The methods used for seeding red clover or alfalfa in any particular
region will be suitable for seeding sweet clover. Good results have
been obtained by broadcasting the seed on winter grain in the spring
when the ground is in a honeycombed condition. Perhaps a better method
is to wait until the ground can be worked and then to broadcast and
cover the seed with a harrow or to sow it with a drill. Unhulled seed
is usually broadcasted, since it is necessary to sow it before the
ground is in condition to be worked. Unless the hulls have been rubbed
smooth, some difficulty may be experienced in seeding it evenly with a
drill.
When sweet clover is to be sown with spring-seeded grain or when it is
to lie sown without a nurse crop it may be drilled in or sown broadcast
and covered with a harrow. Better stands are generally obtained with a
smaller quantity of seed when it is sown with the drill than when it is
broadcasted on honeycombed ground. When the seed is sown at the time
the grain is planted, the grass-seeder attachment of the drill commonly
is used. In some sections the end-gate seeder is used almost entirely.
When the seed is sown by either of these methods it may be seeded alone
or mixed with the grain. When only the clover seed is sown with a
drill, the alfalfa and clover seed drills are to be preferred.
Sweet-clover seed may be mixed with some inert substance of
approximately the same size and weight and sown with an ordinary grain
drill. Finely cracked corn, cracked wheat, or coarse bran often are
used for this purpose. When one portion of sweet clover is mixed with
two portions of a filler find the drill is set to sow one-half bushel
of wheat, it will usually sow from 15 to 20 pounds of sweet clover
to the acre. As this quantity will vary with the different types of
drills, it is necessary to test each drill, so that the seed may be
mixed with the filler in such proportions that the desired quantity
will be sown. The drill may be tested by blocking it up, so that
the geared wheel is off the ground, and this wheel may be turned a
sufficient number of times to establish a definite portion of an acre.
The seed that runs through can then be weighed and the rate per acre
determined. The rate may be determined more accurately by plugging up
the grain tubes or by tying a small sack on each tube and pulling the
drill for a specific distance over the field to be sown. The jar of the
drill will cause it to drop more seed than when it is blocked up and
run by hand.
It is often desired to seed sweet clover on land which can not be
cultivated. When sown on such land it is recommended that unhulled
seed or seed that contains a large percentage of hard seed be used and
that it be broadcasted during the winter. The subsequent freezing and
thawing will cover many of the seeds and cause them to germinate. It
is a good plan to scatter in deep gulleys mature plants that have not
shattered all their seed. The branches of these plants will help to
hold the seed in place until it germinates and the young plants become
established.
Seed may be scattered on native prairie ground in the late winter, but
unless it is trampled into the ground by live stock disappointing
results are likely to be obtained at first. Fair results have been
secured by planting seed with disk drills on prairie sod after it had
been double-disked in the early spring. This method should be used in
preference to broadcasting the seed and depending on cattle to trample
it in. Mr. George Hummer, of Prairie Point, Miss., reports good success
in his locality by simply broadcasting 1 peck of unhulled seed on
Bermuda-grass sod not later than January 1.