SWEET CLOVER 



Circular Bulletin No. 46. 



C. R. MEGEE, FARM CROPS SECTION. 



Sweet clover is rapidly gaining in favor in Michigan as a crop for build- 

 ing up soils low in fertility and organic matter; also for pasturage, hay, and 

 as a seed and honey crop. When properly liandled it furnishes abundant 

 pasturage from early spring until late fall and seldom causes bloat. Though 

 stock may not at first take readily to sweet clover, they will become accus- 

 tomed to it if fed no other forage or roughage for a few days. On account 

 of its succulence cattle often times crave dry roughage while being pastured 

 on this crop. 



Sweet clover will grow on soils that are quite low in fertility and deficient 

 in organic matter, provided they are well supplied with hme. For this 

 reason it is one of the best crops for building up light soils or poor heavily 

 cropped soils that are low in fertility, whether the soil is light or heavy. If 

 used as a green manuring crop it should be plowed under just before bloom, 

 since. at this stage the plant is full of water and decay will be rapid. Sweet 

 clover as a green manuring crop has another advantage in that it decays 

 much more rapidly than do many other crops when plowed under. 



When properly handled, sweet clover hay contains practically as much 

 digestible protein as alfalfa and more than red clover. The quality of milk 

 produced when the hay is fed to cows is approximately the same as when 

 other legumes are used, according to U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 820. 



The yield of seed secured per acre is quite high when compared with alsike 

 and red clover. When sown broadcast a yield from three to five bushels 

 of seed per acre is not uncommon and when drilled in 32 inch rows yields 

 of from 8 to 10 bushels are sometimes secured. 



Sweet clover has long been recognized by bee-keepers as one of their val- 

 uable sources of nectar. The period of nectar secretion usually follows that 

 of white and alsike clover. The honey from white sweet clover is light in 

 color with a slight green tint and the yield is heavy. 



VARIETIES OF SWEET CLOVER. 



There are four important varieties of sweet clover. The white biennial 

 is the one commonly referred to as "sweet clover" and has proven much 

 better adapted to Michigan conditions than either the yellow biennial or 

 yellow annual. The white biennial has a white blossom, an upright habit 

 of growth, and matures seed the second year. The yellow biennial has 



