Place In The Rotation
Category:
ALFALFA
It cannot be said of crimson clover, in the
ordinary usage of the word, that it is a rotation plant. It has probably
no fixed place in any regular rotation, and yet it can be used almost
anywhere in the rotation that may be desired, and in any rotation
whether long or short, regular or irregular. As previously intimated, it
is usually grown as a catch crop, and primarily to fertilize the land;
and since its growth is chiefly or entirely made in the late summer,
autumn, winter and early spring, that is to say, when the land is not
otherwise occupied, the only hindrances to using it anywhere in the
rotation are such as arise from the nature of the weather, the
mechanical condition of the land and the needs of the crops that are to
follow. For instance, at the usual season for sowing it, the weather may
be so dry as to preclude the hope of successful germination in the seed.
This influence may also make it impossible to bring the land into that
mechanical condition which makes a good seed-bed without undue labor,
and ordinarily it would not be necessary to have crimson clover precede
another leguminous crop; since the latter, under many conditions, can
secure its own supply of nitrogen. To this there may be some exceptions.
There may be instances, as on light, porous and leechy soils, when it
might be proper to grow crimson clover as an aid in securing a stand of
the medium red variety, or in growing a crop of peas for the summer
market. Ordinarily, however, this crop is grown to increase the supply
of plant food in the soil for crops which require nitrogen, and to give
soils more or less porous, increased power to hold moisture and applied
fertilizers. It is probably seldom grown to improve the mechanical
condition of stiff soils, since on these it grows slowly. Some other
plants can do this more effectively. It is pre-eminently the catch crop
for the orchardist and the market gardener, and yet it may be made the
catch crop also of the farmer, under certain conditions.
Crimson clover may be made to follow any crop, but it is seldom
necessary to have it follow another leguminous crop which has brought
nitrogen to the soil. Nor is it usually sown after a grass crop which
has brought humus to the land. It is frequently sown after small cereal
grain crops that have been harvested. It may be made to follow any of
these. Sometimes it is sown in standing corn. But oftener than anywhere
else probably, it is sown in orchards and on soils from which early
potatoes and garden vegetables have been removed.
It is peculiarly fitted for being grown in orchards. In these it may be
grown from year to year. It may be thus grown not only to gather
nitrogen for the trees, but to make them more clean than they would
otherwise be when the fruit is being gathered, to protect the roots of
the trees in winter and to aid in the retention of moisture when plowed
under. But this plant may also, with peculiar fitness, be made to
precede late garden crops. It may be plowed under sufficiently early to
admit of this, and when so buried it aids in making a fine seed-bed,
since the roots promote friability in the land. When grown under what
may be termed strictly farm conditions, it usually precedes a cultivated
crop, as potatoes, corn, or one of the sorghums. It is equally suitable
in fitting the soil for the growth of vine crops, such as melons,
squashes and pumpkins.
But in some localities this crop may be grown so as to break down the
lines of old-time rotations, since in some instances it may be
successfully grown from year to year for several years without change.
Potatoes and sweet corn, for instance, may be thus grown.
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Soils
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