19 Years 
 
 Clover Growin 
 
 IN 
 
 North Dakota 
 
 BY 
 
 DATUS C. SMITH 
 
 ts£ 
 
 PRICE 10 CENTS 
 
 PutKsLed by 
 
 CLOVERLEA SEED CO, 
 
 BLANCHARD, N. D. 
 
19 Years 
 
 Clover Growing 
 
 IN 
 
 NortK Dakota 
 
 BY 
 
 DATUS C. SMITH 
 
 EXPERIENCES 
 
 AT 
 
 CLOVERLEA FARM 
 
 Copyright 1916 
 
&$* 
 
 0<fo 
 
 JUL -3 1916 
 
 'CI. A 4 83 GO 4 
 
In Clover at Cloverlea Farm 
 
Clover Growing 
 
 At Cloverlea Farm 
 
 Cloverlea Farm, at Blanchard, Traill County, North Dakota, 
 consists of 2,240 acres of medium Red River valley soil, all 
 arable, save 20 acres. The farm was established by the writer 
 in the days of the Territory on the virgin prairie and continues 
 under the same ownership and management, with such advan- 
 tage as may come to a farm long operated with definite ideals. 
 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 In the beginning Cloverlea Farm (which, by the way, did 
 not take its name until it had earned it in broad fields of clover) 
 was devoted entirely to wheat like all other farms of the valley. 
 Year after year we would plow and sow and reap a crop of 
 wheat; doubt of a crop there was none in those days. But 
 crops to be had for the asking are past in North Dakota — the 
 land can no longer be profitably farmed in the old way. 
 
 ■ 
 Harvesting in the Early Days 
 
 This was foreseen by many, and strenuous efforts were begun 
 to get out of "all wheat," especially when the inevitable era of 
 low prices for wheat set in. One thing was accepted by all 
 men at that time, that we were too far north to grow clover. So, 
 everything else was tried. Some went into sheep and more 
 
CLOVER GROWING 
 
 into cattle, without adequate preparation in fences, pastures 
 and hay lands, and then, almost to a man, out again. Others 
 took to raising hogs, but however profitable hogs may be they 
 can never afford extensive rotation in the prairie farming of 
 North Dakota. But the thing that swept the entire older part 
 of the state was summer fallowing : that was to redeem us from 
 all our ills; instead, it filled the ditches everywhere with the 
 precious top soil, already too fine from loss of humus through 
 continued cropping. Then the summer fallow as a substitute 
 for real rotation also went by the board. 
 
 EXPERIMENTS IN CLOVER 
 
 Cloverlea Farm had its fair share in these things, but it was 
 at the same time striving for something better. With clover 
 constantly in mind the writer made visits to the best farming 
 sections of southern Minnesota and Michigan and to the prin- 
 cipal clover district of Wisconsin. Visits were also made t© 
 the Experiment Stations of those states. To every man we said 
 "Will you please tell us about clover?" 
 
 Modest experiments were also begun at Cloverlea in red 
 clover, alsike and white clover, in alfalfa and even in sweet 
 clover, 200 pounds of the latter seed being secured from Mis- 
 sissippi for the trial. Alsike, notwithstanding the Eastern boom- 
 ing it had at the time, proved too small and needed more water 
 than it could get. Alfalfa we tried in every way, with a nurse 
 crop and without, broadcasted and cultivated in drill rows — 
 but no one told us then of inoculation, and the alfalfa lan- 
 guished. Sweet clover seemed to fail, doubtless it was simply 
 because the seeds were too hard to germinate the first year. 
 But we stuck to red clover and WON. 
 
 FINAL SUCCESS 
 
 The first field crop was planted in 1897. It consisted of 
 3.83 acres. As an experiment the results would have been 
 called meager but for the fact that it did demonstrate that red 
 clover had actually lived over a severe winter on the open 
 
 JUL 3 1916 
 
METHODS AT CLOVERLEA 
 
 Dakota prairie. All our experiments previous to this had been 
 in more or less protected situations near the buildings. 
 
