SWEET CLOVER OR MELILOTUS 177 



to inoculate a fresh soil if a liberal quantity of seed be used about 

 two bushels to the acre. If clean seed are used, it will be necessary 

 to inoculate the soil in some way if bur clover has not been recent- 

 ly grown successfully on this soil, and the most satisfactory way to 

 inoculate as for any of the legumes is to obtain a few hundred 

 pounds of soil for each acre, from a field that has produced a good 

 crop of this clover. Even with the seed sown in the burs, complete 

 and satisfactory inoculation is not usual the first year, but the sec- 

 ond year it usually becomes sufficient. It is usually claimed that 

 .soil that has grown alfalfa or melilotus successfully is inoculated 

 for bur clover. 



"Many failures to obtain a stand of this plant are recorded and 

 in the opinion of the writer they are most often due to sowing too 

 late, when the seed are in the burs, and* to the lack of inoculation. 

 There is probably no winter cover crop from which the best re- 

 sults can be obtained in time to prepare the land again for cotton. 

 For this reason, as well as for many others, some other crop should 

 follow the cotton and bur clover. If corn be planted after the bur 

 clover, ample time exists for the ripening of the clover, the prop- 

 er preparation of the land and the growth of the corn crop. As 

 soon as enough of the bur clover has ripened to insure re-seeding 

 of the land May 1 to 20 the land should be well broken, thor- 

 oughly harrowed and the corn planted. We advise those who are 

 thinking of trying bur clover for the first time, to sow only a 

 small area, say one acre. Procure seed in the burs and also, if 

 practicable, 200 to 500 pounds of soil from a field where the crop 

 is now growing well. Sow the latter part of July or in August, 

 and after a success has been achieved on one acre the seed and the 

 inoculated soil are at hand for sowing several acres if desired. As 

 a cover crop and soil improver bur clover is worth much more 

 than it will cost to grow it, but get your soil inoculated and learn 

 how to handle it before you try it on a large scale." 



Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba, M. officinalis) . This 

 plant resembles alfalfa, and is closely related to it. When 

 young it is hard to distinguish from alfalfa unless one 

 tastes the stem or leaves, when its characteristic bitter 

 taste is discovered. It has also a distinct odor that gives 

 it its name "sweet clover," and this odor it retains when 



