SWEET CLOVER: GROWING THE CROP. 23 



stand the following spring, sweet clover may be sown at any time 

 of the year and a satisfactory stand obtained. Little is thought of 

 the enormous number of seeds which shatter from a single plant and 

 fall on an area not exceeding 5 or 6 feet in diameter. Single plants 

 have produced as many as 350,000 seeds (the approximate number 

 in H pounds), or about 10.000 seeds for each square foot of ground 

 covered. It matters little how many of these seeds germinate in the 

 fall they mature or during the following winter, when the seed- 

 lings will be killed by freezing, for there will be enough viable seeds 

 left in the ground to germinate when conditions are favorable in 

 the spring. Conditions are very different when sweet clover is sown 

 on cultivated soil at the rate of 5 to 20 pounds of seed to the acre 

 25 to 100 seeds to the square foot. When this quantity is sown, 

 it is necessary that it be planted at such a time that the greatest 

 number of seeds will germinate and produce plants. 



HULLED SWEET-CLOVER SEED. 



Hulled seed makes up a large percentage of the sweet-clover seed 

 sown. The germination of hulled seed varies considerably, although 

 ordinarily it is higher than that of unhulled seed. Seeding experi- 

 ments conducted at Arlington, Ya., with seed which germinated 

 80 per cent show clearly that seed which germinates well should not 

 be sown during the winter months in those sections of the country 

 where midwinter thaws are likely to occur, and especially in sections 

 south of the latitude of southern Ohio. In these experiments seed 

 was sown during each month of the winter. Good stands were ob- 

 tained only on those plats which were sown in the latter part of 

 February and during March and April. At least 75 per cent of 

 the seed sown during November, December, and January germinated 

 on warm days during winter thaws and was killed by later cold 

 weather. Notwithstanding the fact that sweet-clover seedlings will 

 endure fairly low temperatures, seed germinating more than 50 per 

 cent should not be sown during the winter months, and preferably 

 not more than a week previous to the average date for the last 

 severe freeze. 



No data have been secured on winter seeding in those portions of 

 the United States where open winters do not occur. It is probable 

 that in those sections the winters are sufficiently cold to prevent 

 germination before spring. Good results may be obtained by winter 

 seeding, but as usually no trouble is experienced in those sections in 

 obtaining a stand by seeding as soon as the soil can be worked in the 

 spring, it is strongly recommended that seeding be done with hulled 

 seed, which germinates well at this time of the } r ear. 



Many excellent stands have been obtained by seeding late in the 

 spring, but in most sections seeding at this time is not as certain to 



