May 1, 191c 



375 



erage fanner in Illinois laiigii(.'(l at alfalfa,. 

 not to speak of sweet clover. To-day there 

 are liundretls of acres planted. 



Mr. Graham's jiriiriary object in using 

 the sweet clover is that it is a still better 

 renovator of the soil than alfalfa. Bee- 

 keepers, take notice of that. When asked 

 if he used it for grazing' or seed primarily, 

 Mr. Graham answered in the negative, say- 

 ing-, " Neither. I prefer it for fertilizing." 

 Comparative tests made there in Rochelle 

 have shown that the sweet clover, at least 

 on that soil, renovates better, and makes 

 the soil give greater yields of corn and 

 potatoes following' it than alfalfa. 



Often it is not necessary to inoculate the 

 soil. Where it is necessary, one may go to 

 the roadside where sweet clover is growing', 

 gather some of the soil from about the 

 roots, and, after moistening the seed with 

 a thin solution of commercial glue, spriid<le 

 a few handfuls of the soil to the peck of 

 seed and mix it well. The seed must be 

 spread out carefully to allow thorough dry- 

 ing, else it will spoil. 



When asked if he had ever had any 

 trouble getting cattle to eat the cloxci', or 

 any bad after-effects, he said he had not. 

 The first year it may be grazed successfully. 

 and the second, cut for the seed. It is l)c.st 

 planted in the fall, say August. It should 

 get enough growth in the fall rains to be 

 six inches high for winter. Straw spread 

 liglitly over the fields aids the wintering. 

 Three head to the acre of cattle, as the 



Ijicture shows, have been pastured Iheie tliis 

 year. 



It is cut while young and tender, in the 

 fall of the first year, and put into silos just 

 as young and tender corn, and fed through 

 the cold winter months just as ordinary 

 silage. Mr. Graham says it makes very 

 good silage. Limestone on acid soils is a 

 necessity to get it growing, for, like alfalfa, 

 sweet clover will not grow on a " sour " 

 soil. The richer the land the better growth 

 it makes, but it is unexcelled as a renovator. 

 The picture shows the ordinary oat-binder 

 being used to cut the clovei", which is han- 

 dled in much the same way as ordinary 

 mammoth clover for hulling. 



Mr. Graham has never kept any bees, for 

 there are so many in the neighborhood that 

 he believes there are enough to insure all 

 the necessary fertilization of the blossoms. 

 Not being a beekeeper, he had never noticed 

 particidarly that the bees worked on it, and 

 this shows that necessity often makes one 

 notice that which he may never have known 

 existed. However, the yields of honey 

 which are secured by some of the beekeep- 

 ers around there point to the fact that the 

 bees visit the blossoms very much, and are 

 more of a necessity than Mr. Graham had 

 thought. It is conjectured that the wind 

 fertilizes to a great extent where so many 

 acres stand side by side, as in the case of 

 corn, while solitarj' plants along the road- 

 side would not bear seed unless visited by 

 bees confinuallv. 



Plainfield, ill. 



