with medium red
clover, since these are ready for being cut at the same time as the
clover.
When medium red clover is sown to provide pasture for periods of limited
duration, it is frequently sown along with alsike clover and timothy.
Sometimes a moderate amount of alfalfa seed is added. But in arable
soils in the semi-arid West, these will provide pastures for many years
in succession, if supplied with moisture. The same is true of much of
the land west of the Cascades, and without irrigation. East from the
Mississippi and for some distance west from it, much of the medium red
clover will disappear after being grazed for one season, but the alsike,
timothy and alfalfa will endure for a longer period.
In permanent pastures, whether few or many varieties of seed are sown,
medium red clover is usually included in the mixture. It is sown because
of the amount of the grazing which it furnishes the season after sowing,
and with the expectation that it will virtually entirely disappear in
the pastures in two or three seasons after it has been sown.
When medium red clover is sown for being plowed under as green manure,
it is always sown with a nurse crop. Some farmers, in localities well
adapted to the growth of clover, sow more or less of the medium red
variety on all, or nearly all, of the land devoted to the growth of such
cereals as rye, wheat, barley and oats, when the land is to be plowed
the autumn or spring following. Reduced quantities of seed are used.
They believe that the benefit from the young clover plants to the land
will more than pay for the cost of the seed and the sowing of the same.
The amount of seed to sow will depend on the degree of suitability in
the conditions for growing medium red clover. The more favorable these
are, the less the necessity for using maximum quantities of seed, and
vice versa. More seed is required when the clover is not grown with
other grasses or clovers than when it is grown with these. When grown
without admixture, 16 pounds of seed per acre may be named as the
maximum quantity to sow and 8 pounds as the minimum, with 12 pounds as
an average. With all the conditions quite favorable, 10 pounds should
suffice. In New England and some of the Atlantic States, many growers
sow much more seed than the quantities named, and it may be that the
necessities of the land call for more. In Great Britain also,
considerably larger quantities are sown.
When sown in grass or clover mixtures, the amount of the seed required
will vary with the other factors of the mixture, and the amount of each
that is sown; that is, with the character of the hay or pasture that is
sought. The seed is much more frequently sown with timothy than with any
other kind of grass, and the average amount of each of these to sow per
acre may be put at 8 pounds of clover and 6 pounds of timothy. When
other clovers are added, as the mammoth or the alsike, for every pound
of the seed of the former added, the seed of the medium red may be
reduced by one pound, and for every pound of the alsike added it may be
reduced by 1-1/2 pounds. In mixtures for permanent pastures, 6 pounds
may be fixed upon as the maximum quantity of medium red clover seed to
sow, and 3 pounds as the average quantity. When sown to provide green
manure, maximum quantities of seed are used when it is desired to
improve the soil quickly. Usually not less than 12 pounds per acre are
sown, and quite frequently more. But when the gradual improvement of the
land is sought, by sowing the seed on all land devoted to the small
cereal grains, not more than 6 pounds per acre are used, and frequently
even less than 4 pounds. The greater the hazard to the plants in sowing
the seed thus, the less the quantities of the seed that are usually
sown, with a view to reduce the loss in case of failure to secure a
stand of the clover.
A stand of medium red clover is sometimes secured by what may be termed
self-sowing. For instance, where clover has been cut for hay and then
allowed to mature even but a portion of the seed before being plowed
under the same autumn, the seed thus buried remains in the ground
without sprouting. When the land is again plowed to the same depth and
sown with some kind of grain, the clover seed thus brought to the
surface will germinate. If the plowing last referred to is done in the
autumn, it ought to be done late rather than early, lest the seed
should sprout in the autumn and perish in the winter, or be destroyed by
the cultivation given in sowing the grain crop that follows. The same
result may be obtained from clover pastured after the first cutting for
the season, when the pasturing is not close.
When medium red clover is much grown for seed, many of the ripe heads
are not cut by the mower, since they lie near the ground, and many break
off in the curing process. The seed thus becomes so distributed in the
ground, that many plants come up and grow amid the grain every season.
These may, of course, be grazed or plowed under for the enrichment of
the land, as desired. Seed thus buried is, therefore, not lost by any
means. The plants which grow will render much assistance in keeping the
land in a good condition of tilth, as well as in enhancing its
fertility.
When clover seed is much grown, therefore, on any piece of land, the
quantity of seed sown may be reduced materially. In fact, it may be so
much reduced that it has been found possible to grow clover in rotation
for many years without adding seed. The first growth of the clover was
taken as hay, and the second growth as seed. The ground was then plowed
and a crop of corn was taken. The corn land was then plowed and sown
with some cereal, such as wheat, oats or barley.
Previous: Preparing The Soil
Next: Pasturing
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