42 



EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



sown but it doesn't take hold on the 

 soil, 



Mr. Stone: Takes hold more readily 

 than the red clover. This same Dr. 

 Southwick said the red clover didn't 

 do well but the Alsike did. 



I think the white clover is just like 

 the blue grass. The tops are dead 

 and the roots are all right. I think 

 we will have just as big a clover crop 

 next year as this year. 



And that is the way blue grass 

 spreads. It will spread if you don't 

 let it seed; and the Avhite clover 

 spreads by running on the top of the 

 ground and has a knack of lying dor- 

 mant during dry seasons. 



Mr. President: All members who 

 think there will be an average crop 

 of white clover may rise. 



Those thinking there would be an 

 average crop of white clover num- 

 bered ten. 



Mr. President: Those who think dif- 

 ferent will rise. 



Those who thought there would not 

 be a good crop of white clover num- 

 bered seven. 



Mr. Pyle: There seems to be an im- 

 pression that a sprig that is sprotted 

 that that will grow. A common farmer 

 will tell you when clover comes up and 

 dries it exhausts the stock. The seed 

 must come up one spring and you get 

 the good, of it the next spring. But if 

 your plant got fully matured it will 

 stand drought. 



Red clover or Alsike or sweet clover 

 when it goes to seed the next year it 

 will die. 



■ Mr. Stone: Are you sure white 

 clover is biennial? 



Mr. Pyle: Yes, sir. 



Dr. Miller: It is a creeping plant 

 like a strawberry. Those are new 

 plants then. If there never was a seed 

 allowed to grow I would be sure my 

 white clover would go on. 



The red clover is a biennial. There 

 are a whole lot of roots every year. 

 Where it strikes there is a new root. 



Mr. Moore: I think there are two 

 varieties of white clover. In my lo- 

 cality there is a single-root white 

 clover. I have been very much both- 

 ered by this running white clover. It 

 spreads out a yard from one root. But 

 the white clover ' we get our honey 

 from is a biennial. 



We had a good season and they 

 grew well. We didn't have any dry 



weather till July. And I think they 

 got thoroughly rooted. We had some 

 rain in August that started the old 

 white clover and also these new plants, 

 so I think the next season we will 

 have an average yield of white clover. 



Mr. Stone : I want to differ with him 

 and agree with Dr. Miller. I don't be- 

 lieve there is but one species of white 

 clover. If you allow the crab grass 

 plenty of room it will spread from one 

 root. If it is crowded it grows straight 

 up, and I think white clover is the 

 same way. It is not so bad in the 

 field to run as in the garden where 

 you have every weed out. 



During our Chautauqua I have a 

 terrible fight after I get home. If a 

 plant has plenty of room it will send 

 out ten thousand shoots. It takes root 

 at every point and you couldn't cut 

 around a space as big as a foot and 

 get it out, for here are the runners 

 rooted and you can hardly pull it out. 

 You will never have a single runner, 

 I think, if white clover is allowed to 

 run; it will run all over the ground. 

 I think white clover is never killed 

 unless in May. I have seen it when it 

 was abundant in the fall, and would 

 be up half a finger length the next 

 May, and come a cold spell in May 

 and it would be killed. If it comes 

 from seed the year before and goes 

 through the winter all right, in the 

 spring when it begins to grow it is 

 a verj'- tender plant. I believe all the 

 clovers are a little that way. 



We always thought we had to sow 

 alfalfa in the spring, now they sow 

 it in September. They don't have the 

 grass to contend with as if they would 

 sow it in the spring. If they cultivated 

 it and kept the grass down till in Au- 

 gust the grass is not apt to bother. ' 



The year after the Columbian Ex- 

 position at Chicago we- sowed a patch 

 of alfalfa in early May. The weather 

 was fine and it was soon up two or 

 'three inches ^igh. At the same time 

 white clover was coming thick every- 

 where (red clover, too) and there came 

 a freeze and killed them all, so that 

 there was no white clover that year. 

 Our alfalfa we sowed again and got a 

 good stand. 



I have seen it occur the same way 

 three successive years. 



Mr, Holekamp: I think it is with 

 white clover as with alfalfa, it is as 

 to the soil. I have sowed bushels and 

 bushels with my own hands. I have 



