Much discussion has taken place among extensive growers of sweet clover as to the advisability of stacking the seed crop after it is cut with a grain binder or a corn harvester. The conditions present in each case should determine the proper course to pursue. If it will be impossible to thrash within 10 days after cutting, much less seed will be lost by stacking two or three days after cutting than by permitting the plants to remain in the field subject to possible rains. In such cases it is urged that the crop be stacked, as the seed saved by this operation, if the handling is done with care, will much more than pay for the labor. When it is possible to thrash in a week or 10 days after cutting, the crop should be thrashed directly from the field, as little seed ordinarily will be lost during this time and the work of stacking will be avoided. When the crop is to be stacked, the stacks should be built in the same way as stacks of grain; and when properly built they will shed water as well as grain stacks. (Fig. 12.) It is well, however, to provide a covering, and if canvas is not available a top-dressing of green grain or young sweet-clover plants will suffice. Sweet clover should remain in the stack for three or four weeks, as it will require about that time for the plants to pass through the sweat. A stack should always be placed on high ground, where water will not collect about the base, and it is recommended that a foundation of some kind be provided, so that air may circulate beneath. A few posts or rails will answer this purpose very well. [Illustration: Fig. 12.--A stack of sweet clover.] THRASHING THE SWEET-CLOVER SEED CROP. Two methods are in general use for thrashing the sweet-clover seed crop. The seed may be flailed from the plants, or it may be removed by a grain separator or a clover huller. FLAILING THE SEED. Much of the sweet-clover seed harvested in the South is flailed from the plants. This method is necessarily slow and does not hull the seed. It is practicable, therefore, only in regions where the necessary machinery for hulling the seed crop is not available or where the acreage to be thrashed is very limited. One advantage of thrashing the seed in this manner is that the straw is left in the field, where it will add much organic matter to the soil.