Frank Coverdale's Experiments and 

 Experience. 



SWEET CLOVER. 



ITS VALUE AS PASTURAGE FOR CATTLE AND BEES J WORTH 

 FOUR DOLLARS AN ACRE FOR HONEY ALONE. 



Prom GLEANINGS for Feb. 15, 1908. 



The steers shown in the illustrations are part of a 

 load shipped to Chicago Aug. 1, bringing $5.75 per 

 100. During June and July they were fastened into 

 this 35-acre field in which was a pretty good stand 

 oi sweet clover. This ground has been sown to this 

 valuable legume for four years, and it seems to thrive 

 better each year. No one who looks at this pasture 

 and sees the cattle eating it and becoming fat has 

 any doubt about its value as a pasture-plant. Most 

 farmers think I am growing a vile weed; but they say 

 it makes good feed for the cattle nevertheless. When 

 I want to get rid of it after getting other fields started 

 I guess I shall have to plow up the field. 



Sweet clover is certainly a great honey-plant, and 

 this adds very largely to its value to the keeper 

 of bees. It is also the very best clover to sow where 

 a permanent and first-class grazing-field is wanted for 

 dairy cattle, sheep and hogs. I have not the least 

 doubt of its permanency, because of its luxurious 

 growth through both wet periods and the drouths. It 

 always furnishes a large quantity of nice green 

 feed until the ground begins to freeze in the fall. 

 Even after it is frozen the stock do well on it if any 

 is left. 



1 have 150 colonies of bees near this field, and it 

 is a sight to see it when it is in bloom. The bees 

 keep on filling the supers slowly with the honey, 

 which is water-white, and very agreeable to most peo- 

 ple. For me, this clover has yielded honey every 

 season; but the bees do better on it at times. My 

 neighbors keep some bees, so about 200 colonies work 

 on it annually, and yet the field is worth from $3.00 



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