LEGUMINOUS CROPS 81 
It has been proved, to our own satisfaction at least, that 
sweet clover will never be a troublesome weed on our farms. 
Stock will not allow it to start in the pasture and it is as 
easily killed as clover in a cultivated field. 
We are so impressed with the merits of sweet clover that 
we shall seed eighty acres to this legume in the spring. The 
seed will be sown with a nurse crop, either wheat or oats. 
Sweet clover, unlike alfalfa, grows so rank and hardy 
from the start that it can be sown in the spring without a 
nurse crop and still keep ahead of the weeds. By sowing 
sweet clover in the spring with a nurse crop of wheat or oats, 
however, the land will bring returns the first year, which 
is not the case with fall sowing of alfalfa. 
Judge Quarten in an article entitled ‘‘Sweet Clover’’ by 
Alson Secor says: ‘‘I seed with Early Champion oats, using 
a bushel or a bushel and a half, to eighteen or twenty pounds 
of sweet clover seed. Cut the clover the latter part of Sep- 
tember in northern Iowa. If I use barley, one bushel is 
enough.’’ 
“‘Don’t you ever seed it alone?’’ ; 
“‘Haven’t worked that out yet. I believe it would pay to 
throw some seed in the cornfield at last cultivation. Will 
try that. But I prefer to use a nurse crop to keep down 
weeds.’’ 
We believe that sweet clover will, in the future, become 
the greatest legume crop for the building up of worn out 
farms. It is the best crop to pave the way for the growing 
of alfalfa. 
ADDITIONAL READING 
“Letters to the Clover Sick Family.’’ By Uncle Henry. 
Wallace’s Farmer. Feb. 21, 1913. 
‘Soy Beans a Valuable Crop for the Corn Belt.’’ By C. H. 
Oathout. Prairie Farmer. March 15, 1913. 