 In 1 899 we laid down at Cloverlea a full quarter section to 
 clover and timothy, mixed half and half by weight. This field 
 came through the winter badly and the great drought of 1 900 
 finished all the clover, licking up every leaf, but fortunately 
 leaving us the timothy. That experience gave us serious pause 
 for a year; but in 1902 we had recovered full breath and were 
 up again, planting that year 1 60 acres of clear clover and 320 
 acres of clover and timothy mixed. 
 
 Lest it may seem a thing of the past, it may be mentioned 
 that in the past season, 1915, we laid down 377 acres in clear 
 red clover and clover and timothy mixed. 
 
 OUR FIRST CLOVER SEED 
 
 No attempt was made during the first few years to save seed 
 at Cloverlea, not only because there was no huller in the country, 
 but also because the demands for hay and pasturage were then 
 so urgent. Until 1 904 we brought in clover seed from southern 
 Minnesota and Wisconsin, each lot being specially selected for 
 us in order to get the cleanest and most vigorous seed obtain- 
 able. In 1 905 Cloverlea Farm got the most modern clover 
 huller, the first by several years, we believe, to be brought into 
 the state. Since 1904 we have brought in no clover seed from 
 the outside. The result has been the gradual development at 
 Cloverlea of thoroughly acclimated red clover. 
 
 METHODS AT CLOVERLEA 
 
 There is no system of clover raising in any state to the east 
 of us that will entirely fit the requirements of North Dakota, as 
 we have learned through unhappy experiences. 
 
 EARLY SEEDING 
 
 The earlier the clover crop can be put in the better — this is 
 the rule at Cloverlea. In some situations very early seeding is 
 
CLOVER GROWING 
 
 an absolute necessity on the well-worn wheat soils that are wisely 
 chosen to be laid down to clover. Everything must be done to 
 give the young clover plants a good chance. Starting with a 
 soil somewhat depleted, early seeding is a great help. Of late 
 years earliest seeding has not been indispensable at Cloverlea 
 because the soil is now in so much better condition than it was 
 when we began raising clover. 
 
 THE SEED BED 
 
 A firm seed bed in the best possible tilth is for clover a prin- 
 ciple well understood ; still, only the wary avoid pitfalls known 
 to all. The only catch of clover that ever failed us in the spring 
 was on a piece of fall-plowed land so dry as to be the first 
 seeded and so mellow that we thought no harrowing beyond 
 once covering was needed. There was the mistake; the rather 
 dry summer caught this field, though another seeded the same 
 spring came through all right. 
 
 METHODS OF SEEDING 
 
 We went through the whole range of seeders, wheelbarrow 
 seeders, rake seeders and seeder attachments for grain drills, 
 seeking to follow the best practice of the eastern states, requiring 
 very shallow seeding — and there are those who, possibly with- 
 out experience, still advise that practice for North Dakota. 
 But at Cloverlea we came in the end to mixing the clover seed 
 (and clover and timothy) with the seed wheat and running the 
 seeder disks pretty shallow. This may look like "slack farm- 
 ing," — we thought so once — but we have followed it many 
 years v/ith much satisfaction. The possibility of dry summers 
 makes rather deep seeding necessary. The mixing should be 
 done only at the buildings, not in the seeder box. We once tried 
 mixing the clover seed in the seeder boxes in the field and got 
 an uneven stand. 
 
 SEED PER ACRE 
 
 We have gradually increased the amount of seed per acre. 
 We are now using 1 pounds of clear clover when alone and 
 5 pounds of clover and 5 pounds of timothy for mixed seeding. 
 
METHODS AT CLOVERLEA 9 
 
 This is an abundance in favorable seasons on a good seed bed 
 for average North Dakota soils, which are naturally strong, 
 but on the whole we feel inclined to a somewhat less proportion 
 of timothy. 
 
