say, twice in the season, to let in sunlight to the young
plants. The grass thus mown may be left as a mulch. Pasturing, but not
too early in the season, will in some instances give results equally
good. In such situations the sowing should be done, and also the
harrowing, before the frost has left the ground, except for a short
distance from the surface, or the horses may sink too deeply when doing
the work. The success is dependent in no small degree on the denseness
or want of denseness of the root growth of the grass plants already
covering the soil. The more dense these are, the less easy is it to
obtain a stand, and the more peaty the soil immediately underneath the
surface, the greater is the danger that the young plants will perish in
a time of drought.

When alsike seed is sown on drained sloughs, the aim should be to reduce
the excess of coarse vegetable matter, if present, and to secure a
smooth surface, such as will facilitate the easy mowing of the crop.
More especially should this be the aim if the alsike is sown to produce
hay. This can be most easily and speedily done by growing on it some
reducing crop, as flax or rape, and then smoothing the surface by
implements best suited to such work, as, for instance, some form of plow
leveler.

=Sowing.=--The time at which alsike clover may best be sown is the same
as that for sowing the medium red variety; that is to say, the early
spring. (See page 75.) Since it is hardier than the medium red variety,
the danger is less that spring frosts will destroy the plants after they
begin to grow. As with medium red clover, it may also be sown at sundry
times, from the opening of spring until the late summer when the
opportunity offers, and when the conditions for growth are favorable.
For instance, there may be seasons when alsike clover, and, indeed, any
kind of clover, will succeed along with a catch crop sown for pasture or
to provide soiling food. But it should not be sown in the autumn unless
where the winters are mild, or the young plants will not survive their
rigors.

Alsike clover is more commonly sown with a nurse crop. As with medium
red, the crops with which it may be best sown are the small cereal
grains, as winter rye, barley, wheat and oats, favorable in the order
named. But it may also be sown with flax, with rape, and with grain
crops that are to be cut for soiling or to be grazed down.

The method of sowing alsike clover is virtually the same as t