Soils
Category:
ALFALFA
Crimson clover though usually grown for the enrichment of
soils will not, as a rule, make satisfactory growth on soils very low in
the elements of fertility, whatsoever may be their composition or
texture. On orchard lands liberally fertilized, in the Middle Atlantic
States, excellent crops have been obtained, whereas on adjacent soils
precisely similar they have failed. In the Southern States, however,
better results, relatively, will be obtained from sowing this clover on
comparatively infertile lands, owing to the longer season which it has
for continuous growth. Where the winters are possessed of considerable
severity and when the protection of snow is more or less wanting, unless
the plants are strong when they enter the winter, they are almost
certain to perish. Loam soils with reasonably porous subsoils are best
adapted to its growth. Of these, sandy loams have a higher adaptation
than clay loams, when equal to the former in fertility, as in the latter
the plants can more quickly gather the needed food supplies, since the
roots and rootlets can penetrate them more readily. Such soils are well
adapted to the growth of orchards, especially peach orchards, and it is
in such areas that crimson clover has been grown with highest success.
In the alfalfa soils of the Rocky Mountain valleys it should also grow
well, but on these it would be less profitable to grow than alfalfa,
because of the permanency of the alfalfa. Even on sandy soils a good
growth will be obtained when these have been fertilized and sufficient
moisture is present. On stiff clays the growth is too slow to produce
crops highly satisfactory either North or South, and in dry weather it
is also difficult to obtain a stand of the plants. The alluvial soils of
river bottoms in the South produce good crops. The vegetable soils of
the prairie do not grow the plants very well, and the adaptation in
slough or swamp soils is even lower. Good crops will not be obtained on
soils underlaid with hardpan which comes up near the surface, whatsoever
the nature of the top soil may be, since the roots cannot penetrate
these.
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