e wanted
on the same farm, it would be wiser to grow these in some sort of
alternation or succession with the clover crops, so that the former
could feed upon the nitrogen brought to the land by the clover.

=Securing Seed.=--Japan clover is ready for being harvested when the
major portion of the seeds are ripe. This is late in the season. The
seed crop is more easily gathered when grown on good land, owing to the
more upright habit of growth. The self-rake reaper is probably the best
implement for cutting, since it lays it off in loose sheaves, and on
well-prepared land it may be made to cut so low as to gather the bulk of
the seed. But it may also be cut with the field mower as small white
clover is frequently cut. (See page 275.) Owing to the lateness of the
season at which the seed matures, careful and prompt attention may be
necessary to secure the seed crop without loss, owing to the moistness
which characterizes the weather at that season.

When Japan clover is to be harvested for seed, care should be taken to
prevent weeds from ripening their seeds in the same. With a view to
prevent this, it will be found helpful in many instances to run the
mower over the field some time after the clover has begun to grow freely
in the late spring or early summer. Such clipping will also have the
effect of securing more uniformity in the ripening of the seed.

The seed may be threshed in much the same way as other clover seed. (See
page 107.) The yields per acre should run from 3 to 8 bushels. It weighs
20 pounds per bushel.

=Renewing.=--Since Japan clover is an annual, it is not necessary to
renew it, in the sense in which more long-lived clovers are renewed, as,
for instance, the alsike variety. (See page 216.) About the only renewal
practicable is that which insures successive crops of pasture, hay or
seed from the same land where the crop has once been grown. (See page
285.) But the growth may, of course, be stimulated by the application of
dressings of fertilizer, such as gypsum, or those that may be termed
potassic in character.

CHAPTER X

BURR CLOVER

Burr Clover (_Medicago maculata_) is sometimes called Spotted Medick and
sometimes California clover, also Yellow clover. The name burr clover
has doubtless arisen from the closely coiled seed pod, which, being
covered with curved prickles, adhere to wool more or less as burrs do.
The name Spotted Medick has been given because of the dark spot found in
t