CLOVEE. 



94 



CLOVER. 



immediately eultiviited in Ihe ground. I have 

 always sown the soil broadcast by luuid, using a pail 

 to carry dirt in. If I liad to purchase tlie soil, 1 

 thinli 100 pounds niiKht do. Use more if it can be 

 readily obtained. Tf taken from an alfalfa-fleld I 

 should want to know tliat the bacteria were well 

 develoi;ed. The liactcria will not be present to any 

 e.xtent in alfalfa that is manured heavily enoug-h to 

 supply the nitrogen requirements of the plant. In 

 one field of alfalfa I inoculated a strip about two rods 

 wide in the middle to find out the benefits of inocula- 

 tion. The narrow strip has been a great contrast to 

 the adjoining ground, and 1 am convinced that the 

 yield was twice as great, of a better grade of hay 

 than that which was not- inoculated. There was a per- 

 fect stand on that inoculated. It wasinoculated with 

 sweet-clover soil. The field has been sown three 

 years, and last year the yield was four tons per 

 acre; and I believe that, if it had all been inoculated 

 when seeded, it would have been at least six tons. 

 There was not quite the diflference this last year 

 between that which was inoculated and that which 

 was not, which proves it will inoculate itself in 

 time. I have a 96 acre farm, 70 acres under plow, 

 and sell on an average 1.50 hogs per year, besides 

 lots of other stuff. —Fremont, Ind. 



Land which, for some reason not easily 

 explained, has become "clover sick," can 

 1)6 redeemed by the use of sweet clover by 

 the same method. There may be excep- 

 tions to this, but, as a general statement, it 

 is true, for there have been too many exper- 

 iments to admit of doubt. 



IL E. Boardman, in Gleanings, Vol. XXII., 

 writes of it as follows: 



AS A FORAGE-PLANT. 



I once supposed, as most people do now, that sweet 

 clover was entirely worthless as a forage-plant for 

 stock— that nothing would eat it; but I have demon- 

 strated to my entire satisfaction that horses, cattle, 

 and sheep, wall notonly learn to eat it, but will thrive 

 upon it, both in pasture and di-ied as hay, and thac 

 hogs are fond of it in the green state. I say, they 

 learn to eat it, because most stock have to acquire a 

 taste for It, not taking readily to it at first. I gave it 

 a fair trial for pasture last summer. My horses and 

 family cow fed upon it almost entirely during the dry 

 part of the season. They became fat and sleek, with- 

 out the help of grain or other feed. The milk and 

 butter from the cow showed no objectionable flavor. 

 The amount of feed furnished was something sur- 

 prising. It has a habit of continually throwing out 

 or renewing its foliage and its bloom; also, when cut 

 or fed back, it keeps constantlj' fresh. 



Kast Townsend, O. H. R. Boardman. 



It is now well established that cattle do 

 sometimes eat sweet clover green, although 

 some consider it objectionable as pasturage. 

 Prof. Tracy, of tlie Mississippi Agricultu- 

 ral College, and Prof. Charles E. Thorne, 

 of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Wooster, speak highly of it as a hay 

 plant, but say, as do others, that stock 

 must learn to eat it. Livingston's catalogue 

 calls it " quite valuable for soiling." Its 

 general character as a good honey-plant is 



well established, and it may be well worth 

 while to give it a thorough test. On some 

 alkali lands of tlie West it is the only plant 

 that will live and thrive. 



The following, by Alva Agee, editor of 

 the National Stockman and Farmer, is strik- 

 ing testimony to the value of sweet clover 

 as a soil-renovator. No two men are held in 

 higlier esteem by scientific farmers in this 

 country than Alva Agee and F. E. Dawley, 

 both very successful farmers on their own 

 account. 



TEST SWEET CLOVER. 



How many of our readers are going to test sweet 

 clover as a soil-improver for thin land ? This is a 

 legume, making free use of the air's nitrogen and 

 growing rank on land that is poor. Its value as a 

 soil renovator certainly has not been appreciated. 

 We should have more definite data on this subject. 

 When the clover is cut early for hay, as is done in 

 the case of alfalfa, the hay is nutritious and Hon. F- 

 E. Dawley, of the New York institutPS,whoh;is grown 

 it for many years as a cover crop in an orchard, says 

 that his cattle like the hay after it has been sweated 

 in the mow. The ability of sweet clover to furnish 

 a big amount of humus-making material to poor 

 land is probably its most attractive point. There 

 is prejudice against this plant because live stock 

 does not graze it, as a rule, and it is a weed where 

 not wanted, but I believe it will furnish more nitro- 

 gen and good humus to a very poor soil than any 

 other plant we have, provided the sweet clover bac- 

 teria are present in the ground. In that respect it is 

 like alfalfa and all other legumes. 



Earmers' Bulletin No. 18, of the general 

 government, in speaking of the value of 

 sweet clover on poor soils, says : " As a 

 restorative crop for yellow loam and white 

 lime lands this plant has no superior, and 

 for black prairie soils it has no equal." 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



(Trifolium incai-natitm). 



This species, if grown largely, would cer- 

 tainly have one special advantage over any 

 of the other clovers, in that it comes into 

 bloom before any other, and very soon after 

 apple-blossoms ; in fact, it fills the gap 

 between apple-bloom and white clover. 

 The color of the bloom is quite distinct 

 from that of the common red clover; in fact, 

 it looks more like a great long tapering 

 strawberry than any thing else. Almost 

 every season, while ours is in bloom, people 

 stop their teams to look at it and inquire 

 about it; and on Decoration day sometimes 

 tliey come for miles just to get huge bou- 

 quets of these great crimson blossoms that 

 almost startle one by their beauty and 

 brightness. In visiting other bee-keepers 

 where they have succeeded in growing it, 

 we found a similar report; and one who 

 has never seen an acre of crimson clover 



