kroh. xxxi
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., FEB. 22, 1896.
NO. 8
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT.
I At What Date do you Prefer to Sow
Clover Seed and Why?--What
Variety and Why?
I sow clover seed about the middle of
March when the ground la frozen. It is
good walking then and I can sow evener
than when it is soft, and the seed falls in
the cracks and when it thaws it is mostly
covered, and it gets a good root so it will
stand the drouth in the early part of tbe
season. I sow the common red clover. I
know if I get a good stand I have something that is valuable; if I want to plow
it under for fertilizer there is nothing
better, if I want to cut it for hay it makes
the best of hay and then I stand a chance
of getting a crop of seed. I havo hulled
three bushels of seed to the acre, after
hay, that sold for *5 per bushel and then
had some pasture in the fall, and then the
ground Is in good shapo for corn in the
spring. Jons Hahpiiam.
Steuben Co.
It would be very hard In my judgment
to make a date to sow clover seed, as that
depends very much on tho weather for
best results. I prefer two chances rather
than one. Regardless of labor, first sowing should be done the last half of "February en a skift of snow if possible. One
half bushel to live acres and the same
amount the last half of March. When the
srrni-nd has become cracked -which it is
• -nose suroto be in case there is a few
dry windy days. For hay and seed the
small red is the most profitable as we get
both hay and seed. The English is more
course and lodges badly. With seed in
first crop for grazing and fertilizers
would prefer tho English to all others.
Keep suflieient stock on it to hold it
down to the desired height, by so doing
we avoid long coarse stems.
Morgan Co. I. II. Ward.
I prefer to sow clover seed last week in
February or first week in March when
ground is honey combed by freezing, as
freezing and thawing will cover seed before a warm spell comes, but having
been caught several times by ".warm
weather sprouting seed before well
covered, and hard freezing weather fol-
lowingjjl thought I would sow earlier
this year so as to be sure of seed not
sprouting before being covered, still I
never lost a stand by freezing. This year
a* ground was in good condition I sowed
10 acres the LI)th of January but warm
rainy weather following, the seed
sprouted over night, by the way I never
saw seed sprout so quickly, and I am not
so sure of success if a hard freeze comes
before the seed is covered. I will report
later on. If wishing hay I prefer little
clover as it is easier to cure and makes
liner hay, but for pasture, seed and restoring ground I prefer mammoth clover
as it makes more pasture, seed and a
larger growth to turn under as a fertili-
"*r. LsKVI Whitmoyuii.
Hamilton Co.
^o. 2. We prefer to sow clover seed between the lst and the 20th of March.
When the ground is bare and frozen is
'he most favorable time to sow as tho
"eed will sift down in the crevices and
l'>""- places and be more likely to get covered with soil, which I think is very im-
lortant especially should there be freez
"ig weather about the time the seed is
"prouting. Early sowing, as a rule, gives
'he best results. The important thing is
''> get the plants started and rooted deep
"nongh to withstand the midsummer heat
"nd drouth. Onr practice is to sow about
''ne fourth bushel of timothy seed to
"very bushel of clover seed. One bushel
to seven or eight acres is enough. IIow-
"v*r it wonld be better to sow the timothy
11 the fall. We have had good results
fom sowing part of  the  seed early and
thebalance a little later. The common
red clover is the best for pasture or hay.
It can be used earlier and later in the
season than the large English clover. It
make? better feed for stock. Clover without a mixture of other grasses makes
very poor early pasture for cattle. Hogs
and other stock will also do better where
there is a variety of grasses for them to
eat. W. II. IjAI'i-sk.
Union Co.
No. 1. Soil, season and locality are in-
tlueutial factors to determine date for
sowing clover 6eed. On sandy or other
looso soils the seed should be sown after
tho frost is out and ground dry enough to
cover seed well by harrowing. This plan
answers well on any other soils, if free
from stones, stumps and much trash ; but
if heavy clay and much cracked from
drying, tho seeding should bo preceded by harrowing especially if
the ground be hard; otherwise the
seeding should be from middle of June
to middle of March, tho earlier tho better, if the ground bo free from snow and
freezing, and thawing weather prevails
so the seeds will be well imbedded in tho
soil before germinating. .Seeds germinating on the surface have their entire roots
exposed for several days to destructive
frosts aud drying winds. I sow medium
and mammoth red clover, separately, 40
to 00 acres per year. For hay and pastnre
aboutone-half of each with some timothy.
