40 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Hosier — The Iowa Experiment 

 Station says the first year sweet clover 

 is almost as good as alfalfa. On Mr. 

 Cloverdale's farm I saw 150 as fine 

 hogs as I have ever seen and they were 

 pastured entirely on sweet clover pas- 

 ture, a little bit blue grass was in some 

 of the gullies , down there where the 

 clover had been started. 



Mr. Moore — That bitter element in 

 the sweet clover, it has been supposed 

 that was cumerin. 



Mr. Cloverdale, in his talk at Mt. 

 Pleasant, Iowa, last July said that the 

 U. S. scientists had analyzed sweet 

 clover and found it contained 5 per 

 cent more protein than alfalfa did — 

 but it seems they have not analyzed 

 this bitter element to know what it is. 



Mr. Stone — Mr. Cloverdale said that 

 that element that was in sweet clover 

 that made it bitter had been used by 

 physicians to allay colic in the hu- 

 man stomach, and that that was evi- 

 dence it w^ould not bloat anything. 



Mr. Mosier — The analyses vary quite 

 a good deal as to the amount of nitro- 

 gen that is present in sweet clover be- 

 cause of the different periods when the 

 samples were taken. In young sweet 

 clover there is very little, while there 

 is a larger proportion of nitrogen later 

 on. Analysis made after the sweet 

 clover had reached its maximum 

 growth showed that there is about 1.9 

 per cent or 2 per cent of nitrogen in 

 sweet clover; that would be about 40 

 pounds per ton, and that is just 

 about the same as the red clover. Of 

 course that is an important thing 

 when we look at sweet clover from the 

 soil standpoint — the nitrogen that it 

 contains — to keep the soil in good 

 physical condition; we want something 

 that will add organic matter and keep 

 our soil in good physical condition. .The 

 question of organic matter is going to 

 be one of the most important problems. 

 Many farms in the east have been 

 abandoned because of the loss of or- 

 ganic matter in the soils and in many 

 instances where those soils have or- 

 ganic matter put back into them they 

 become productive again. 



Mr. Moore — Mr. Cloverdale thinks he 

 has made quite a difference in his 

 sweet clover through selection; the 

 leaves are larger than alfalfa; they 

 make a richer morsel, both as forage 

 and hay. 



Mr. Stone — Most sWeet clover has a 

 leaf larger than alfalfa. 



Mr. Moore — The leaf is larger and 

 not as heavy stems. 



Mr. Mosier — That is one objection to 

 sw,eet clover — the size of the stem; it 

 is liable to get woody. 



At the University we are now carry- 

 ing experiments in sweet clover and 

 classifying them under different types; 

 we have one form of sweet clover that 

 will spread all over the ground, a 

 white blossom that will make a little 

 upward growth; others that will grow 

 up a single stem; and others that will 

 grow up with k number of stems, and 

 of course that is the thing we desire; 

 something that will have a small stem 

 or stock is desirabje, and &t the same 

 time, produce an abundance of seed; 

 of course the bee-keeper wants an 

 abundance of bloom. 



Mr. Stone — That difference in the 

 size of the stem — was that caused by 

 failure to inoculate? 



Mr. Mosier — No. I 'think not. 



Mr. Stone^-I tried it with alfalfa 

 when we did not inoculate; it grew 

 puny and fine stemmed but soon died 

 out. 



Mr. Mosier — The difference is in the 

 habit of the plant. The man who is 

 carrying on the experiments has a 

 couple of rows that are probably as 

 long as this room; in those rows you 

 will^see plants of all kinds of habits; 

 some will spread on the ground and 

 make no upward growth; others will 

 make an upward growth; he is trying 

 to select those plants that have de- 

 sirable habits, not those that grow on 

 the ground or by a single stem, but 

 those that will grow up from a number 

 of stems. 



Alfalfa plants differ in their habits 

 almost as much as sweet clover does. 



In these experiments he is ,jnaking 

 he has rows that are from three to 

 four feet apart; there is no crowding 

 of rows; the rows do not crowd each 

 other, so that it is undoubtedly due to 

 the habit of the plant. 



Mr. Stone — You know the nature of 

 pepper grass ; we had a field of alfalfa 

 two years ago and the first cutting in 

 the spring was nothing but pepper 

 grass; I supposed it was due to lime 

 not getting in the soil. The second 

 cutting was fine, clean hay. ' 



