The physical texture of the soil seems to be of little consequence 

 as bountiful crops have been grown on very light sandy soils and on 

 stiff adobe lands. Its tolerance for white alkali is well marked. 

 When well established the roots withstand extremes of both heat and 

 cold. Young seedlings are injured if a period of dry cold weather 

 follows soon after germination, although a sufficient number of plants 

 will usually survive to produce a good stand. 



Sweet clover is extremely drouth-resistant on good deep well- 

 prepared lands, maintaining bright green foliage to a height of several 

 feet throughout the hottest months of the year. On poor shallow soils 

 the growth is sometimes sparse and many of the leaves turn brown 

 and fall off. Gravelly stream beds and banks seem to be its natural 

 preference and we find it taking these areas without any intentional 

 seeding or cultivation. This may perhaps account for the fact that 

 it does not require good drainage on cultivated land. Lands too 

 poorly drained for the successful growing of alfalfa can be profitably 

 planted to sweet clover. 



Fall seeding is desirable in the coast and valley sections and early 

 spring seeding in the northern counties and in the mountains. It is 

 best to wait until the soil is thoroughly saturated and the winter rainy 

 season established. Too early sowing may result in the germination 

 of the seed by the first light rains. This followed by a protracted dry 

 period may result in the loss of many seedlings and a subsequent 

 poor stand. 



The rate of seeding is from ten to twenty-five pounds per acre. 

 Ten pounds per acre of good, clean, well-scarified, hulled seed are suf- 

 ficient on a firm seed bed. Where unhulled seed is to be sown fifteen 

 pounds per acre is desirable. Larger amounts of seed are necessary 

 according to the quality of the seed and the condition of the seed 

 bed. Shallow seeding, about one inch, is generally more successful 

 than deep plantings. The roots grow rapidly during the cool winter 

 season descending into the soil with a strong tap root which soon 

 becomes more or less branched. The power of the roots to force their 

 way into hard stiff soils is very great and herein lies one of its 

 most beneficial features when grown on such soils. The roots are 

 quite fleshy and when they decay at the end of the second season 

 they leave humus channels which open up the soil and deposit large 

 quantities of nitrogen. 



The weight of the green roots from an acre of good sweet clover 

 is estimated at twenty tons, so that even if the crop is cut for hay, 

 large quantities of humus and nitrogen remain in the soil. The 

 weight of the tops may be as high as thirty tons of green matter per 