All the rest is mammoth for seed and for-
.iill*-i:y: ."l*h.i*^':v*i**-*--_**-v» S.wstJihaJi.-Jir ,."--*■
good hay weather, before and after wheat
harvest and prolongs the blossoming period of pasture clover, from the lirst blossoming of the medium to the last of tho
mammoth. The latter yields twice as
much seed as the former, and if cut with
a self-rake reaper half of the straw and
nearly all the potash is left evenly distributed over the ground.
Kosciusko Co. C. II. Dikiil.
I am very much interested about my
clover this year. I have 30 acres to sow
About 15 acres in wheat ground, seven or
eight in rye and about the samo in oats.
Will it pay to sow in rye and pasture the
rye up to the first of May? Up to 18U3 I
hardly knew what it was to have a failure. In fact I can't bring to mind but
one in 15 years. My father and I sowed
two fields of wheat several years ago.
Ono field was sowed one week and just
one week to the day the other field. The
latter was a good catch, the other a failure; something I never could account for.
My motto has been to sow early, say the
last of February or first of March. But
in '94 I sowed about the middle of February and had a fine catch up to the time of
that northwest blizzard. The writer was
talking to an old brother farmer from
Hamilton county (who, by the way, was
very successful) about sowing clover. He
said he would almost insure a good stand
if sowed in the dark of the moon in February, and the sign in the heart, and it
wouldn't slobber the horses. Well, every
body to their notion as regards the signs
of the moon. I do not go much on them
myself, but I want to hear from some of
our brother farmers on the subject. In
the last three years I have nearly thrown
away the whole-of over $50 worth of seed,
on a farm of 73 acros, and that isn't all,
my ground is not getting stronger by it.
Madison Co. M. T. S.
—The signs of the Zodiac are a superstitious relic of the childhood of the race
and have nothing to do with farming.—
Editor.
Xo. 3. Sowing clover seed of late years
has caused more vexation and a direct
money loss to the farmer on clay and
loam soils than any other crop. For
three years last past I have sown from
$15 to '2* worth of clover seed, and today
have about three acres and that not thick
enough. Trior to this timo I had an
abundance of good clover  hay  and   sold
many  hundred  dollars  worth   of  seed.
Why the change?   Three years ago this
spring tho fields were   in   fair  condition
when I sowed the seed.   When  we  harvested our  wheat  we   had   a  very  fair
stand of clover, no rain fell until September, by that time the young clover was all
burnt brown and dead, root and all.   Tho
following spring we sowed 23 acres again,
commencing the last week in  February
when   the  snow  was   leaving,   but  not
enough water to pool my seed, it  caught
and camo up nicely by tlie lirst of April,
wo then had one week of freezing weather
which killed almost all of it, had   it  not
been for timothy I bad sown in the   fall
would have plowed it up.   Ono year ago 1
sowed 20 acres, but did not commence so
early.   About the timo I thought we wero
having our last freezing weather and did
not finish until the  ground   had   settled
and cracked open or  nicely  checked, so
it seemed to mo thit was  Just  tho   right
timo to sow seed, but the dry weather had
already sot in and continued.   When wo
harvested our wheat  I   think   a   bushel
basket would havo   held  all   the  clover
roots and all from the 20 acres.   I  sowed
somo clovor last fall with  my  wheat.   I
await tho results.  I   expect   to  sow   the
samo ground again this spring.   I prefer
sowing during tho last freezing weather
when tlie ground heave? or honey combs
and then thaws during the day.   I  think
the seed settles with it and is covered by
tho thawing, so a rain will not buncli   or
pool the seed.   My cVioicoof clove is tho
■*!".l-KT'Icl'u"* uut'rV'ltute s,t"er -""""r*r.iC.r""-T/-".i
limit and cannot give my reasons why.
Whitley Co. J. M.I'.
NIlTKS ON   I.KTTK-tS   1* I'l'1.1 VJ. I>.
I hope J. ]". Knotts will give us his future experience with other clovers than
"red." His other thoughts have been
given.
Clark Millikan, Hamilton county, prefers early April. Fears freezing Says
stock like red better for grazing and hay.
Asks what we shall do with noxious
weeds?—We will ask that question some
day.—Kl*.
Jesse Cox, Hamilton county, sows early
to get it burled to prevent sprouting too
early. .Sowed February 7th, this year,
lieara drouth better. Sowed early it is
out of the way.
Wm. 1). Parker, Randolph county, same
as Jesse Cox. Prefers little red for pasture, bay and seed. Thinks it makes better growth late than English. Uses chaff
for bedding. Feeds the hay, and manure
and sod make a good seed bed.