 NURSE CROPS 
 
 We have settled down to a regular seeding of wheat as the 
 most satisfactory nurse crop for clover in North Dakota. A 
 heavy crop of oats will surely smother clover. Barley, like all 
 grains, takes a good deal of water at ripening time, and with 
 barley that happens sometimes to be the dryest part of the sea- 
 son. Besides that, barley is generally seeded late and on spring 
 plowing, both bad for clover. 
 
 Rye, a favorite nurse crop in the east, has here the same 
 objection as barley in robbing the young clover plant of moisture 
 in midsummer. This may be fully atoned for by the fact that 
 with rye the clover may get much earlier seeding even on the 
 yet frozen ground in the spring. There is, however, a reason 
 often conclusive against rye, and that is the greater need of 
 clover on some other land than rye stubble. 
 
 INOCULATION 
 
 We believe thoroughly in inoculation lor alfalfa and some 
 other crops, but we have found red clover little in need of it at 
 Cloverlea; we have had excellent crops of clover on fields 
 never before in clover. The bacteria may be carried in the 
 seed; quite likely it is already in many soils. 
 
 MANURE 
 
 It is difficult to map out, or follow, any precise plan for the 
 use of manures on a North Dakota farm, various limitations 
 interfering to prevent it. 
 
 At Cloverlea we have come to believe that the best possible 
 general use of manure is in connection with clover and grass, 
 and not on corn ground. In summer, we haul the manure every 
 day direct from the horse barn to the field with a manure 
 spreader. We would not put manure on mature clover or 
 
io CLOVER GROWING 
 
 alfalfa, but as a top dressing for the young clover in the fall 
 after the nurse crop is off we find it invaluable, and there is 
 nothing like it for a timothy crop, old or new. Often we cannot 
 reach the clover and timothy owing to the distances from the 
 buildings. Whatever manure we have left over goes, as a rule, 
 in a thin top dressing to nearby pastures, beginning at the fur- 
 ther side to avoid repeated applications near the gate. This all 
 relates to fresh horse manure hauled daily from the barn. 
 
 In winter, when top dressing can no longer be done, the fresh 
 horse manure is, when the weather and roads will permit, hauled 
 out to distant fields most needing it and piled there to be dis- 
 tributed later. The well rotted yard manure, so far as it cannot 
 be used for top dressing, is spread first on ground that is to go 
 into alfalfa without a nurse crop, and after that on corn ground, 
 not so much for the benefit of the corn as for the crops to follow, 
 alfalfa and potatoes at present at Cloverlea. 
 
 If you have clover, stock will follow, and that means manure 
 and crops; and it should not be forgotten that manure from 
 clover hay is much richer than common manure. 
 
 LIME AND COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 
 
 There is as a rule — though there are exceptions — enough 
 lime in the soil of North Dakota to render it unnecessary, even 
 for clover, to add lime. So, little attention need be paid the 
 question of acid soils. 
 
 President E. F. Ladd, of the Agricultural College, then 
 head of Chemistry Department, selected Cloverlea Farm for a 
 comprehensive test of commercial fertilizers in 1911, 30 acres 
 being devoted to the experiment. The work was under the 
 immediate charge of Prof. J. W. Ince. The definite conclu- 
 sion reached was that, speaking generally, no commercial fer- 
 tilizer, not even phosphorous, is at present an economic ad- 
 vantage in the raising of grain in North Dakota. 
 
 CLOVER AND WILD OATS 
 
 Weeds are no doubt a blessing in disguise, to compel better 
 farming. In North Dakota at the present time the disguise 
 
USES OF CLOVER u 
 
 reaches its highest perfection in wild oats. Clover is a pretty 
 good weed killer, smothering many the first spring after the 
 wheat is off, or catching them in the first cutting of clover. 
 Clover will not eradicate wild oats, but it will check them hard, 
 getting every oat that is on or near the surface after the wheat 
 of the year before. 
 
