^f the tender green plant and the cured liay. The 

 plant develops the bitter or acid flavor when about 

 ^alf grown, or about the time to cut for hay. If, how- 

 ever, the sweet clover is mixed with other hay in feed- 

 ing the stock at first, they v^ill soon develop a taste 

 for it, and will prefer it to other hay. 



There is quite an advantage in sowing sweet clover 

 with alfalfa, ten pounds of sweet clover and twenty 

 pounds of alfalfa. The stalks oi the sweet clover hold 

 the alfalfa from falling, and the mixture makes a 

 splendid hay. J. w. Geiffx^\ 



raiTIIEE TESTOI0\Y. 



A few weeks ago, while taking a buggy-ride through 

 this county, my traveling companion pointed to a 

 lot of dry weed-stalks lining the roadside and said: 

 **I wish the highway superintendent would have those 

 cut when they ought to be cut. They are ^he worst 

 weeds we have." 



"Not so," said I, "but one of the most useful weeds 

 we have, and one holding much promise, but never a 

 pest." It was sweet or melilot clover w^hich here, as 

 in many other sections, is found in great abundance 

 on roadsides, railroad embankments, and waste places. 

 It covers such spots with thrifty verdure, furnishes 

 bee pasture for many weeks, and, if we only knew 

 how to handle it just right, it would be serviceable 

 for other useful agricultural purposes. 



Years ago I called attention in these columns to 



melilot clover as one of our most promising cover 



crops and soil-renovators. It gives an astonishing 



lot of green stuft in a surprisingly short time, and it 



draws nitrogen from the atmosphere equal to vetch 



and alfalfa. In its earlier stages, sweet clover closely 



resembles alfalfa, and from the looks of both I should 



think that there might not be much difference in the 



taste. One of my cow^s, when tied out in a meadow, 



ate the grass down well to the ground, but left the 



alfalfa-plants untouched, jnst as another in another 



jmtch left the sweet-clover plants, until the one be- 



Bime used to the taste of alfalfa and learned to eat 



^veet clover. I find my cattle will eat alfalfa and 



91 



