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Show iRRIGATION A N D CLOVER ! Iietbcrt A. Shearer) Ited clover Is tho first crop to grow on raw sage brush land under irrigation. A grca't deal of tho land In Irrigation districts lacks nitrogen but it Is rich In lime and nil tho jthcr elements of plant food. Such soil always Is deficient in humus. Clover supplies both humus and nitrogen, nit-rogen, so that after growing clovet-for clovet-for two or three years thoso volcanic ash soils will produce Immcnso crops ot cereals In tho meantime the clover supplies considerable pasture and a largo crop of excellent seed. Seed grown under Irrigation In a dry atmosphere usually has strong germinating ger-minating qualities. It should demand de-mand a premium In tho seed market Tho valleys ot the mountains where a great deal of clover Is gtown for seed lie at altitudes ot from 3,000 to 6,000 feet. Late frosts In spring and early frosts In fall shorten tho season so that It is hardly hard-ly possible to cut a full crop of red clover hay and then to obtain a good crop of seed from tho second cutting. cut-ting. It works .best to pasture the first year clover In tho fall and again In the spring until about the first or tho middle of June then run oi er tho field with a mowing machine ma-chine to clip tho more forward plants to even tho stnrrd. Bumble bees are new In mountain valleys that have not produced clover, but they come almost simultaneously with tho first clover. They are thero In great numbers num-bers tho second or third year working work-ing In the clover fields In summer, making their nests along road sides and In wasto places near Irrigation ditches and their chief work Is to pollinate tho blossoms of red clover. When the clover crop Is properly handled tho yield of seed In tho favored fav-ored valleys often measures up to six; or eight bushels per aero. A few years later when clover Is grown extensively ex-tensively and clover Insects have mul tlplled It Is noticeable, however, that ono farmer will have eight bushels of seed tho same year that his neighbor neigh-bor threshes two bushels from a similar sim-ilar stand on the samo kind of land. On the western slopo of tho Itocky mountains thero Is little or no rain during tho summer months so that clover may be grown and harvestod and hulled without Interference from tho weather. Because tho land Is now thero are few damaging Insects. Another advantage In the Irrigated sections Is that water may be turned on as needed so that clover never suffers from drought. It may be given a good start early and the water wa-ter withheld later until the ground Is rather dry which condition Is favorable fa-vorable to the maturing of seed, bo-cause bo-cause a mature plant will exhaust Its last resources to reproduco ltsolf when threatened with famine. In all clover seed sections tho timo of cutting tho first crop for hay has a good deal to do with the amount of seed. Tho vnluo ot early cutting depends on a number of different peculiarities pe-culiarities of tho clover plant and the Insects that Infest clover fields. In one experiment cutting one side of a field of clover for hay tho lBth of June resulted In a yield of flvo bushels "of seed per acre In August, Another part of tho samo field, not cutf or hay until the 20th of Juno yielded per ncro less than two bushels bush-els of seed which was not ready to harvest until September. There aro various reasons to account ac-count or this difference. In tho opinion of practical men tho vitality of tho clover plant Is ono of tho main reasons why early clipping encourages en-courages seed production In tho s'ec-Nid s'ec-Nid growth. During tho period while tho flower heads aro develop-' ng on n clover plant, when tho heads :ontaln seeds, moro cltallty Is used han nt any othor tlmo during tho Ifo of tho plant. It nnturally fol-ows fol-ows that If clover Is clpped hoforo ho heads aro formed tho vitality of he (plant which would havo been ised In tho development of the first J -B-a-s-aw-.i-aB-B flower heads, will go towards new strong growth and tho production or moro vigorous second crop planst. Another reason Is that the weather weath-er Is not so hot and dry In June as It Is In July. Clover makes Its best growth before extreme hot weather. Hot weather helps to load tho heads with seeds but It Is necessary to first havo considerable growth of root and stalk to sustain and develop a large number of seeds. A study of tho life cycles and habits of tho Insect enemies of clover will suggest other reasons for starting start-ing the seed crop early. Also the friendly Insects aro more actlvo when weather conditions favor them. When the season isnorraal such beneficial Insects as bumble bcea are more numerous In July when they are most nedeed to pollinate the clover clo-ver florets. Early pasturing and early clipping destroys predacious Insects In-sects and encourages the beneficial ones. Summing up the advantages there are a good many reasons why the seed crop should receive careful attention at-tention early In the season. |
