THOUSAND ANSWERS 47 



mon growth. The most common sweet clover is melilotus alba. 

 It is a biennial, coming from the seed one year, blossoming the 

 next, and then dying, root and branch. Even if bees have all they 

 can do on white clover, sweet clover is valuable, because while it 

 begins to bloom later than white clover, it continues much later, 

 even till frost. 



There is a yellow sweet clover (melilotus officinalis) which 

 blooms two weeks earlier than the white. Sweet clover will 

 grow where scarcely anything else will, as in a clay bank. It 

 seems to flourish best, or at least to start from the seed best, on 

 hard ground trodden by farm stock. 



Q. Last year white sweet clover was everywhere; this year 

 there is scarcely any. Why did it not grow again this year, in- 

 stead of the yellow? The bees worked on the white all the time, 

 and seemed to be crazy over it, but they paid no attention to 

 the yellow. 



A. Sweet clover is a biennial, growing the first year without 

 blooming. Then after blooming and producing seed the second 

 year it dies root and branch. So, if you sow seed one year and 

 leave it to itself thereafter, the tendency would be to have bloom 

 every other year. One yellow sweet clover (melilotus indica) 

 blooms the first year. It is an annual. 



Q. How far north and south will sweet clover thrive and do 

 well? 



A. I suppose if sweet clover may be considered as having any 

 native place it is Bokhara, in Asia, about 40 degrees north of the 

 equator. At any rate, it is called "Bokhara clover," and years ago 

 that was the chief name for it. According to that, one would 

 suppose that it would be at its best on the parallel of 40, which 

 runs centrally through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Utah and Nevada. 

 But it does not seem to be very limited as to its habitat. I think 

 it succeeds about as far north as bees are generally kept. 



Q. Is sweet clover tender, or hardy? Will it freeze as easily 

 as does corn ? 



A. Hardy — very hardy. Sweet clover would only laugh at a 

 freeze that would kill corn. I think I've known it to be killed 

 only in two vvays. One year I prepared a piece of ground in fine 

 shape, sowed sweet clover with oats, and it made a fine stand. 

 Next spring there wasn't a spear left. The ground was so nice 

 and soft that it heaved and pulled up all the sweet clover by the 

 roots. In the solid ground of the road-side I never knew it to 

 winter-kill. Another year I had a piece mowed close to the 