Jno. W. Crum, Charleston, sows either
early or first half of April. Harrows before and after seeding. Has never failed
by last method, and it greatly helps
wheat—Several speak well of harrowing
In sandy land.—En.
Mr. J. A. Guilliams, Putnam county,
says 20 years experience shows that if
sown before March 15th, it will be washed
and piled and only half stand. Seed
sprouts and freezes. For sure crop in
either wheat or oats, sow between March
25th and April 10th. Makes stronger
growth and standsdrouth better. Prefers
the common red because His acclimated
and produces both a surer and heavier
crop of both hay and seed.—I do not agree
with one single point in this letter.—Ei>.
Mr. Benjamin Williams, Harrison
county, same as Jesse Cox. Prefers little
red for reasons given. May pasture till
middle of Juno and get seed crop. Greatest fertilizer of tho age.
Mr. 3. K. Cushman, .Sullivan county,
fears freezing. Sows when ground
cracks.   Prefers small red.
Mr. T. S. Cross, Jackson county, agrees
with W.W.Prigg. Mr.C.likes tho small red.
—In fact it has lots of friend sand is a wonderful helper. I think the English is
better and will some time bo appreciated-
—Et..
Mr. L. C. Fish, Shoals; W. E. Rogers,
'.rant county and J.G.C., lientonville, all
wrote nearly the same as W. W. Prigg,
Mechaniesburg.
Mr. Alvin Clure, llargersville, would
sow last half of March. Afraid of sprouting and freezing if sown earlier, and of
drouth if sown later. Seed gown on
thawed or very wet ground does not roll
into piles. More seed is required on poor
soil. Sows five to six quarts. Prefers
small red. Two crops, hay and seed.
hkvii:w.
Tiio same love for English clover by
our farmers in the north counties is seen
in tliis page as I bave heard from them
personally. Is there a geographical cause
or is that section more pastoral? Tho
English is simply a large variety developed from tlie small red by selection. It
therefore has tho same properties, but is
larger in amount. Two years ago five
and one-half acres yielded 32 bushels on
my bottom field. I agreo with ('. F. Diel
as to tho yield of seed being greater than
red.. I once dug a stool of English Red
and Alsike and showed root and all toour
club. They grew close together. The
English was twice as big as both tho others, and is a wonderful fertilizer and sub-
soiler. It dies out worse in pasture if not
kept down, because it is strictly a biennial and dies as soon as seed if* allowed to
form. If not allowed to seed it will bear
more drouth and live as well as red. I
once put up a rick of hay cutatter threshing, all dead bi-.ttl.reo inches,' i\t<>ko like
"lfriers"umfer /not, IjuVstock ate it belter
than timothy. So is corn fodder a big
coarse feed, but a dairyman wouldn't
trade it for timothy. Roll English clover
tho way you expect to cut it before it
lodges, and you cut about as much off of
thc turned up part as a crop of red would
make and leave two or three feet of the
coarsest on the ground. This should be
plowed under soon while ono end is fast.
One writer speaks of sowing in thc fall.
In Madison county this has been practiced with good results. Should besowed
in July or August though, if no crop prevents. Wo sowed 10 acres of red about
the Cth of this month. Will sow 23 acres
of English soon and more red. Harrowing in seed seems quite common in the
extreme north. No doubt it is a success.
But we sow mostly in wheat and corn,
and can't harrow. East spring we sowed
as soon as the February snow melted on
potato ground wheat leaving an acre
which we sowed when the ground
cracked. Half of this we harrowed and
half not. That strip is nearly naked now
the early sown being fairly good. Probably we should have sowed earlier for the
harrow. Nature covers small seeds with
frost but 6he does not sow them on a
hardpan surface, she is ignorant of sowing in cracks, her seed bed has no cracks.
Sec my article on this subject in Farmer
of February .Sth. South of tho Ohio river
early spring sowing is not safe, as it is
often warm enough occasionally in midwinter even to sprout'seed. Of late the
danger of drying iri feared more than the
accident of freezing. Mr. Diclil mentions
importance of clean seed. This is easily
guarded. Farmers have been reckless.
One of my neighborshadseed that fanned
out about one-fourth English plantain
seed, and then was not clear of it. Tliat
seed is so easily detected too. Correspondents please accept thanks, each one,
for kind response. .Space compelled mo
to throw together several good talks that
were much alike. Remember future
questions. Mention county. Chip in and
let's make this page helpful. One writer
sows heavy on thin places. T. IJ. Terry-
does not sow heavier but sprinkles a little fine stable manure over it on thin
points.
William Hoover, engineer, near Warren, permitted tho water to run too low in
his boiler, and there was an explosion
which scalded him to death.