SWEET CLOVER 309 



sirable or necessary to sow it alone on arable soils. 

 There may be conditions when it could be sown suc- 

 cessfully at the time of the last cultivation given to 

 corn and with a view to soil enrichment. 



Since sweet clover is seldom sown for the pur- 

 pose of providing food for live stock, it is not sown 

 in mixtures, nor is it well adapted for being sown 

 thus, because of the large and luxuriant character 

 of the growth, which would tend to smother other 

 plants sown along with it. 



The amount of seed to sow has been variously 

 stated at from 1 5 to 20 pounds per acre. The smaller 

 amount should be enough for almost any purpose, 

 and a much smaller amount should suffice for sow- 

 ing in byplaces and along road sides, where the 

 plants retain possession of the ground through self- 

 feeding. 



Pasturing. Because of the bitter aromatic prin- 

 ciple which it contains, known as commarin, stock 

 dislike it, especially at the first. And it is question- 

 able if they can be educated to like it in areas where 

 other food, which is more palatable, grows abun- 

 dantly. In an experiment directed by the author at 

 the Minnesota University Experiment Station, 

 sheep pastured upon it, and did not take kindly to it ; 

 but by turning them in to graze upon it in the morn- 

 ing, they cropped it down. In localities where good 

 grazing is not plentiful, if live stock have access to 

 it, especially when the plants are young, they will 

 so crop it down that in a few years it will entirely 

 disappear. But where other pastures are abundant, 

 it will continue to grow indefinitely. It would not 



