Vol. LXXVIII. 
NEW YORK. MARCH 29. 1010. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 2fi. 1879. at the Post 
Ofltce at New York. N. Y.. under tlie Act of March 3. 1879. 
No. 4527. 
Published Weekly by The 
833 W. 30th St.. New York. 
Rural Publishing C'o., 
Price One Dollar a Year. 
A Growth of Sweet Clover 
Lime and Inoculation Did It 
i lie pictures showing the growth of Sweet clover wore 
sent us by Mr. John E. Wellington. They were taken 
on his farm about two miles north of Cazenovia, N. Y. 
This farm lias tin elevation of about 1.400 foot above 
sett level and. according to the United States soil survey 
map, it is on the edge of two areas, most 
of it being in the area of a Miami stony 
loam and a part of it in the area of a 
shale loam (Allis shale loam). This 
crop was put in with barley in 1017 and 
the pictures were taken in 101S. Mr. 
Wellington sends us the following notes 
concerning this crop. Another picture 
shows a mau cutting this clover with a 
mower. The clover is so high that the 
mail is obliged to stand up on the mower 
to see where lie is going. This picture 
was too dim to make a good engraving. 
N IMPOSING GROWTH. —A 
short answer to the question 
how such a tremendous growth was 
obtained is lime and inoculation; 
limestone applied 1 y% ton to the acre, 
line ground raw rock limestone. That 
was done and the crop put in in 1017. 
Eig. 141 is a picture taken at a cutting 
demonstration by the Farm Bureau. 
The other (smaller picture) will give 
you a fair idea of the appearance of 
the field before it was cut at all. You 
can just see my hand and cap stick¬ 
ing np above the top of the clover. 
1 am live feet nine and one-half inches 
tall, stood up as straight as I coulcl. 
and held my arm straight above my 
head as high as possible. The one taking this pic¬ 
ture stood on the hood of his car out in the road, so 
as to be able to get me over the top of the clover. 
You can also compare the clover with the bushes 
along the lino fence to the right and the trees also 
on the line between tbe field and the next farm. 
TWO CUTTINGS.—The crop was put in primarily 
for soil improvement, but the Farm Bureau became 
so interested in it that, they were given two cuttings 
which they made in 1918 (the second year) to see 
what the yield would be at different stages of growth. 
as well as the quality of the cuttings at the different 
times. The first cutting, made June In. 1918, yielded 
at the rate of 12.72 tons green weight to the acre, 
the clover then being about 3% feet high. It was 
wet at the time and poor curing weather. The sec¬ 
ond cutting was made July 1(5. 191 s. just about as the 
clover was coming into bloom, and yielded at the 
rate of 17.28 tons green weight to the acre. At the 
time of the latter cutting the growth was too far 
along for good hay. too woody. A little later about 
12 tons were put into a silo at another farm, under 
the direction of the Farm Bureau 
manager. As to the result in respect to 
the silage I cannot tell you. I under¬ 
stand it was subsequently fed out and 
that the cows ate it. although not as 
readily as other silage, doubtless 
being unaccustomed to it. There are 
three good bulletins on Sweet clover 
published at Washington in 1917. al¬ 
though I did not see these until in 
1918, the year after my experiment 
was started. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
797 covers “Growing the Crop.” No. 
820 covers “Utilization” and No. s 3 <; 
“Harvesting and Thrashing 
the Seed Crop.” 
FIRM SEED RED NEEDED.— 
Boor success is just as important, in 
what it may teach as great success. 
Therefore this experiment developed 
an important point, shown by the dif¬ 
ference in two fields. The field shown 
in the pictures was the successful one. 
Another field, while not a failure by 
any means, inasmuch as a fair catch 
resulted which developed enough seed 
with the second year growth (191s) to reseed it 
thoroughly for this year, showed nothing like the 
tremendous growth of the field shown in the pictures. 
The fine field was plowed earlier and then had to 
be refitted because of poor weather, but that gave 
Looking Doa n at Sweet Clon e. The Man Holds the Hat. Fig. l-'fO 
Lined Up in the Sweet Clover at a Farm Bureau Demonstration. Fig. 141 
