SWEET CLOVER: UTILIZATION. 23 



are 12 to 15 inches high and continue until flower buds appear. An 

 nrea of such a size that the plants may be cut every four or five 

 weeks should be selected. The plants should not be cut closer to the 

 ground than 4 inches during the first part of the season and 9 to 12 

 inches during the latter part of the season. On account of the high 

 protein content and the large amount of forage produced on a rela- 

 tively small area, sweet clover may profitably be fed in this manner 

 when more desirable soiling crops are not to be had. ( 



SWEET CLOVER AS A FEED. 



PALATABILITY OF SWEET CLOVER. 



The woody growth of sweet clover as it reaches maturity and the 

 bitter taste due to coumarin have been the principal causes for live 

 stock refusing to eat it at first. On this account many farmers have 

 assumed it to be worthless as a feed. It is a fact that stock seldom 

 eat the hard, woody stems of mature plants, but it is true also that 

 stock eat sparingly of the coarse, fibrous growth of such legumes as 

 red or mammoth clover when they have been permitted to mature 

 and have lost much of their palatability. All kinds of stock will 

 eat green sweet clover before it becomes woody, or hay which has 

 been cut at the proper time and well cured, after they have become 

 accustomed to it. Many cases are on record in which cattle have 

 refused alfalfa or red clover when sweet clover was accessible. Milch 

 cows have been known to refuse a ration of alfalfa hay when given 

 to them for the first time. Western range cattle which have never 

 been fed corn very often refuse to eat corn fodder, or even corn, for 

 a short time, and instances have come under observation in which 

 they ate the dried husks and left the corn uneaten. When these 

 cattle were turned on green grass the following spring they browsed 

 on the dead grass of the preceding season's growth, which, presum- 

 ably, more closely resembled the grass to which they were accus- 

 tomed. Such preliminary observations should never be taken as 

 final, even when they represent the results of careful investigators. 

 When cowpeas were first introduced into certain sections of this 

 country much trouble was experienced in getting stock to eat the 

 vines, either when cured into hay or made into ensilage. This diffi- 

 culty, however, was soon overcome. 



It is very true that stock which have never been pastured on sweet 

 clover or fed on the hay must become accustomed to it before 

 they will eat it, but the fact that sweet clover is now being fed to 

 stock in nearly every State indicates that the distaste for it can be 

 overcome easily and successfully. As sweet clover usually starts 

 growth earlier in the spring than other forage plants and as the 

 early growth presumably contains less coumarin than older plants, 



