ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



35 



two-thirds of Illinois. These soils em- 

 brace stony loams, gravelly loams, 

 sands, sandy loams, silt loams, clay 

 loams, clays, peaty loams and peats. 

 It even grows on alkali soils where it 

 is difficult or impossible to grow grain 

 crops. A soil never becomes so poor 

 that sweet clover will not grow, pro- 

 vided limestone and the proper bacteria 

 are present. It will grow luxuriantly 

 on gullied and eroded hillsides that are 

 so low in organic matter that nothing 

 else will grow. Hence, it is a most 

 important plant for the improvement 

 of these waste lands. The thousands 

 of acres of abandoned eroded land 

 could be improved better by sweet 

 clover than any other crop. 



Sweet clover is as sensitive to acid- 

 ity in the soil as alfalfa, and the same 

 soil treatment is required as for al- 

 falfa. To put the soil in good condi- 

 tion to grow either alfalfa or sweet 

 clover, three to four tons of ground 

 limestone per acre should be applied 

 to most of the soils of southern Illi- 

 nois. In the central and northern part 

 of the state practically all of the tim- 

 ber soil and the rolling part of the 

 prairie land is acid or becoming so and 

 one or two tons of limestone are neces- 

 sary for complete success with sweet 

 clover. ■ Many failures from shortage 

 of limestone will be made that w"ill be 

 attributed to other causes. 



Seeding Sweet Clover. 



.1. Seed. 

 Seed may be purchased in two forms, 

 hulled and unhulled, that is, still en- 

 closed in the shriveled pod. The for- 

 mer is much more satisfactory in al- 

 most every way. In this condition the 

 seed resembles alfalfa seed. The un- 

 hulled seed contains besides the 

 shriveled pods around the seeds more 

 or less of other impurities, such as 

 sticks, etc.. which render it difficult to 

 sow evenly. 



As a general rule sweet clover does 

 not give a high per cent of germina- 

 tion because of the dense seed coat 

 which the moisture can not penetrate 

 readily. These are commonly spoken 

 of as hard seeds. Nearly all seed con- 

 tains considerable quantity of these 

 that do not germinate the first year. 

 They are more abundant in southern 

 than northern grown seed. In 22 

 samples from different sources, south- 

 ern grown seed contained 60 while the 

 same number of samples of northern 



grown seed showed 43 per cent of hard 

 seed. The germination was 14 and 37 

 per cent, respectively. At the Ohio 

 Experiment Station the average per 

 cent of germination of 37 samples 

 tested by the botanical department was 

 29.14. Methods of scratching or scour- 

 ing the seed coat to permit w-ater pene- 

 tration are being devised which will 

 largely overcome the difficulty of poor 

 germination. This fact of poor germi- 

 nation requires the use of a much 

 larger amount of seed than would 

 otherwise be necessary. It is advisable 

 to sow from 12 to 15 pounds per acre 

 of hulled seed and from 20 to 25 pounds 

 of unhulled seed. 



Time of Seeding and Seed Bed. 



The time of seeding varies somewhat 

 with the* nurse crop. Early spring is 

 the best time. The seed should be 

 sown in the same way as red clover 

 with a light seeding of oats or, still 

 better, barley. When seeded with 

 wheat it may be sown in January, Feb- 

 ruary or early March so that the freez- 

 ing and thawing may bury the seed in 

 the soil. This early seeding also gives 

 longer time for the moisture to soften 

 and penetrate the seed coat and gives 

 germination. Seeding in the latter 

 part of July may be practiced success- 

 fully if the season is favorable. Late 

 summer or fall seeding is not advis- 

 able in this latitude as it is liable to 

 heave out during the winter. 



The preparation of the seed bed 

 seems to be of secondary importance. 

 The crop does well on a well prepared 

 seed bed and it does surprisingly well 

 On a poorly prepared seed bed. Weeds 

 are the great enemy of young sweet 

 clover and it is much more important 

 that the soil be free of weeds than that 

 the crop have a good seed bed. A 

 nurse crop helps to keep the weeds in 

 subjection. On gullied hill land it is 

 not necessary to attempt to prepare a 

 seed bed. The seed may be sown in 

 late winter or a number of young 

 plants transplanted from the roadside. 

 The seed produced will completely seed 

 the area in a few years and transform 

 this waste land into productive pasture 

 land. It must be remembered that 

 limestone is necessary on nearly all 

 eroded land in the state. 



Inoculation. . 



Sweet clover being a legume requires 

 the presence of certain bacteria in the 

 soil to produce satisfactorj- results. 



