In sowing the seed the ground should be made fine 

 and rather firm, as better results are so secured than 

 when the ground is left loose to quite a depth. It 

 blooms the next year after sowing the seed. 



Milledgeville, 111., Aug., 1899. F. A. SNELL. 



HOW TO GET KID OF IT, ETC. 



Mr. E. Smith's advice to L. A. Sawyer in regard to 

 getting rid of sweet clover is sound. It is just what 

 they do here, and (I am sorry to say) they succeed, 

 bweet clover is termed a noxious weed in this locality. 

 Street commissioners, road supervisors, and railroad- 

 section foremen have strict instructions to cut it be- 

 fore it blooms. In this, however, they do not always 

 succeed; but they do as a rule get at least the most of 

 it cut before it can ripen its seeds. 



As I saw this wholesale destruction I remonstrated 

 vigorously, and I used A. I. Root's well-known phrase, 

 * ic will never trespass on cultivated soil, or any pas- 

 ture;" but there I got my foot in it. I was shown 

 nlaces where it had got a rod or more into a pasture 

 field and also in meadow. 



Will cattle not eat it? Yes, they do; but not as 

 long as they have plenty of June grass; and by the 

 time June grass is scarce the clover is too big. If 

 the farmers would cut it only once, then the cattle 

 would take care of it after the June grass is gone. 

 A year ago last August my bees were storing honey 

 fast, and it all came from the sweet clover. We had 

 had some rain, which had started the clover anew. 

 One day I went to Plasterhead, about three miles dis- 

 tant, and along the roads I saw a sight of beauty- 

 the fresh green of sweet clover, and only 6 or 8 inches 

 high, loaded with bloom, and my bees were fairly 

 swarming on it. A flock of half-starving cattle and 

 pigs tried in vain to get their heads through the fence 

 and get a bite of it; but as I returned, three men 

 were at work, cutting down the "noxious weed" that 

 the starving cattle were not allowed to get a bite of; 

 and next day my bees began robbing. I had 62 colo- 

 nies, and might have got many pounds of honey had 

 it been left; but it is a "noxious weed," and must go. 

 Port Clinton, O., Feb. 7, 1899. JULIUS JOHANNSEN. 



