the hay. It is better applied in the autumn or early winter
than in the spring, as then more of the plant food in it has reached the
roots of the clover plants, and they have also received benefit from the
protection which it has furnished them in winter.

In a great majority of instances, soils are sufficiently well supplied
with the more essential elements of fertility to grow reasonably good
crops of clover, hence it has not usually been found necessary to apply
commercial fertilizers to stimulate growth, as in the growing of
grasses. In some instances, however, these are not sufficiently
available, especially is this true of potash. Gypsum or land plaster has
been often used to correct this condition, and frequently with excellent
results. It also aids in fixing volatile and escaping carbonates of
ammonia, and conveys them to the roots of the clover plants. It is
applied in the ground form by sowing it over the land, and more commonly
just when the clover is beginning to grow. The application of 50 to 200
pounds per acre has in many instances greatly increased the growth,
whether as pasture, hay or seed. The following indications almost
certainly point to the need of dressings of land plaster: 1. When the
plants assume a bluish-green tint, rather than a pea-green, while they
are growing. 2. When the plants fail to yield as they once did. 3. When
young plants die after they have begun to grow in the presence of
sufficient moisture. 4. When good crops can only be grown at long
intervals, as, say, 5 to 8 years. It has also been noticed that on some
soils where gypsum has long been used in growing clover the response to
applications of the plaster is a waning one, due doubtless to the too
rapid depletion of the potash in the soil.

Potassic fertilizers give the best results when applied to clovers, but
dressings of phosphoric acid may also be helpful. Applications of
muriate or sulphate of potash or kainit may prove profitable, but on
many soils they are not necessary in growing clover. Wood ashes are also
excellent. They furnish potash finely divided and soluble, especially
when applied in the unleached form. When applied unleached at the rate
of 50 bushels per acre and leached at the rate of 200 bushels, the
results are usually very marked in stimulating growth in clover.

=Seasons for Sowing.=--Clovers are more commonly sown in the springtime
in the Northern States and Canada than at any other season and they are
u