 FAILURES IN CLOVER 
 
 With the one exception mentioned, we have not failed at any 
 time to get a fair catch of clover. Several times, Cloverlea has 
 had but half a crop of clover, but there has never been a 
 complete crop failure in any year except in the drought of 
 1900. Can any clover section in the east show so good a 
 record? Should not the men of North Dakota take courage 
 from this? 
 
 After clover seed is taken from a field, if the ground is not 
 plowed in the fall, that field is likely to show the next spring 
 the most beautiful stand of clover ever seen. Trust her not, 
 he is fooling thee ! She did it twice for us at Cloverlea Farm. 
 Such a catch clover crop does not make a success, partly, it 
 may be, because the self-seeding is too thick, but at any rate 
 the unplowed ground is too hard — clover surely needs a good 
 bed to lie in. 
 
 For lack of a good seed bed, we had another failure. Years 
 ago we took a poor piece of wheat stubble — we had more of 
 that kind then than now — disked it well and seeded it late in 
 the fall to clover. We planned that without a nurse crop it 
 should do well, but it didn't — clover, like little children, must 
 have a good start in life. 
 
 USES OF CLOVER 
 
 It seems absurd to tell any farmer of the uses of clover when 
 he well knows that he could make very good use of it if he 
 only had it. However, having in mind chiefly the important 
 part that clover may play in the rotation of North Dakota 
 
12 CLOVER GROWING 
 
 crops, we think it may be encouraging to some to show what 
 is done with clover at Cloverlea Farm. 
 
 Wise rotation at best has some difficulties in a North Dakota 
 farm. Any man who tells precisely how he cuts up his Dakota 
 farm in an undeviating rotation may be safely considered a very 
 dull person, or imaginative — surprises await him. 
 
 Cloverlea Farm is a long way from perfection as to the best 
 rotation, but has found clover an invaluable aid in that direction. 
 
 CLOVER IN THE ROTATION 
 
 Starting with the plan of seeding down every year approxi- 
 mately one-tenth of the farm, we take fields that have had two, 
 three or four crops of grain (of one kind or another), selecting 
 the land most needing restoration, judged not only by its appar- 
 ent condition but also by its record, and seed 80 to 1 60 acres 
 in clear red clover and a like acreage in clover and timothy 
 mixed, always with wheat as the nurse crop. 
 
 The clear clover is, the next season, treated strictly as a 
 one-year crop. First, we take a crop of hay and, when 
 the promise is good, reserve the second cutting for seed. 
 After the seed is off, the land is plowed that fall, unless late 
 season compels its being plowed the next spring — and prosper- 
 ity is ours in the next two or three grain crops on that land if 
 there is any such thing as prosperity going at that time. 
 
 The clover and timothy fields are treated as two-year crops, 
 one-half as meadow and the other half as pasture. 
 
 The first year of the meadow, we take one crop of mixed 
 hay, and the second cutting, unless there ij urgent demand for 
 hay or pasturage, is reserved for clear clover seed, the first 
 cutting having prevented the timothy from making seed. In the 
 second year of the meadow, now largely timothy (unless we 
 took clover seed the year before and left a catch crop of clover) 
 the hay is taken and that land immediately broken, and later 
 backset. 
 
 The pasture is used from the beginning, but early close 
 grazing is avoided because we have the old pasture to use until 
 it is broken up in midsummer; this leaves the new pasture un- 
 
USES OF CLOVER 13 
 
 grazed till there is substance in the young clover. In the second 
 year of the pasture (now become the "old pasture") it is grazed 
 heavily from early in the spring till breaking time, when it is 
 broken, and later backset, like the meadow that same summer. 
 It should be mentioned that this second year the pasture, if it 
 has not been grazed too closely the year before, will be still 
 pretty well filled with clover which will continue till the sod is 
 turned under. 
 
