138 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 'OF THE 



many pounds per acre you get in the 

 way of seed? 



Mr. Mosier — This is the first year I 

 ever harvested for seed. I was learn- 

 ing this j'ear. I got 150 pounds to the 

 acre this year. That is not a large 

 yield; it is nothing like what we read 

 about. 



This year in Will County (I have 

 forgotten the name of the man), a 

 little over 13 bushels per acre was 

 raised. Mr. Comstock got eight 

 bushels on a farm in Iowa. The yield 

 huns on an average, I should say, of 

 from 5 to 7 bushels per acre. 



The gentleman from your County 

 who had that large yield sold his sweet 

 clover at $.25 a pound and the profit 

 was $205 an acre for his sweet clover 

 seed, and then he got a crop of hay 

 that he said would make two tons per 

 acre. 



In my own case this year I was 

 learning how to handle it and depended 

 on the first crop. I wanted really to 

 see how much growth I could get of 

 sweet clover and I did not know when 

 to cut it, nor what was the best time 

 to cut it, and I had to experiment with 

 it. I found some parts of the field 

 were all right but other parts of the 

 field had gotten too ripe and the seed 

 was practically all gone. That is the 

 advantage of leaving a second crop for 

 seed; it ripens more uniformly than the 

 first crop. 



Another disadvantage I experienced 

 this year: When the clover was ready 

 to cut, or would have been in about a 

 week, we had a heavy storm that 

 caused the sweet clover that was 

 higher than my head to lean over, and 

 it was only waist high. A week after 

 that it was white with bloom. 



I told my wife I lost more sleep over 

 that sweet clover than anything I had 

 to work with before. 



This year, by cutting the first crop, 

 we will get a better seed crop. 



If you cut a crop of hay when it gets 

 to be 18 or 20 inches high, that is the 

 second year's growth, it will ripen 

 much more uniformly the second crop. 



The man on my farm wanted to see 

 whether the stock would eat sweet 

 clover hay, and he cut some to try it, 

 and the seed on that ripened much 

 more evenly. It was plumper and 

 nicer seed in every way, and I have 

 seen corresponding with men who have 

 been growing sweet clover for some 



time, and have learned that that is the 

 plan they follow. 



With regard to sweet clover roots, 

 the rapidity with which they root in the 

 soil and the amount of root they de- 

 velop the first season is wonderful. 



Last fall I took a spade and dug 

 around about 14 inches square and 

 then got a spade under one ^de and • 

 pried it under, sweet clover- alnd all, 

 and some of the roots were 30 inchps 

 long and were almost as large as a lead 

 pencil. That would indicate they went 

 down 1% foot below that. 



Prof. Roth of the University, in grow- 

 ing sweet clover, took a plant 3% 

 inches high; had three sets of leaves 

 on; he dug down and followed that 

 root two feet, and then gave it up. That 

 shows you the rapidity with which they 

 root and the reason why sweet clover, 

 as well as alfalfa, will stand the 

 drouth. 



Mr. Bruner — Will you get as much 

 seed by waiting for the second growth 

 of seed? 



Mr. Mosier — You will get more be- 

 cause the first crop will .seed irregu- 

 larly and much of it wilMall off. 



The second growth matures more 

 regularly and will produce more seed. 



Mr. France — Up in Wisconsin they 

 have gone to growing sweet clover for 

 seed; they clip the first in order to get 

 it to produce more seed. 



A member — AVill yeHpw grow with 

 white? 



Mr. Mosier — I was told that the first 

 to come in there was the white, and 

 that the white sweet clover occupied 

 the roadsides and ditches in that com- 

 munity, and later On the yellow came, 

 which seems to displace the white. 



Many of our clovers produce what is 

 commonly called clover sickness in the 

 soil and it will result in stopping the 

 growth. I have no doubt but what this 

 ■same condition would obtain in sweet 

 clover. If clover sickness is produced 

 by one clover another clover will come 

 in and live there. I think perhaps the 

 reason the jellow displaces the white 

 is because of the clover sickness dis- 

 placing the white. 



Mr. Coppin — I think the cause of the 

 yellow clover crowding the white out 

 would be on account of the yellow being 

 earlier and the seed maturing before 

 the white got along. 



Mr. Bruner — I notice where the yel- 

 low replaces the white in considerable 

 areas where there was no cutting done 



