SWEET CLOVEE AS A PEBTILIZER. 

 Prom Hoard's Danyman, Aug 9, I'HiT 



Valuable as melilot is shown to be as a forage crop, 

 it will rank still higher as a renovator of the fertility 

 of our soil. Being a legume, it shares^ with other 

 genera of that family in the maintenance^of the nitro- 

 gen-secreting organisms that enrich the soil. In fact, 

 our alfalfa-growers inoculate their fields with the 

 melilot bacteria to make their plants vigorous and 

 lasting. It has the advantage of its hardiness, adapt- 

 ability to poor soils, its spontaneous growth, and, 

 most notably, of its remarkable root development. 



This last feature is due to its biennial habit. The 

 first year's growth, like the cabbage, beet, and turnip 

 goes to provide a storehouse of food for the rapid 

 second-year growth and production of seed, so that, 

 unlike the other legumes, with their slender fibrous 

 roots, it develops a cluster of fleshy roots which reach 

 several feet into the ground. My own observations 

 afford an estimate of over 20 tons of root growth per 

 acre. From the New York Experiment Station I get 

 an estimate of 28 tons per acre. This root develop- 

 ment is unique in the pulse family, and, with the 

 nitrogen-secreting organisms, makes an ideal combi- 

 nation. 



The second-year growth is even more remarkable 

 than this. I have taken ten pounds of half-grown 

 herbage from a square yard of surface early in June, 

 or more than 24 tons per acre in less than half 

 the growing season. This is followed by a corre- 

 sponding crop of seed, which explains its rapid propa- 

 gation. 



But its biennial habit gives it another value as a 

 fertilizer. The dense fibrous roots of the perennials 

 are slow to decay and yield their fertility to the soil, 

 but the long fleshy roots of melilot decay almost as 



• soon as the seed matures, leaving their nitrogen con- 

 tent in condition for immediate use and the soil in 



1^ highest state of permeability through this deep 



^etration. 



73 



