MANURES AND HUMUS IN SOIL. 169 



an application of about 250 pounds per acre of high 

 grade acid phosphate or some better phosphate car- 

 rier. Inoculate the seed when it is sown. That is 

 easily done if one can get earth from some alfalfa 

 field or some sweet clover patch. Not much earth 

 is needed ; 100 pounds of earth is ample for an acre. 

 Dry the earth in the shade, spreading it out on the 

 barn floor, and shoveling it over now and then, mak- 

 ing it fine. Mix the earth with the melilotus seed 

 and sow together. Melilotus seed is sometimes seen 

 in the hull, though seedsmen usually sell the 

 cleaned seed. It resembles alfalfa seed almost ex- 

 actly, being sometimes a trifle larger. It weighs 

 60 pounds to the bushel cleaned. To sow 15 pounds 

 per acre of cleaned seed would doubtless give a 

 stand. Mix this with the 100 pounds of inoculated 

 soil and sow together, for thin land long run with- 

 out manure, land too poor for alfalfa. If it is rich 

 soil one would best sow alfalfa at once and be done 

 with it, but if the soil needs building first, probably 

 the sweet clover plant is as good a thing as one can 

 build with. It is especially adapted to worn soils 

 (after liming or naturally filled with lime) in south- 

 ern states. 



No Fear of Pest. Some fear may be entertained 

 lest the sweet clover becomes a pest in the land. 

 There is no danger of that. Simply mowing the 

 plant will destroy it as it is a biennial and must 

 seed every second year. It often appears in alfalfa 

 fields the first and second years after starting and 

 sometimes the seedsmen are harshly criticised for 



