14 FORAGE CEOPS FOR THE SAXD-HILL SECTION OF NEBRASKA. 



Wyoming^. Montana, and other Western Stales. It has spread rapidly, 

 and unless radical measures are taken to check it there will soon 

 be little first-class hay shipped from this region. The farmers and 

 stockmen should understand that its presence in hay not only means 

 the refusal of the hay by buyers, but also makes it dangerous to feed 

 at home. The lodging of numerous beards, or awns, in the animal's 

 mouth makes it unable to eat. Much good can be accomplished by 

 cutting this grass off before it produces seed. It is considered an 

 annual, and although some of the roots may live over winter, a few 

 years of comcientious clipping will do much to rid the meadows of 

 this dangerous pest. The time to act is now, before it secures too ex- 

 tensive a foothold. The farmer in a case of this kind is too apt to 

 plead lack of time, but the man who desires to succeed will find time 

 for such work and do it at the right time. 



SWEET CLOVER. 



The value of sweet clover (Melilotus alba), a much maligned plant, 

 for forage and ^oil improvement in the sand hills is emphasized b} r 

 the results of tests and also by finding it in use and giving complete 

 satisfaction in several localities. Not only do stock eat it readily 

 when accustomed to it, but it grows freely and inoculates naturally 

 in >ituations where no other cultivated legume yet. found, unless it be 

 vetch, will thrive. As a means of preparing a field for the seeding of 

 alfalfa it has no equal. The bacteria that produce nodules on the 

 roots of sweet clover are effective in producing inoculation on alfalfa, 

 which ordinarily is slow to become inoculated in the poorer sandy 

 soils. Fields which have grown sweet clover for two years will 

 usually he abundantly supplied with the needed bacteria. A much 

 wider use of this plant as a forage crop is therefore advised. 



FEEDING VALUE. 



Tests in feeding sweet clover to sheep were conducted at the 

 Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station. 1 and in both quality of 

 meat and amount of gain it proved to be nearly equal to alfalfa and 

 much superior to native hay. Even though a poor grade of sweet 

 clover hay was used in the test, " the lambs exhibited a steady appetite 

 for it." 



Numerous farmers report it as of equal value to alfalfa in feeding 

 dairy cows, which means that it is as good as the best. For pasture 

 it is available for cattle, horses, and hogs while the plants are small 

 and not bitter, but live stock usually refuse to eat it after it becomes 

 more mature and attains its characteristic bitter taste. Animals 

 unused to sweet clover are apt to refuse even to taste it, probably on 

 account of the odor, but once they are induced to eat a small quan- 



1 Bulletins 78 and 79, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 [Cir. 80] 



