270 The Principles of Agronomy

and chaff are used for feed. From one to twenty bushels

weighing from sixty to seventy pounds are harvested

from an acre.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

The Book of Alfalfa, F. D. Cobum.

Alfalfa in America, J. E. Wing.

Forage Plants, C. V. Piper, pp. 305-360.

Field Crop Production, G. Livingston, pp. 278-293.

Forage and Fiber Crops in America, T. F. Hunt, pp. 170-199.

Alfalfa in the Southwest, G. F. Freeman, Ariz. Bui. No. 73.

Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. II, pp. 192-197.

American Irrigation Farming, W. H. Olin, pp. 141-169.

U. S. D. A. Farmers' Bulletins :

No. 194. Alfalfa Seed.

339. Alfalfa.

373. Irrigation of Alfalfa.

495. Alfalfa Seed Production.

637. The Grasshopper Problem and Alfalfa Culture.

CHAPTER XXII

THE CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES

Alfalfa is the important forage crop west of the

Mississippi. Red clover is similarly important north of

the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, save that it has

timothy for a teammate in furnishing forage. What

alfalfa is to the West, and red clover to the North, cow-

peas are to the South: the important legume forage.

The other legumes yield seed or hay, and all are able to

fix atmospheric nitrogen. They also have high-feeding

value as a result of high protein.

RED CLOVER {TrifoliuM pratense)

Red clover is the most important leguminous crop grown

in the United States. As a forage, it and timothy com-

pete for first place leaving alfalfa third. The acreage

of red clover diminished about 40 per cent from 1899 to

1909 due to the increasing difficulty of getting good stands

on old fanns. Some attribute this to " clover sickness,"

an abnormal condition little understood but partly

remedied by long rotations.

Romans and Greeks never saw red clover. Not until

the thirteenth century is there record of its use as forage.

It was near the end of the eighteenth century before

Europe cultivated it extensively. Early colonists carried

it to Massachusetts, where mention was made of it as a

crop in 1750.

271

272 The Principles of Agronomy

290. Description. — The root-system confines itself

largely within the plowed soil sending a few roots down

four to six feet and occasionally eight. A small crown

sends up hairy, much-branched stems bearing many pal-

mately compound leaves which are generally patterned

with white on the upper surface. Dense, globular flower-

heads rise from the end of all branches. Fifty to one

hundred and fifty small blossoms varying from pale pink

to red comprise these heads. The whole plant presents

a bushy appearance every part of which is covered with

fine hair.

Cross-pollination seems necessary to seed production.

Bees aid greatly in carrying pollen from plant to plant.

When mature, the seeds, which are in most cases heapt-

shaped, vary from yellow to deep purple in color. From

twenty to one hundred develop in one head.

Ordinary red clover is about a foot in height with

hollow stems; a variety known as mammoth clover is

large and has solid stems. Mammoth clover blooms at

the same time as timothy and is better, therefore, to use

in a timothy mixture than red clover, which blooms two

weeks earlier. A much larger second crop is sent up by

red clover. Like alfalfa, red clover has many strains

named from the sections that grow them. In general

the strains are much alike, with each best in its own home.

291. Distribution and adaptation. — Red clover is

widely cultivated in Europe, Chile, and New Zealand as

well as in the United States. In all northeastern states,

it ranks with timothy as the leading forage. In acreage,

the states stand in the following order: (1) New York,

(2) Iowa, (3) Missouri, (4) Michigan, (5) Wisconsin, (6)

Pennsylvania, (7) Illinois, (8) Ohio, (9) Indiana, and (10)

Minnesota, — every large state north of the Ohio and

Missouri rivers and east of the arid section. This area

The Clovers and Other Legumes . 273

of production is entirely within that part of the humid

section which is damp without rigorous winters. Just

northward, in the Canadian provinces of Ottawa and

Ontario, where similar climatic conditions exist, an im-

mense area is planted to this crop.

The soils on which it grows vary widely. About all

that is required in this respect is that they be moist and

well-drained. Fertile clays produce the best yields;

sand or gravelly soils that hold little water, the poorest.

As both water-logging and drouth are injurious, red clover

has no wide adaptation either on dry-farms or under

irrigation, though it is profitable in many high valleys of

the West. High temperatures prevent extensive culture

of it in the South. Northern and western European

countries, where it is grown extensively, have a cool,

moist climate.

292. Culture. — About eight pounds of seed to an acre

is planted any time from early spring to early fall, with

or without nurse crops. A fine, firm seed-bed is essen-

tial. Lime and farmyard manure pay best as fertilizers.

Fall-planted clover yields a hay crop the first season,

but when it is spring planted, little hay grows that season,

though the next two crops net good returns. The second

cutting may produce seed instead of hay. Two to three

tons of hay and from one to six bushels of seed is a satis-

factory return.

Farmers cut, cure, and handle the hay and seed much

as Westerners do alfalfa, but with greater difficulty on

account of wet weather in the particular section to which

it is adapted. Cutting at full bloom gives the best hay.

293. Use and value. — Red clover hay ranks high in

the East. It is superior to grass, but not so good as

alfalfa. As silage, it is good if cut fine and packed tightly.

It makes a good soiling crop and fair pasturage, though

274 The Principles of Agronomy

it will bloat sheep and cattle. In rotations it fixes atmos-

pheric nitrogen in the soil, which benefits the next crop

materially. Because of lasting only two years, it enters

naturally into practically every rotation where it can be

grown. Disease-resistant strains and better-planned

rotations seem to be much needed, at least where " clover

sickness " prevails.

OTHER CLOVERS

294. Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum). — Alsike is

much like red clover save that it is smooth, more cold-

resistant, has light pink flowers and brown seed, and can

endure water-logging with much less injury. It succeeds

where " clover sickness *' and wet lands kill red clover.

295. White clover (Trifolium repens), — White clover

is common in lawns and pastures. Because of its creeping

habit of growth,- haying machinery cannot gather it

readily. Acre-yields are small when harvested for hay,

since only the leaves and flower stalks can be gathered. A

variety known as Ladina clover is grown for hay in

northern Italy.

Since it has a creeping habit, its stems hug the ground

rather closely. Roots grow out from these branches

giving the plant a new start. A nearly fibrous root-system

aids in f onning sod, which helps to withstand tramping in

pastures and lawns. Wherever cool weather prevails

and plenty of moisture is present, white clover thrives. It

grows from Canada to Mexico where these conditions

exist, and does well in shady places.

296. Sweet clover {Melilotus alba) is a rank-growing

biennial, having an abundance of small white flowers

and coarse stems which become woody after blooming.

Cumarin gives the plant a bitter taste and a characteristic

The Clovers and Other Legumes 275

odor that repel stock. Being a legume, it is rich in nitro-

gen. The plant is deep-rooted, resists drouth, but can

also tolerate wet soils. It likewise withstands both heat

and cold to a marked degree. It grows on any soil,

thriving on roadsides, ditch banks, and on irrigated land

not carefully cultivated. In some sections, it covers the

mountain sides.

Stock feed on it in waste places. Coarse woody stems

and bitter taste lessen its palatability. If cut, however,

before blooming, the stems cure in such a way that they

are soft and the bitterness is less intense. Stock like the

hay. Its wonderful adaptability and good yields recom-

mend its cultivation in sections, where, for some reason

neither alfalfa nor red clover is profitable.