184 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



During the early part of the second year's growth, sweet clover is 

 extremely vigorous. No forage plant that grows will equal it in 

 the amount of feed it will produce. But as the autumn months 

 come on the plant has largely spent its force and needs the new 

 seeding to help out the forage. The first reason then for this 

 failure was in not reseeding their pasture, which then would have 

 come on after they removed their crop of hay, and would have 

 yielded abundant feed as it did the year before. 



The second reason for failure can be found in the cutting of that 

 crop of hay while in full bloom. While sweet clover resembles 

 alfalfa in many of its habits, in others it is widely difterent. When 

 alfalfa or the other clovers are cut, the crowns send out new shoots 

 for the new growth. Not so with sweet clover. When the blos- 

 soming stage is reached the crowns send out new shoots for the new 

 growth. Not so with sweet clover. When the blossoming stage 

 is reached the crowns send out but few new shoots. When the 

 stalks are cut off, the stubs, and not the crowns, send out the new 

 growth, and if cut like ordinary grass there are not much stubs left 

 on which to send out branches. 



If stock is not sufficient to keep down the rank growth it is a 

 good practice to clip just before the plant begins blooming, but in 

 doing this the sickle bar of the mower should be raised as high as 

 possible, so as to leave the stul)s from four to six inches high. 

 These stubs will then quickly send out a vigorous growth of young, 

 tender branches. The blooming season will be retarded and the 

 life of the plant prolonged. Had those two requirements been 

 included in the experiments there is no good reason why the second 

 year's results should not at least have equaled the first. With the 

 great advantage of the second year's start over the new seeding, the 

 duration of the season should have been increased by thirty days, 

 and the natural results should be much in excess of the first year. 



I include sweet clover with all oat seeding, not otherwise seeded. 

 It adds much nitrogen to the soil, and affords much of the very best 

 fall, winter, and early spring feed for the stock. With favorable 

 conditions for growth, a ton or more of the best of hay- can be 

 secured from the stubble field. All of this aside from the cost of 

 the seed and the time of sowing. It is just so much net profit. 



Now, November 1, our hogs are running in the corn field by 

 the side of which is a stubble field which was seeded to rape and 

 sweet clover. The rape and sweet clover are both 18 inches high 

 and the hogs can be found there feeding a large part of the time. 

 The hogs are doing the hustling necessary for development. They 

 are gathering their own protein, and they are not mixing their feed 

 with their own excrement and germs to breed disease, but are 

 getting their food pure and clean, and leaving all manure distributed 