 This completes the two years of clover and timothy mixed 
 that we started with; that is, each field has a season and a half 
 in timothy and clover and a half-season given over to breaking 
 and backsetting the land. Here is again real sod land, well 
 stocked with humus and qualified to yield three, four or five 
 good grain crops, often starting with flax. Flax, in this way, 
 coming only once in several years on the same land, is found to 
 be a profitable crop at Cloverlea. 
 
 This statement as to rotation of crops looks too machine- 
 made to suit Cloverlea, where too much or too little moisture, 
 abundant or lean condition of pastures and other things come 
 in to bend the best laid plans. However, the scheme is sub- 
 stantially as stated, with a record of over 200 acres average 
 annually laid down in clover and clover and timothy during the 
 last fifteen years. 
 
 A good Hay Crop at Cloverlea 
 
14 CLOVER GROWING 
 
 PASTURES 
 
 The entire farm, save one quarter section, is fenced with 22 
 miles of sheep-tight cattle fencing, long since paid for by the 
 grazing afforded by fields that would otherwise have been use- 
 less in that respect. Having the fences, we get much grazing 
 from fields not then in pasture, and are thus enabled to pasture 
 our stock on less land than would be necessary without the 
 fences. With two small river-bend pastures (47 acres) that 
 cannot well be worked, 120 acres suffice for grazing 45 head 
 work horses, 450 sheep and 1 18 head of cattle. 
 
 At Cloverlea we bring pastures into rotation; we should 
 consider it poor farming indeed to continue land in pasturage 
 that had become better fitted for grain crops than any other 
 land of the farm. Oh, yes, we have heard of the evil of break- 
 ing up permanent pastures in England and Kentucky and else- 
 where, but we are speaking of grain farms in North Dakota. 
 
 SHEEP AND CLOVER 
 
 Sheep have been kept steadily at Cloverlea Farm during the 
 past fourteen years, ever since we began to feel sure of clover. 
 We carry over about 250 head of high-grade Shropshire ewes 
 and market each fall about 200 good prairie lambs. The wool 
 and lambs bring in an average of about $1 ,300 each year, and 
 it is the nearest like "finding money" of anything that happens 
 at Cloverlea, partly because the sheep may be shifted from 
 field to field, delighted with any kind of good food, including 
 most weeds, though not all. They will roam a piece of summer- 
 
USES OF CLOVER 15 
 
 plowing and graze the strips along the fences and prosper, while 
 they will fatten on the stubbles in the fall. In good sized pas- 
 tures we run sheep, horses and cattle together when there is 
 occasion without harm to the sheep. 
 
 But a flock of sheep becomes a nuisance of the first magni- 
 tude to him who is not fairly equipped with feed and fences. It 
 may be added that there appear to be positive limits to the size 
 of flock of sheep that may be profitably maintained on a North 
 Dakota grain farm. It does not seem the best use of land to 
 carry sheep even in clover pastures longer than is required to 
 restore those pasture lands to good condition for again raising 
 grain. Beyond such limits, we are now making our gradual 
 increase of live stock in cattle rather than in sheep. 
 
 FEEDING CLOVER 
 
 We feed clover hay to horses without restriction and without 
 bad results. We have had but one horse with heaves, and that 
 was many years ago. We should, in fact, have a larger pro- 
 portion of clear clover hay than we do but for the need of 
 sowing timothy with the clover to safeguard our hay supply and 
 pastures against failure through possible loss of the clover. 
 
 Since everyone who writes on clover seems to feel called upon 
 to say something about clover bloat, we will say that we have 
 never had a case. This is perhaps chiefly because there is now 
 some clover growing in all our pasture lands. 
 
 However, we exercise care in putting stock on clover, invari- 
 ably seeing to it that they are not hungry when first turned in 
 and that the pasture is not then wet either from dew, rain or 
 frost. Stock new to the farm are at the beginning left in the 
 pasture less than half an hour if the clover is at all heavy; soon 
 all stock is left on the clover all the time. 
 
