OTHER CLOVERS 421 



504. Relative proportions of tops and roots of sweet 

 clover. Hopkins at the Illinois Experiment Station 

 determined the total yield of tops and roots to a depth of 

 20 inches, when the plants were nearly mature, to be 

 respectively 10,367 and 2410 pounds dry matter to an 

 acre. 1809 pounds of the roots were in the first seven 

 inches of soil and 601 pounds between 7 and 20 inches 

 in depth. The tops contained 197 pounds of nitrogen 

 and the roots 31 pounds. 



505. Utilization. Sweet clover may be utilized either 

 as pasturage, hay or green manure, and has been used 

 both for soiling and for silage. 



While the herbage is bitter, it is much less so in early 

 spring and most animals can be taught at this time to 

 eat the plant. It may be thus used for all classes of farm 

 animals, but is probably best for hogs and cattle. An 

 acre of sweet clover will furnish pasturage through the 

 season for about 20 young hogs, which apparently thrive 

 quite as well as those on alfalfa or red clover. At the 

 Iowa Experiment Station pigs made an average daily 

 gain of 1.02 pounds on sweet clover as against 1.13 pounds 

 on red clover pasturage. In pasturing cattle care must 

 be taken to avoid bloating. 



The use of sweet clover as a soiling crop is uncommon, 

 but hogs eat it readily when thus fed. At the Ontario 

 Experiment Station a yield of over 30 tons green matter 

 to the acre was obtained. 



Sweet clover is mostly used as hay and should be cut 

 just as the first blossoms appear, or a little before, as the 

 stems thereafter rapidly become woody. In curing, much 

 of the cumarin volatilizes so that the hay loses much of 

 its bitter taste. 



If spring sown it is usually best to utilize sweet clover 



