Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/726

 714: CLOVER crops, such as wheat, barley, rye, oats, and in special cases with buckwheat. It is very de- sirable that the seed should be sown sufficiently early to receive the full benefit of the spring rains. The dung of cattle fed on clover hay is often sufficient to seed land, if distributed evenly through the soil, the seed generally passing through the animal organism without having its germinating qualities impaired. The proportion of seed to be sown with timothy or Red Clover (Triibliuin pretense), a. Pod. 6. Seed. other grass seeds must necessarily vary with the results desired. In order to secure even distribution, it should be sown in calm weather. Standing on one ridge while sowing on another, as is sometimes done, on a windy day, is un- favorable to good work. In dry weather, and on clayey soil, it is well to bush-harrow in order to insure full covering, and occasional rolling is very desirable. Every farmer should have plenty of clover for soiling in early spring for his working animals. After each cutting during the season, top-dress heavily with ma- nures. Land becomes "clover sick "only in the absence of a proper succession of crops, and the elements of fertility necessary for the sup- Sort of the plant. Many farmers have great lith in the power of clover, when ploughed in, to restore fertility to exhausted soils. It does so only by taking carbon from the atmosphere, and causing elements in the soil to assume or- ganic forms, thus rendering them more available as food for other crops, and is therefore very necessary in a rational system of husbandry; but if a soil be almost robbed of its fertility by excessive cropping, its equilibrium must be re- stored by adding deficient elements. Land is often too poor for the seed " to take." In this case it should be summer-fallowed, manured, sowed to winter grain, and to clover in the spring. Prof. Way found in 100 parts of the ash of clover, grown on a silicious sand, phos- phoric acid 5-82, lime 35*02, potash 18'44, soda 2-79, sulphuric acid 8-01. As indicated by analytic research, plaster of Paris, which is sulphate of lime, the phosphates, wood ashes, and muck treated with the salt and lime mix- ture, are excellent top-dressings for clover. The use of plaster, sometimes called gypsum, is often of great value for top-dressing, even in the immediate vicinity of plaster beds. The practice of ploughing in a clover crop prepara- tory to the growing of wheat is of much im- portance. There is a great similarity between the composition of the ashes of wheat and clover, especially if the latter be grown on soil replete with the necessary constituents. Ana- lytical research has shown that the composition of clover or any other plant varies with the chemical condition of a soil. Clover crops should therefore be raised on soils containing sufficient pabulum, and in an available condition for their support. The growing of clover is equal to deep ploughing, because its long roots travel deeply in search of food for the stems and leaves, which if ploughed into the land will undergo decomposition, and leave near the sur- face elements taken from the subsoil. Its leaves take carbonic acid largely from the atmosphere, and the ploughing in of the crop augments the carbon of a soil very materially, which changes its color, and gives it greater capacity to ab- sorb solar heat and to retain manures and am- monia, whether resulting from their decompo- sition or absorbed from the atmosphere. It is very doubtful whether in all cases clover is the most economical mode of furnishing car- bon. If time be worth much, it is not, be- cause an immediate application in most cases may be made of muck treated with the salt and lime mixture, black mould from the woods, peat, river deposits, &c. Clover fields are sometimes infested by vegetable parasites of well developed structure, producing seed. The small broom (orobanche minor) is one of these. Its flowers are of a pale brownish color. Mi- croscopic examinations show that when it in- fests clover there is an organic connection be- tween the plants. This parasite is interesting to the agriculturist, not for its utility but for its mischief. The dodder (cuscuta) is another of these depredators, belonging to the family of the convolvulacece, having small flowers re- sembling those of the convolvulus. It bears perfect seed, which is shed upon the soil, and there germinates, pervading the ground by a wire-like process, doomed to a lingering death unless it finds a clover plant. In the com- mencement of its growth it gets its nourish- ment from the soil, but afterward from the juices of the plant which it infests. The dod- der will find the object of its destruction if within reach, and its papillae or peg-like pro- cesses, although delicate in structure, will sink into the stalk and feed upon the juices of the clover plant. The crimson clover (T. incar- natum) is now raised for soiling and hay, and is a beautiful Italian plant, sometimes culti- vated as a border flower. Much attention is given to its cultivation at present ha Scotland.