Securing Seed
Category:
ALFALFA
Crimson clover does not ripen quite so quickly after
flowering as common red clover, owing, in part, at least, to the less
intense character of the heat and drying influences at the season when
it matures. Nevertheless, when it is ripe, unless it is cut with much
promptness, the seed will shed much from the heads, and the heads will
break off much during the curing process. If cut even two or three days
too soon, the seeds will not be large and plump. Moreover, showery or
muggy weather will soon greatly injure the crop. One or two days of such
weather after the crop has been cut will stain the seed; two or three
days of the same will cause much of the seed to sprout, and three or
four days will practically ruin the crop.
Because of the ease with which the seed sheds off the heads, it is
better to cut the seed crop while it is a little damp, or at least to
refrain from cutting during the greatest heat of the day. In some
instances it is cut with the mower and raked early or late in the day,
put up in small cocks and threshed from these in four or five days after
being cut. But this method of harvesting, however carefully done, is
attended with much loss of seed. It is better to harvest with the
self-rake reaper, the rakes being so adjusted that the hay will be
dropped off in small gavels or sheaves, so small that in two or three
days they may be lifted without being turned over; Much care should be
exercised in lifting the sheaves to avoid shedding in the seed, and it
should be drawn on wagons with tight racks.
While it is not absolutely necessary to thresh the seed crop at once,
the work can usually be done at that time with less outlay and with less
loss of seed. It is threshed with a huller or with a grain separator
with suitable attachments. Some attention must be given to the
arrangement of the teeth used in the machine, lest many of the seeds,
which are large; should be split; and as it is not easy to separate the
seeds from the haulms, specially made riddles and sieves must needs be
used.
The seed crop is usually harvested in June north of the Ohio and Potomac
rivers, and southward from these in the month of May. The yield of seed
runs all the way from 10 bushels per acre downwards. The average crop is
4 to 5 bushels.
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RenewingPrevious:
Harvesting For Hay
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