Place In The Rotation
Category:
ALFALFA
Since sweet clover seed is more commonly
scattered in byplaces, or is self-sown from plants that have run wild,
it can scarcely be said that it has ever been grown as a regular crop
and in a regular rotation. Nor is it ever likely to become a factor in
such a rotation unless its properties shall be so modified that it can
be grown acceptably as a pasture plant. In such an event it would have
the same place in the rotation as other clovers; that is, it would
naturally follow a cultivated, that is, a cleaning crop, and precede
some crop or a succession of crops that would profit from the nitrogen
and humus which it had brought to the soil, and also from the influence
which the roots would exercise mechanically upon the same. But the
necessity for sowing it on clean ground would not be so great as with
the other clovers, since it has greater power than these to overshadow
weeds when the two grow together.
In the meantime, this plant will probably continue to be grown as in the
past; that is, if sown, it will be sown: 1. In byplaces to provide
pasture for bees, in which case in time it will be superseded by other
plants. 2. On worn lands so poor that they refuse to grow valuable food
products sown, partly, at least, with a view to renovate them. And 3. In
cuttings made by railroads and in gullies that have been made in fields,
with a view to prevent soil movement. It may also come to be sown in
grain crops in localities where other varieties of clover will not grow,
to be plowed under the following spring.
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Preparing The SoilPrevious:
Soils
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