 CLOVER SEED 
 
 Clover seed has been a variable crop with us, but with ma- 
 turity of the tilled soil and the acclimatization of the seed, it 
 seems more reliable. But the more important thing contributing 
 
i6 
 
 CLOVER GROWING 
 
 to this is no doubt the increase of natural agencies cross-pollinat- 
 ing red clover. The fertilization of red clover is still an elusive 
 branch of agricultural science, though pursued by many eminent 
 men. We are not aware that it has yet been determined what 
 are the chief agencies that carry the pollen from one red clover 
 plant to another in North Dakota, but it is certain that the thing 
 is done, and it seems reasonable that these agencies should in- 
 crease as the cultivation of clover increases. 
 
 As it is, the clover seed crop has proved a valuable one at 
 Cloverlea. The clover seed market is very broad and one of 
 the most stable of all American farm markets. We therefore 
 urge our fellow farmers of North Dakota to raise medium red 
 clover seed, always in connection with live stock to use the hay 
 and pasturage. 
 
 OTHER THINGS IN THE CLOVER SCHEME 
 
 Having at last learned how to raise alfalfa, through inocula- 
 tion, its one lack with us, that crop is now a small but growing 
 part of the scheme at Cloverlea — not in rotation, but as an un- 
 failing resource in dry times, and good at all times. 
 
 Silage is also used as a valuable supplement to clover hay in 
 winter feeding. We would not be without it, but it cannot com- 
 pete on even terms with clover hay in present day North Dakota 
 
 farming. For one thing, the hay 
 is put up so cheaply and in such 
 excellent condition with modern 
 stacking machines — we put up 
 1 35 acres of heavy red clover 
 hay last season with two machines 
 and six bull rakes in three days — 
 while cutting corn and refilling 
 the silo is not so very cheap a 
 process in threshing time, when 
 it must be done. Then, corn 
 cannot on the average North 
 Dakota farm afford the large 
 measure of rotation that we must 
 have if we are to prosper. 
 
SUGGESTIONS 17 
 
 We are beginning this year to plant sweet clover and believe 
 it has a good place in North Dakota agriculture. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 It has been the aim of these few pages not to instruct, but to 
 persuade — not to provide a complete manual of clover growing, 
 but to convince farmers of its abundant success in North Dakota. 
 But a word or two of suggestion may be added 
 
 AS TO SOIL. — It may be said, in a general way, that 
 any good corn soil should be good for clover and that clover 
 can well stand a soil somewhat heavier than that. 
 
 HIGH STUBBLE. — At harvest time it is well to leave a 
 high stubble over the young clover, though that is not now con- 
 sidered very important at Cloverlea ; we used to leave the highest 
 possible stubble. 
 
 REMOVING THE GRAIN SHOCKS from the field 
 of young clover is unnecessary ; do not go to that expense. The 
 shocks, it is true, will generally kill the young clover under them 
 by the time the grain is ready to be stacked or threshed, but that 
 is not serious ; the clover crowds in and covers the spots pretty well 
 so that by the second cutting the next year they cannot be even 
 found. Anyway, it would be far cheaper, when the rush of 
 harvesting and threshing is over, to sprinkle a little clover seed 
 where each shock has stood. 
 
 POOR LAND. — If we had a field in too poor con- 
 dition, through long cropping, to raise another crop of spring 
 grain (as we once had, but have not now), we should, if there 
 was time, seed it to rye and timothy and add clover seed the 
 next spring, before the ground is soft, if possible; or else plow 
 and harrow well in the fall and lay it down in clear clover, or 
 clover and timothy, early in the spring (on the frozen ground 
 when practicable) and without a nurse crop. 
 
i8 CLOVER GROWING 
 
 MEDIUM RED CLOVER is the thing. Alsike requires 
 too much water and mammoth clover has no place ordinarily in 
 North Dakota. Mammoth clover is good for plowing under, 
 but there are few fields in North Dakota where plowing under 
 clover will or should be practiced. 
 
