364 



THE BEE-KEEPERS" REVIEW 



Sweet Clover in Crop Rotation, 



In view of the fact that until within 

 the past few years most farmers in 

 Illinois regarded the sweet clover plant 

 as a noxious weed, a letter on the sub- 

 ject from Mr. W. M. Budlong, of Rock- 

 ford, 111., will be of interest to farmers 

 throughout the state. 'Mr. Budlong 

 says : 



"Having read the farmers' institute 

 bulletins with a great deal of interest, 

 I know you are doing good work. There 

 is, however, one subject which I con- 

 sider of considerable importance which 

 you have not mentioned, namely, the 

 value of sweet clover in the rotation 

 of crops. 



"For soil inoculation preparatory to 

 raising alfalfa and to restore a run- 

 down soil to a fertile state, no crop can 

 equal sweet clover. There are many 

 thousands of acres of land in Illinois 

 so low in fertility that the immediate 

 attempt to raise alfalfa or most any 

 legume on them would be a failure, but 

 when sown to sweet clover will yield 

 an abundant harvest of hay, besides 

 materially enriching the soil by its deep 

 rooting system. 



"Most farmers are not aware that 

 sweet clover hay cut several times dur- 

 ing the season is nearly as tender and 

 palatable as alfalfa hay. I have seen 

 herds of cattle leave a good blue grass 

 pasture for a sweet clover pasture. 



"Thomas Richolson, of Davis Junc- 

 tion, 111., sowed sweet clover with his 

 oats a year ago last spring, and after 

 the oats were cut and the cattle were al- 

 lowed access to the sweet clover in the 

 stubble, his yield of milk doubled and 

 the cream more than doubled, as evi- 

 denced by his creamery receipts. This 

 increase he said was due to the superior 

 feeding qualities of sweet clover. His 

 horses, which were reduced in flesh and 

 run down from the summer's work, 

 gained in weight remarkably fast after 

 feeding on sweet clover. 



"Frank Coverdale, of Delmar, Iowa, 

 who has 200 acres in sweet clover and 

 has been raising it for fifteen years, 

 found the pasture lands of Iowa would 

 be increased fourfold in feeding value 

 if they were seeded to sweet clover to- 

 gether with blue grass. 



"In my investigations of sweet clover 

 I find that all vegetation grows consid- 

 erably more luxuriously when grown in 

 close proximity to sweet clover so that 

 their roots intermingle, as the sweet 



clover roots evidently supply nitrogen to 

 other plants. 



"Crops following a two-year rotation, 

 with sweet clover, will gain in yield 

 from 25 to 50 per cent. 



"The tap roots of sweet clover ex- 

 tend down into the ground several feet 

 and when they decay they leave holes 

 where water readily flows moistening 

 the ground to a considerable depth. 

 These decayed roots are at the same 

 time a good nitrogen fertilizer. 



"I believe it is a mistake to try to 

 raise alfalfa on run-down farm land. 

 If sweet clover were grown for two 

 years and the land then seeded to al- 

 falfa, failure would be reduced to a 

 minimum, as the ground would be in- 

 oculated and enriched by so doing. 



"I will enumerate a number of the 

 qualities in which sweet clover is su- 

 perior to other legumes : 



"1. It will produce more hay on a 

 given soil than red clover, alsike. or 

 mammoth clover. ^ 



"2. It will grow on many soils too 

 poor to raise alfalfa or red clover suc- 

 cessfully. 



"3. It is the only clover except white 

 clover that will stand pasturing with 

 cattle and horses. 



"4. It will add more nitrogen to the 

 soil than any other legume. 



"5. It will thrive with less time in 

 the soil than most other legumes, al- 

 though it will not grow when the soil 

 is too acid. 



"6. It will not bloat stock whether 

 fed wet or dry. 



"7. It has no plant disease ; and it 

 will thrive and combat weeds or grasses 

 at the same time. 



"8. In pastures during a drouth, 

 sweet clover will keep green and grow 

 when other clovers and grasses have 

 practically all dried up." — H. A. Mc- 

 Keene, Secretary Illinois Farmers' In- 

 stitute. 



Newest hat for women is the "bee 

 hive." Sometimes you will see it over 

 a queen and there may be a few drones 

 around. — Arkansas Gazette. 



We always think any hat pretty so 

 long as our honey is in it. — Ft. Smith 

 Times. 



Would you advise clipping the wings 

 of those queens, or do you favor captur- 

 ing them if they issue? Would it be 

 fair to "trap" them? — Subscriber. 



Wife says we had better "exclude" 

 them. 



