THE CROP TO HARVEST FOR SEED. White sweet clover and biennial yellow sweet clover are harvested for seed the year following seeding. In localities where those species will produce two cuttings the second year, either the first or the second crop may be harvested for seed. As the plants die when mature, only one cutting will be obtained if the first crop is permitted to ripen. It is becoming a general practice in many sections of the country to utilize the first crop of the second season for pasture, ensilage, or hay, and the second crop for seed. As a rule, this is the most profitable and economical way to handle sweet clover, as the first crop will produce an abundance of nutritious pasturage or from 6 to 10 tons of ensilage or 1 to 3 tons of hay to the acre. The second crop seldom grows more than 4 feet high when the first crop is pastured or cut. The shorter growth of the second crop is a very desirable feature, as it may be cut with a grain binder without difficulty. When the first crop of white sweet clover is permitted to mature, the plants often make so large a growth that it is very difficult to handle them with ordinary farm machinery. This trouble is experienced more often in humid regions than in semiarid sections. As biennial yellow sweet clover seldom grows as tall as the white species, little difficulty is experienced in cutting the first crop of the second year for seed with a grain binder. Annual yellow sweet clover, or sour clover, is seldom grown for seed, as a sufficient quantity to supply the market is obtained from the screenings of wheat grown in the Southwest. Sweet-clover seed ripens irregularly and shatters badly when mature. On this account much seed is lost before and during harvest, and ordinary harvesting machinery has not been entirely satisfactory for handling the crop. TIME TO CUT THE SEED CROP. Opinions of extensive growers of sweet clover differ as to the proper stage at which to cut the seed crop. Some believe that it should be cut when the pods on the lower branches have turned dark brown to black, while others maintain that it is best to wait until the seed on the upper portions of the plants is mature. The time of cutting the seed crop should be governed largely by the machinery which is to be used. If the plants are to be harvested with a self-rake reaper or a grain binder, they should be cut when approximately three-fourths of the seed pods have turned dark brown to black. At this time some flowers and many immature pods will be found on the plants, but the field will have a brownish cast. If the crop is not cut until the seed pods on the uppermost branches have matured, most of the pods on the lower branches will have shattered.