Securing Seed
Category:
ALFALFA
Alsike is a great producer of seed. This arises in
part from the relatively large number of the heads on the plants, and in
part from the completeness of the pollinations, through the action of
the honey bee. These are relatively much more numerous than the bumble
bees, which alone among bees, it has been claimed, aid in the
pollination of medium red and mammoth clover. Although the seeds are
considerably less than half the size of those of medium red clover, as
much as 8 bushels of seed have been secured from an acre. Frequently,
however, the yields are less than 2 bushels. Good average yields may be
stated as running from 3 to 4 bushels per acre. The best yields are
usually obtained from the first crop, but under favorable conditions
this clover may be cut for seed for two and even three years in
succession. Better yields are usually obtained from crops of medium
vigor than from those of excessive rankness. The latter lodge to such an
extent as to reduce materially the yields of the seed, since the heads
do not fill well. The cost of harvesting and threshing such crops is
also greater, relatively, than of those of medium growth. To prevent
such excessive growth in the seed crop, pasturing for a time is
frequently resorted to. The grazing should begin reasonably early in the
season before growth anywhere becomes so rank that the animals do not
eat it in certain portions of the field, whereas, at the same time, they
graze other portions of the field too closely. Rather close grazing,
from the time that grazing begins, is preferable to grazing that leaves
the crop uneven. When certain portions of the field are left ungrazed,
or only partially grazed, the mower should be run over such portions
about the time that the grazing ceases. If this is done a few days
before the removal of the stock, they will eat much of the clover thus
mown. Unless the mower is thus used, under such conditions the seed will
ripen unevenly in the grazed and ungrazed portions of the same.
The duration of the grazing is much dependent on the soil and the
season. The more moist and rich the soil and the more moist the season,
the more prolonged should the grazing be. In Northern areas it seldom
begins earlier than May 1st, and seldom extends beyond June 1st. If
prolonged unduly and dry weather follows, the growth of the plants will
not be enough to produce average crops of seed. Quite frequently on
upland soils, the grazing should cease before the end of May.
Either cattle or sheep, or both, may be used in the grazing. Cattle do
not graze quite so closely as sheep, which is so far favorable to
subsequent growth. But sheep will glean weeds to a much greater extent
than cattle. When the field is made to carry so much stock that the
grazing is quickly and thoroughly done, the results are usually more
satisfactory than when the opposite method is practiced.
It is important that weeds shall be prevented from maturing seeds in the
clover. To prevent this, it may be necessary to run the mower over the
whole field at the close of the grazing season. In crops that are not
grazed, it may be necessary to use the scythe in clipping back weeds and
in cutting off any stray heads of timothy that may be pushing up toward
maturity. In some instances it may even be found profitable to use the
spud in destroying weeds of more dwarfish growth than those which can be
clipped with the scythe. It is more important, relatively, that weeds
shall be thus dealt with in growing alsike clover than in growing clover
of the larger varieties, since, owing to the small size of the seeds of
alsike, it is more difficult to remove foul seeds with the winnowing
mill. No kind of seed, probably, is more difficult to separate from
alsike seed than timothy; hence, when the former is grown for market,
these plants should not be grown together. If, perchance, they should be
so grown and the crop cut for seed, it would be well not to try to
separate the seeds, but to sow them thus, as even when thus mixed the
seed has a considerable market value.
The crop is ready for being harvested when nearly all the heads are
fully matured. The bloom will then have left them and they will be
characterized by a reddish cast. The earlier heads will have turned a
dark color, almost black. Some bloom may yet linger on the later and
smaller heads, but harvesting should not be delayed until these mature.
The seed crop can best be cut with the self-rake reaper, which throws
off the sheaves unbound. If cut with the grain binder, the sheaves
should not be bound. A sort of box attachment may be fastened to the
cutter-bar of the mower, which will enable the workmen to leave the hay
in sheaves, but to do this an additional hand is wanted to rake or pitch
off the sheaves. The sheaves should be laid off in rows, and by system,
rather than at random, for convenience in storing.
Usually, the sheaves are not disturbed until ready for being stored, but
in case of very heavy rain it may be necessary to turn the sheaves, to
prevent the seeds which come in contact with the ground from sprouting.
The sheaves should be carefully lifted, otherwise many of the heads will
break off and be lost. Because of this, it may be wise, frequently, to
refrain from lifting the sheaves for loading in the middle of the day.
Large forks, which may be run under the bunches, are more suitable than
ordinary forks.
When absolutely necessary, the seed crop may be harvested with the field
mower, as ordinarily used, but when it is thus harvested, the crop
should be cut with all promptness as soon as it is ready. It must then
be raked into winrows and lifted as hay is usually lifted. All the work
of harvesting should be done in those portions of the day when the heads
will break off less freely, and when at the same time the dew is not
resting on the seed plants in any considerable degree. When, however, a
crop of alsike is thus harvested for seed, many heads will break off,
howsoever careful the workmen may be.
The seed may be threshed at once or stored. Storing under a roof is
preferable to storing in the stack, but the latter method will suffice,
if the tops of the stacks are well protected with a covering of marsh
hay or of some other suitable material. When the seed is not threshed at
once it is usual to defer threshing until cold weather, as with medium
red clover, as then the seed is much more easily removed from the seed
pod. Ordinarily, the work can best be done by clover hullers, the same
as are used in threshing medium red and mammoth clover, but grain
separators, with certain attachments, will now do this work in good
form. Much care should be exercised in winnowing the seed. It ought to
be so cleaned that it will grade as No. 1, and so bring the highest
current price. Due care in this matter will make the major part of even
ordinary seed bring the best price.
=Renewing.=--When the stand of the alsike is but partial, as, for
instance, when young plants have failed, or partially so, on the high
land, and are sufficiently plentiful on the lower land, a full stand may
sometimes be secured by simply scattering seed where it is needed so
late in the fall that it will not sprout before winter, covering with
the harrow and then top dressing with farmyard manure well decomposed.
But where the winters are so mild that the clover might be sprouted
during some warm spell followed by severe weather, the seed should not
be sown then.
On certain soils, as those naturally moist and porous, it may be
possible so to renew alsike clover that it will produce hay or pasture
crops almost indefinitely, by simply allowing some heads to seed every
year and fall to the ground. In meadows, this may be done by not
grazing after the hay has been harvested until other heads have formed
and ripened. A limited number of these will thus form after the crop has
been mown for hay. If the crop has been cut for seed, many heads will in
any event be left upon the ground. The same result will follow when
grazing the crop, if grazing is made to cease at the right time, and for
a period long enough to allow a considerable number of heads to mature.
This method of renewal will not prove a complete success on all soils,
as, for instance, on those very stiff and very light.
Natural meadows that lie low may be changed in whole or in part into
alsike meadows or pastures in some of the States, as has been previously
intimated, by sowing seed on them in the early spring. (See page 202.)
In some instances such change has been effected by sowing seed but once,
and at the rate of from 3 to 4 pounds per acre. In other instances it
has been found preferable to sow a less quantity for two successive
seasons, lest one of the two should prove adverse to successful growth
in the plants. But on some slough soils a stand cannot be secured by
this method of sowing, more especially when they are composed of raw
peat.
CHAPTER MAMMOTH CLOVER
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Mammoth CloverPrevious:
Harvesting For Hay
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