back of the man and boy is 9 feet 10 inciies, and the 

 one stalk that Herr Wegener is holding in his hand 

 is 10 feet 8 inches high. 



But what I wanted you more particularly to notice 

 is the growth of the potatoes this side of the man and 

 boy. Those in the foreground, as j^ou see, have 

 made a poor growth, while the three rows next the 

 sweet clover have grown most luxuriantly. And yet 

 they were planted with the same seed and at the 

 same time. Herr Reepen thinks the difference must 

 come from the nitrogen gathered by the sweet clover 

 It seems as if there must have been some other dif- 

 lerence, perhaps accidental, but still it may be worth 

 while to make some experiment to see whether any- 

 thing like the same difference might be made in this 

 country. I commend the case to your consideration. 



C. C. MiLLEK. 



Marengo, 111., April 15, 1899. 



[I should be exceedingly glad to submit to our read- 

 ers the picture sent us. It looks to me as though the 

 ranker and stronger growth of the potatoes close up to 

 the sweet clover may be accounted for partly by the 

 shade. If the soil was sandy or gravelly, the sun was 

 likely too hot for them in the open 'Afield; and this 

 great mass of sweet clover would not only shade the 

 potatoes, but if there were an abundance of rain it 

 might also help to keep them damp longer than those 

 standing out in the full blaze of the sun. I wish our 

 German people would tell us through Dr. ^Miller, or in 

 some other w^ay, how much sweet clover is worth for 

 feeding stock in the *' Fatherland."] 



Farmers' Bulletin No. 18 says of sweet clover: "As 

 a restorative crop for yellow loam and white lime 

 lands this plant has no superior; and for black prairie 

 soils it has no equal." [In some parts of the great 

 West there are what are called ".alkali lands." Irri- 

 gation for a series of years has forced the alkali 

 out of the soil to the surface, with the result that 

 .- kills everything except pear trees, salt weeds and 

 sweet clover. I know a spot in Western Colorado 

 — ^perhaps the finest location in the world — where 



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