Growing Crimson Clover

Part 1

Transcriber Note

Text emphasis denoted as Italics and =Bold=.

FARMERS' BULLETIN 1142

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

GROWING

CRIMSON

CLOVER

Crimson Clover is a handsome fall-planted annual, widely cultivated in the Middle Atlantic and Southeastern States for forage, a cover crop, and green manure.

Crimson clover is commonly sown in corn at the last cultivation. If the soil is heavy, a better practice is to sow after a crop of small grain or on other land which can be specially prepared.

Crimson clover will grow on poorer soil than most clovers and is not particularly dependent upon lime. For this reason it has been widely used for restoring the productivity of soils which have been abused. A more important function is to maintain crop yields on soils which are already moderately rich.

The most common difficulty in growing crimson clover is the killing of the young stands by drought. This is best prevented by the preparation of a fine, moist, and firmly compacted seed bed.

August and September are the best months for sowing crimson clover, the exact date depending upon the condition of the soil. Either hulled or unhulled seed may be used, the latter giving somewhat greater certainty of a stand.

Crimson clover is often sown with a nurse crop of buckwheat or cowpeas, to protect it from the sun. A light covering of straw is also effective.

Combinations of crimson clover with oats, hairy vetch, or other fall-sown forage crops give somewhat higher yields and a surer stand than crimson clover alone.

No insects trouble crimson clover seriously, and the only severe disease is the stem-rot, or wilt.

Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief Washington, D. C. August, 1920

=GROWING CRIMSON CLOVER.=

L. W. Kephart, Scientific Assistant, Office of Forage-Crop Investigations.

This bulletin is a revision of Farmers' Bulletin 550, entitled "Crimson Clover: Growing the Crop," by J. M. Westgate, formerly Agronomist in Charge of Clover Investigations, Office of Forage-Crop Investigations. The illustrations and some of the subject matter of the old bulletin are retained in the present issue.

=CONTENTS.=

Page.

History and adaptations 4 Varieties 5 Use in the rotation 6 Seeding in intertilled crops 6 Seeding after an early-maturing crop 7 Requirements for obtaining a stand 8 Soils 9 Preparation of the seed bed 10 Fertilizers 11 Lime 12 Inoculation 13 Seeding 13 Time of seeding 13 Rate of seeding 14 Methods of seeding 14 Choice of seed 16 Unhulled seed 16 Use of a nurse crop 17 Seed mixtures 18 Treatment of the stand 20 Maladies 20

Probably the most important characteristic of crimson clover is its ability to grow and make its crop during the fall and early spring, when the land is not occupied by the ordinary summer-grown crops. In sections where it succeeds, it can be sown following a grain crop or in an intertilled crop in late summer and is ready to harvest for hay, to pasture, or to turn under as green manure in time to plow the land for spring-seeded crops, such as corn or cotton. South of central Delaware it may even be cut for seed and the stubble plowed under in time for seeding a quick-maturing strain of corn. Because it can be grown during the offseason of the year, crimson clover is one of the most economical legumes for green manuring, and it has been largely used for that purpose in the regions to which it is adapted. The many uses to which this crop may be put merit a careful study of the best methods of establishing a stand of this clover on the farm.

=HISTORY AND ADAPTATIONS.=

Crimson clover is a native of Europe, where it is cultivated as a forage and green-manuring crop in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Great Britain. Large quantities of crimson-clover seed are exported from Europe to the United States, especially from the districts of central France, where crimson clover is the premier leguminous forage plant.

Crimson clover was introduced into this country as early as 1818, and the seed was widely distributed by the United States Patent Office in 1855. The plant was at first regarded more for its ornamental value than as a forage plant, however, and it was not until about 1880 that its value for agricultural purposes began to be appreciated.

At present crimson clover is grown most widely in the lighter sandy areas of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, where the soil is not very rich and the winters are not severe. (Fig. 2.) The plant does not withstand either extreme cold or extreme heat, and its culture is therefore limited to regions which enjoy at some time during the year a long period of relatively mild, moist weather. Ordinarily, this clover does not survive the winter in latitudes north of southern Pennsylvania, while in some of the Southern States it is frequently killed by dry, hot weather in the fall or spring. It succeeds well in the humid regions near the Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific Northwest, but in these areas it is not widely grown.

Normally, crimson clover is a winter annual comparable to winter wheat; that is, it is planted in the fall, lies more or less dormant over winter, grows rapidly in the spring, and dies, after going to seed, early in the summer. Where the summers are not too hot it can be planted in the spring and grown as a summer crop, but for this purpose other clovers are usually preferred.

Part 2

=VARIETIES.=

Crimson clover is exceedingly variable both in color of flower and in time of maturity. These variations are particularly noticeable in fields planted from a mixed lot of seed, the flowers presenting a range in color from nearly pure white to a deep purplish red and the seeds a difference in date of ripening of more than a month. Since crimson clover is thought to be mainly self-pollinated, it is easy to fix these qualities by selection and to establish definite varieties.

In Europe six or seven different varieties of crimson clover are recognized and sold by seedsmen, varying from extra early crimson flowered to, extra late white flowered and from very hardy to non-hardy. By the use of a succession of these varieties the European farmer is able to spread his harvest over six or seven weeks instead of having it concentrated within a few days, as in America. Similarly, the culture of the plant has been extended northward from Italy to Sweden by means of hardy strains. A wild form of crimson clover having yellowish flowers and hairy foliage occurs in southern and eastern Europe and in England, but it is not of economic value.

In America no sharply defined varieties of crimson clover are recognized, except a white-blooming variety which is sold in the South and is two weeks later than the ordinary crimson-flowered sort. Hardy strains have been developed and used in a small way in Massachusetts and Ohio, but these are not commercially available.

=USE IN THE ROTATION.=

=SEEDING IN INTERTILLED CROPS.=

In former years a large percentage of the crimson-clover acreage was seeded in corn or other intertilled crops at or shortly after the time of the last cultivation. In most of the crimson-clover area it is possible to make such a seeding, obtain a good growth during the fall and early spring, and mow or plow under the clover in time, for breaking up the land for another crop of corn. This has been the standard method of growing this clover, and it is still the leading practice in many of the older sections. Corn in the summer with crimson clover in the winter is a cheap and convenient method of growing a cash crop and a restorative crop the same year, and the reputation of crimson clover as a crop increaser is largely based on this simple rotation. Instances are by no means rare where the yield of corn has been gradually increased from 10 bushels per acre to as high as 70 bushels by this means.

The difficulty with this method is the possibility of the stand of young clover failing through drought. The growing corn makes a heavy demand on the soil moisture, and if there is not enough moisture for both clover and corn the latter gets the larger share and the tender clover plants are likely to succumb. Because of the risk involved, farmers in the upland sections are seeking other and more reliable methods of seeding, and the sowing of crimson clover in corn is gradually decreasing.

Where the danger from fall drought is not serious, crimson clover may be sown in corn at the time of the last cultivation or when the corn leaves have just begun to wither. South of central Virginia there is likely to be much hot weather after the corn is laid by, in which case it is best to delay the seeding of the clover until after the first rain. The appearance of a field of crimson clover seeded in corn the previous summer is shown in figure 3.

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