308 CLOVERS 



sides, rocky situations and byplaces generally no 

 preparation of the soil would be possible. 



Sowing. — In the North sweet clover is best sown 

 in the spring. In fact, it can only be sown then 

 with the assurance that it will survive the winter 

 north of a certain limit. That limit will vary with 

 altitude, but it will probably run irregularly across 

 the Middle States, from the Atlantic westward to 

 the Cascade Mountains, beyond which it will veer 

 away to the North. In the Southern States, it may 

 be sown fall or spring, but if sown late in the fall 

 the young plants will in some instances succumb to 

 the frost of winter. Early fall sowing, therefore, is 

 much to be preferred to sowing late. 



The method of sowing may be the same as in 

 sowing medium red clover (see page 78) ; that is, 

 •\\'hen the seed is sown with grain crops. When 

 sown in byplaces, it will ordinarily be sown by hand. 

 In such places it will re-seed itself and will likely 

 grow in these for successive seasons. On railroad 

 embankments, the seed is scattered more commonly 

 on the upper portion, and from the plants which 

 grow there the seeds produced scatter down- 

 ward. The plants not only lessen washing in the 

 soil, but they prepare the same for the growth of 

 grasses. They also aid thus in the introduction of 

 grasses into rocky and very hard soils. 



Sweet clover may be sown with almost any kind 

 of a nurse crop desired, which does not destroy it 

 with an over-abundant shade. Or it may be sown 

 alone where such a necessity exists. But the in- 

 stances are not numerous in which it would be de- 