 A BUNCHER attached to a five-foot mower makes an 
 excellent tool for gathering the seed clover. The cut clover may 
 be threshed from the field as it lies if the huller can be had 
 within a reasonable time, or else should be stacked and topped 
 out with long grass reserved and cut for the purpose, or with 
 long hay. 
 
 DO NOT BURN CLOVER STRAW— it is too val- 
 uable as manure. Some may be fed, depending on its condition ; 
 it may be used for bedding or spread in the yards to make the 
 best of manures, or spread on the fields direct. 
 
 OLD PASTURES.— Why continue old pastures? Why 
 not trade off, with yourself, a weary piece of wheat stubble 
 that so much needs rest and get a rich piece of pasture sod to 
 put into grain? Do you know, you can trade even and get a 
 good fence around the land besides? Figure it out: Eight 
 grain crops on a piece of land vs. three crops of grain, one year 
 in hay (or hay and clover seed), one in pasture and then three 
 crops of grain again. 
 
 SWEET CLOVER. — If we may believe one-half of what 
 is now said in its favor, every farmer in North Dakota should 
 make some trial of sweet clover. 
 
 PLANT WILLOWS. — Every prairie farmer of sound 
 mind and with hope in his heart plants trees, of course, but 
 there are many in North Dakota who have not yet come to a 
 full appreciation of the value of the willow; we were slow in 
 learning it at Cloverlea. 
 
 By planting willows there is assured an unfailing supply of 
 fence posts without cost, thereby greatly forwarding the clover 
 scheme. ., 
 
LOOKING FORWARD 19 
 
 The willow makes a good windbreak; it shows the first 
 touch of color in the spring, but its surpassing merit lies in the 
 fact that when cut in the dormant stage it will not die, but will 
 bear heavier than before. Twelve years ago we cut 500 poles 
 from the grove for the roof of a straw shed for sheep, and now 
 the stumps that were then left have given us 500 good fence 
 posts and have begun their mission of growing more posts, inci- 
 dentally furnishing much firewood. We have bought no fire- 
 wood for twelve years. 
 
 If you haven't a good grove of willows, stop seeding for a 
 few hours, if necessary, next spring and plant some willow 
 trees — no grain planting that you can do will give you such big 
 returns. 
 
 RECORDS. — Every farmer should keep yearly records of 
 the farm operations. There is both value and much satisfaction 
 in them, but they should be very simple. Elaborate records are 
 not worth the time put into them and in the end are likely to 
 wholly discourage the man who makes them. 
 
 A map, or sketch, each year, showing the different crops, 
 with a brief note or two on each space as to time of seeding, 
 acreage, yield and kind of plowing has real value, especially 
 with clover and greater rotation of crops. Cloverlea has kept 
 such record-maps for twenty-five years and considers the few 
 hours a year devoted to making them the best invested time of 
 the year's work. We color our maps with school crayons, the 
 wheat yellow, all grass and clover green, etc., the more readily 
 to catch the eye. It takes but a few minutes and is worth 
 while. 
 
 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Who seeds timothy alone in North Dakota? Most farmers. 
 Why not add clover? If it is a matter of the cost of the seed, 
 greater returns may be had by putting a part of the money into 
 clover instead of all timothy; the acreage may be reduced and 
 produce the same amount of hay while the clover will materially 
 enrich the land even after the top is removed for hay and pas- 
 
20 CLOVER GROWING 
 
 turage. Why bury seed wheat by the ton so cheerfully every 
 spring in the doubtful hope of reward, when clover seed put in 
 with the timothy gives surer promise with small outlay? Try 
 at least 2 or 3 pounds of clover in every acre laid down to 
 timothy. That will do for a start; but better still, put in a full 
 5 pounds and take courage. 
 
