28 FARMERS* BULLETIN 820. 



averaging 836 pounds, were turned on 40 acres of sweet clover which 

 had been seeded that spring with barley. These animals were pas- 

 tured on the sweet clover until November 1 without additional feed. 

 During this time they made exceptionally large gains. From Novem- 

 ber 1 to December 11, 28 head of these steers had access to an 80- 

 acre field of cornstalks. On December 11 they were put into the feed 

 lot. During the time these steers were on the cornstalks they barely 

 held their gain, but during the first 30 days they were in the feed lot 

 they made an average daily gain of almost 3 pounds. In this period 

 they received 215 bushels of corn-and-cob meal and 16| tons of silage 

 made from the first-year growth of sweet clover. During the next 

 30 days they received 388 bushels of corn-and-cob meal and much 

 less sweet-clover silage. During this time they made an average 

 daily gain of 2 pounds. When the corn-and-cob meal ration was 

 increased the steers ate less silage. These cattle dressed 55-| per cent 

 at a Chicago packing house. 



SWEET CLOVER AS A SOIL-IMPROVING CROP. 



Unlike many legumes, sw,eet clover will make a good growth on 

 soils too depleted in humus for profitable crop production. In 

 addition to its ability to grow and to produce a considerable quan- 

 tity of forage on such soils, it will add much humus to them. The 

 extensive root systems do much toward breaking up the subsoil, 

 thereby providing better aeration and drainage. The effect of the 

 large, deep roots in opening up the subsoil and providing better 

 drainage is often very noticeable in the spring, as the land upon 

 which sweet clover has grown for several years will be in a condition 

 to plow earlier than the adjacent fields where it has not been grown. 

 The roots are often one-eighth of an inch in diameter at a depth 

 of 3 feet, and they decay in five to eight weeks after the plants die. 

 (Figs. 12 and 13.) The holes made by the roots are left partly 

 filled with a fibrous substance which permits rapid drainage. 

 Sandy soils are benefited materially by the addition of humus and 

 nitrogen, while hardpan often is broken up so completely that 

 alfalfa or other crops will readily grow on the land. The roots 

 add much organic matter to the layers of soil below the usual depth 

 of plowing, while those in the surface soil, together with the stubble 

 and stems, when the crop is plowed under, add more humus than 

 possibly any other legume which may 'be grown in short rotations. 

 Not only does this crop add organic matter to the soil, but in com- 

 mon with other legumes it has the power of fixing atmospheric 

 nitrogen by means of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria in the nodules 

 on the roots. 



The ability of sweet clover to reclaim abandoned, run-down land 

 has been demonstrated in northern Kentucky and in Alabama. In 



