claiming that some of the seed will not come up until 

 the second year. We find this to be somewhat the 

 case ourselves. Sweet clover possesses many advan- 

 tages over the other plants which are commonly used 

 for building up soils. Crimson clover is undoubtedly 

 one of the greatest of these plants, but it is an annual, 

 and requires seeding every year, while the sweet 

 clover requires but one seeding. Winter vetch is also 

 a splendid soil-builder. It is a little high-priced, and 

 the crop is decidedly uncertain in the Northern States 

 unless inoculated, and it also requires reseeding each 

 year. Mammoth clover is one of the best, but it is a 

 biennial, and not so certain to reseed itself as fs the 

 sweet clover. Moreover, the sweet clover produces 

 larger plants than* any of the other legumes men- 

 tioned. Its stalks will sometimes be as large as a 

 man's thumb, and six or eight feet tall, thus pro- 

 ducing very large amounts of humus to add to the 

 soil. 



We would always bear in mind that it must not be 

 allowed to escape cultivation to fence corners or to 

 other waste places, but if sown and confined to cul- 

 tivated fields no one need fear it, because one or two 

 years' cultivation will entirely destroy it. I think 

 it possible that many of the men who are laboring 

 over the abandoned-farm question in the Eastern 

 State would be more than repaid for trying this 

 plant, ana I think that, if they would apply good- 

 sized amounts of ground limestone to the worn-out 

 fields at the same time, they would accomplish' the 

 desired result about as quickly and as cheaply as is 

 possible. And I feel sure that farmers having any 

 kind of soil that simply needs building up will find 

 this plant as useful in bringing it up as any legume 

 that we have. CHAS. B. WING. 



Ohio, March 12, 1910. 



SOIL SUITABLE FOB SWEET CLOVER. 



I have numerous letters from readers of the Rural 

 New-Yorker in regard to the seeding of sweet clover 

 and the character of soil best suited to it. Sweet 

 clover will grow on any soil that is not water-logged 



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