 Cloverlea Farm puts in 25 bushels or so of red clover seed 
 every year, not for the fun of it, but because it pays. You may 
 say: "Oh, yes, but they raise their own seed and don't need to 
 buy it." True, but think of this: Clover seed is gold, whoever 
 has it, and there has never been a bushel of clover seed put in 
 by Cloverlea Farm that could not have been sold by the farm 
 at the very price you would need to have paid for clover seed. 
 Come, plant some clover; get the habit and stop worrying about 
 hay and pastures. 
 
 AN IDEAL FOR NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 Would you see the Red River Valley and all fairly heavy 
 lands of the state blossom as the rose and bring to their people 
 a prosperity as yet unknown? Then let every farm contribute 
 its share, and get its share, by laying down every year one-tenth 
 of its area to new red clover or clover and timothy. 
 
CLOVERLEA SEED CO. 21 
 
 CLOVERLEA SEED CO. 
 
 This company carries on the seed business formerly done by Cloverlea 
 Farm and has the same management as the farm. 
 
 HARDY CLOVER SEED 
 
 The need of hardy plants is shown in the half-crop that sometimes 
 carries through our severe winters. Beyond a doubt, it is only the hardiest 
 plants that survive. By planting in succession the seeds from these hardiest 
 plants, as has been the natural course at Cloverlea for eleven years on the 
 open prairie, the type becomes fixed, as could not be the case with seed 
 replenished from milder climates and more protected situations. The North 
 Dakota Agricultural College has shown its belief in the importance of 
 clover seed bred up to hardiness in North Dakota by taking one year 1 5 
 bushels of red clover seed raised at Cloverlea Farm for distribution 
 throughout the slate. 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA CLOVER SEED 
 
 Such North Dakota clover seed as finds its way to market is classed by 
 seedsmen as the highest grade that is grown. Engendered by the cold 
 climate and strong new soil where "clover sickness" of the soil has never 
 been known, it has size, weight and vigor unsurpassed by any clover seed 
 grown in America. Clover seed grown in warmer climates is often mixed with 
 that grown in colder climate to make it marketable. Why not get all cold 
 climate seed ? 
 
 WHAT WE SELL 
 
 Though we sell such field grain seeds as are common to North Dakota 
 farming, our principal business is the selling of medium red clover seed. 
 Our supply is, first, that raised at Cloverlea Farm which bears the name 
 "Cloverlea" in the brand. After that we sell of red clover none other 
 than North Dakota seed. Most of this will still be from Traill County, 
 N. D., seed that largely has its origin in seed grown on Cloverlea Farm. 
 For the selection of the Traill County seed, we have unusual facilities 
 since Cloverlea Farm hulls most ot the clover grown in the county. 
 
22 
 
 CLOVERLEA SEED CO 
 
 GUARANTY 
 
 We put out under the " Good Luck " brand only our highest grade of 
 seed. Owing to variation in soil conditions and vicissitudes of crops we 
 cannot assume responsibility after the seed is planted. However, any of our 
 clover seed that is unsatisfactory may at once be returned to us and we will 
 refund the full amount paid for it together with the freight paid by the buyer ; 
 further, we will, on application, grant twelve days in which an official inspection 
 of the seed may be made. 
 
 TERMS AND REFERENCES 
 
 Cash is invariably required with orders, or shipments will be made 
 accompanied by bank draft in the usual way. 
 
 Reference is had by permission to the following: 
 
 Merchants National Bank of St. Paul, Minn., where Cloverlea Farm 
 has had its account for 25 years. 
 
 Blanchard Mercantile Company, Blanchard, N. D. 
 
 The Postmaster at Blanchard, N. D. 
 
 Also see Dun's or Bradstreet's. Ask any banker. 
 
 Carl Hilstad, 
 George Hilstad, 
 
 Managers. 
 
 CLOVERLEA SEED COMPANY, 
 
 Blanchard, N. D. 
 
 Hardy 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA 
 CUOVER SEED 
 
Evening 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 000 930 
 
 671 7