June, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



363 



ing to the different State experiment stations. Will 

 jou plnnt this seed this year? 



Farm Crops Section. 



By H. D. Hughes. 

 Ames, Iowa, April 15, 1918. 



The letter inclosed a packet containing 

 perhaps 50 seeds. I had a big laugh when 

 1 received it, and then I divided the few 

 seeds, and sent about half of them, with 

 the letter, to Prof. C. E. Thome of the 

 Ohio Experiment Station. He replied at 

 once that they had already received a simi- 

 lar packet of seed. What particularly im- 

 pressed me was a printed statement (of re- 

 cent date) in regard to the new legume, 

 reading as below : 



IOWA STATK COLLKOE 



and 

 Iowa Agricultural Experimejit Station. 



Ames, Iowa. 



An annual white sweet clover was discovered at 

 the Iowa Experiment Station in March, 1916, in 

 seedings made in thci college greenhouses. In field 

 trials it made a growth of 4^^ feet in 314 months, 

 while medium red clover made a growth of 5 inches, 

 and biennial' white clover a growth of 14 inches. 



Letters have come to the Iowa station from all 

 parts of the civilized world, begging for just a few 

 seeds. Unheard-of prices have been offered for it. 

 Time and again we have been asked to set our own 

 price, and that it would be paid gladly; but the 

 loiva station has not sold a single seed. 



In the spring of 1918 100 seeds were sent to 

 each of the State experiment stations, and 50 to 

 each seed company in the United States. Small 

 samples were also sent to farmers and seed-growers 

 in different parts of the world who were especially 

 interested. 



The reports received by the Iowa station shows 

 that in nearly all parts of the United States this 

 clover has made the remarkable growth of from 

 four to eight fe«t in from four to five months from 

 seeding. 



Please note in the al)Ove the sentence 

 that I have taken the liberty of putting in 

 italics. My good friend Prof. Hughes 

 (and I take it for grantefl the whole State 

 of Iowa is back of him) refused to sell the 

 seed that made a jiromise of such value, no 

 matter what price was offered; and in 

 their proposal to send out a few seeds free 

 of charge there was no restriction confin- 

 ing themselves to the one State of Iowa; 

 but I take it that a small packet of the 

 seed was to be given to each applicant in 

 the whole wide world, " without money and 

 witliout price." The great State of Iowa 

 seems to have gotten hold of the wonderful 

 text that I have diosen at the head of tliis 

 article — " Do good and lend, hoping for 

 nothing again." Of course I planted some 

 of the seeds sent me two years ago by 

 friend Hughes; and wlien they were in 

 bloom I gave notice to all the readers of 

 Gleaxixg.s that I would send a few seeds 

 to anybody who would send a stamped and 

 addressed envelope. See Gleanings for 

 October, 1018, page 629. During the two 

 years that have passed we have sent out 



o\er 1,000 packages, and answered ques- 

 tions in a great part of these letters with 

 the view not only of helping the beekeepers 

 but the cause of agriculture thruout the 

 whole wide world. 



I have already given an extract from 

 what the Ohio Farmer has to say about the 

 new legume, and below 1 submit a clipping 

 from the Enrnl Neio-Yorker of Mar, 13: 



ANNUAL SWEET CLOVER; NEW PLANT HIRED MAN 



An Accidental Discovery Which Changes Farming. 

 The Iowa Agricultural College now presents a 

 candidate for the position of plant hired man which 

 seems to us most promising of any yet reported. It 

 is an annuM white sweet clover. This was not 

 known to exist until March, 1916, when H. D. 

 Hughes, who had charge of the farm crop work at 

 the college, observed a number of very large sweet 

 clover plants. They all seemed to come from one 

 particular lot of seed. These plants seemed far 

 superior to the others, and looked as if they were 

 about ready to bloom less than three months from 

 seeding. The college had secured some 500 differ- 

 ent lots of sweet clover seed for trial, and they 

 were planted in the greenhouse in January. At 

 about March 1 plans were made to tear these 

 plantings out to make room for other crops, when 

 Mr. Hughes noticed these larger plants. When this 

 seed was planted it was supposed to be the com- 

 mon biennial or two-year white variety, but when 

 the difference was discovered these superior plants 

 were left in the soil. By the middle of March they 

 had grown to a height of from 3 to 41/^ feet, and 

 most of them were in full bloom. At the same age 

 the common sweet clover was less than one foot 

 high. All who have grown the common varieties 

 know that practically one season must be given up 

 while the plant gets ready to work 1 

 . .A POSSIBLE " SPORT." — It is not definitely known 

 where this clover originated, but it probably first 

 appeared in Alabama. The indications are that it 

 first appeared as a " sport " or mutation on wild 

 land. Mr. Hughes gives the following guess as to 

 its origin: 



" It is quite certain that the ' sport ' did not oc- 

 cur in a cultivated field, for under these conditions 

 the seed would have been lost. It evidently oc- 

 curred on wild land several years, where^ it made its 

 growth and produced its seed year after year with- 

 out anyone becoming aware of the fact that it was 

 making its complete growth in a single season. Con- 

 siderable sweet clover seed is harvested in certain 

 sections of Alabama by negroes, who either stripped 

 the seed off the standing plants or cut the plants 

 down and threshed the seed out by hand. Under 

 these conditions the seed of the two clovers became 

 mixed." 



Its discovery in the Iowa greenhouse was one. of 

 those fortunate accidents which have had so much 

 to do with changing industry. For we firmly believe 

 that the use of this annual sweet clover is destined 

 to upset many of our present ideas of farming and 

 fertilizing. 



THE FIRST PLANTING. — That first season in the 

 gieenhouse it was possible to obtain a number of 

 seeds. There were 22 plants in this original lot. 

 and they gave enough seed to grow a short row for 

 each. This seed was planted about the middle of 

 June (the same year in which the plants were dis- 

 covered). .'V thin seeding of oats was made with 

 them. At the same time other clovers were seeded 

 for comparison. The oats were cut when the heads 

 were in " milk " without injuring the clover. At 

 this time the annual sweet clover plants were about 

 .•<ix inches high. After that they grew rapidly. The 

 22 plants varied in height and maturity as they 



