468 



MELILOTUS 



MELILOTUS 



greater part of its habitat and is especially liable 

 to give trouble in alfalfa-fields in the first year or 

 two after the first sowing of alfalfa. To prepare 

 land that has been in melilotus for alfalfa, it should 

 be devoted for at least one year to some hoed crop, 

 preferably cotton, or the melilotus plants should be 

 completely plowed under with a disk-plow before 

 seed has formed. Large sharp plows are required 

 to cut the tough roots of the sweet clover. 



Composition. 



The following analyses of Melilotus alba, show 

 great variation in composition dependent on stage 

 of maturity : 



gating one and one-half to three tons per acre. 

 The second year, growth from the old roots begins 

 early in March, and the first cutting is made about 

 May 1, and a second and sometimes a third cutting 

 is made the second year, the total yield aggregating 

 two to five tons of hay. The crop is cut when it is 

 about eighteen inches high. 



As a green-manure. — Through the loosening 

 effect of its large and deeply penetrating roots and 

 the decay of the roots and above-ground parts, 

 sweet clover serves as a fertilizer for succeeding 

 crops, often doubling the usual yield. 



The average of analyses made at the Mississippi 

 Experiment Station show that the composition of 

 the dry matter of the above-ground part of the 

 plant is protein, 20.93 per cent ; fat, etc., 3.09 per 

 cent ; nitrogen-free extract, 42.46 per cent ; crude 

 fiber, 25.21 per cent ; ash, 8.87 per cent. At the 

 Massachusetts State Experiment Station, the air- 

 dry, above-ground part contained 7.43 per cent 

 moisture, 1.95 per cent nitrogen, 1.832 per cent 

 potash, 0.558 per cent phosphoric acid. 



Culture. 



Propagation. — Sweet clover does best on a shal- 

 low, calcareous soil with a rotten limestone subsoil. 

 It is never fertilized or manured. It is propagated 

 from seed, two to eight pecks of unhulled seed per 

 acre being sown on a well-prepared seed-bed. In 

 the South the sowing is done in February or the 

 early part of March, or by nature in August. The 

 seed' is frequently broadcasted among growing 

 plants of small grain, and usually covered with a 

 harrow. 



Place in the rotation. — The field is left for two 

 years in melilotus, or, if very poor, for four years, 

 reseeding occurring at the end of . the second year 

 if the crop is allowed to stand till seed is formed. 

 The crop immediately preceding sweet clover is 

 usually oats or cotton and the succeeding crop is 

 usually corn, after which cotton, alfalfa and other 

 crops may be grown. 



Harvesting. — When sown on land that is poor or 

 poorly prepared, the growth of the first season is 

 usually insufficient for mowing, and is unused or 

 utilized as pasture in late summer and fall. On 

 rich or well-prepared calcareous land in the South, 

 two cuttings are secured the first season, aggre- 



As a forage. — While chemical analysis shows 

 that sweet clover hay is practically of the same 

 composition as alfalfa, the former is decidedly in- 

 ferior because of its want of palatability, its coarse- 

 ness, and its tendency to shed its leaves in curing. 

 •Melilotus hay is at first refused by live-stock, but 

 in time it is eaten fairly well and sustains the 

 animals in good condition. Likewise, in time ani- 

 mals become accustomed to melilotus as a grazing 

 plant, but continu,e to give preference to other 

 forage plants. When used as a pasture plant for 

 hogs, melilotus should be mowed occasionally, thus 

 causing a new growth of tender shoots to be pro- 

 duced. The forage value of melilotus is practically 

 unrecognized in California and other parts of the 

 West. 



Enemies. 



Sweet clover seldom suffers seriously from disease 

 or insect injury. The leaves are occasionally 

 attacked by leaf-spot. 



Literature. 



In agricultural writings very little has appeared 

 on the subject of melilotus, except brief notes and 

 reports of chemical analyses, occurring chiefly in 

 the reports of the Massachusetts State Experiment 

 Station. Brief notes are found in Alabama (Cane- 

 brake) Experiment Station Bulletins ; Illinois Ex- 

 periment Station, Bulletin No. 94 ; Mississippi 

 Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 20 ; United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 

 18 ; Wilcox and Smith, Farmer's Cyclopedia of 

 Agriculture, Orange Judd Company ; Shaw, Forage 

 Crops, and Soiling Crops and the Silo, Orange Judd 

 Company. 



