10 FARMERS' BULLETIN 797. 



the exception of white sweet clover, yellow biennial sweet clover, 

 and yellow annual sweet clover, but four species in the somewhat 

 limited tests have given sufficiently good results to merit special at- 

 tention, and none have so far proved Superior to white sweet clover, 

 which is now extensively grown in many States. 



A species of Trigonella 1 is often referred to as blue-flowered meli- 

 lotus or blue-flowered sweet clover. While this plant is closely re- 

 lated to the plants belonging to the genus Melilotus, it does not be- 

 long to this genus and therefore should not be called sweet clover. 

 It is an erect, quite leafy, very fragrant annual, which produces a 

 fair growth. It may prove of value as a green-manure crop or as a 

 catch crop under certain conditions, but at the present time it is not 

 to be recommended where sweet clover can be grown successfully. 

 In most tests Trigonella has produced less forage than the better 

 species of sweet clover. 



HISTORY. 



Sweet clover has been used as a honey plant and for forage and 

 green manure for more than 2,000 years in the Mediterranean region, 

 although it has never been considered of much importance. 



The first authentic report ,of sweet clover in the United States was 

 in 1739, when Gronovius stated in his Flora Virginica that it was 

 collected by Clayton. Cutler reported its presence in New England 

 as early as 1785, and Pursh in 1814 stated in his Flora Americse 

 Septentrionalis that it is found on the gravelly shores of rivers from 

 Pennsylvania to Virginia. Elliott reported the presence of yellow 

 biennial sweet clover in his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina 

 and Georgia in 1824, and Beck found the species Melilotus leucantha 2 

 in the Northern States in 1833. 



In 1856 Prof. Tutwiller, of Green Springs Academy, Ala., received 

 a small quantity of white sweet-clover seed from the secretary to 

 the United States consul in Chile. Part of this seed was planted by 

 a young man named Strudwick on his father's plantation on the 

 prairie limestone belt, where it flourished. This plantation later 

 became the property of J. T. Collins, who, realizing the value of this 

 plant, sold seed to persons in many States. Not until recently has 

 sweet clover been grown to any extent as a cultivated crop in this 

 country. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



While sweet clover is to be found growing in many countries and 

 on all the continents of the world, it is native to temperate Europe 

 and Asia as far east as Tibet. It is grown to a limited extent in 



1 Trigonella coerulea. 2 Undoubtedly meaning Melilotus alba. 



