406 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 5, 1921 
The Annual Sweet Clover 
| Last year was spent in experimenting 
with the new annual Sweet clover. It is 
now evident that this clover is to revo¬ 
lutionize ranch of our Eastern farming by 
furnishing the best manurial plant yet 
introduced. As soon as the seed can be 
grown in large quantities this annual 
clover is sure to become popular. The 
following notes are by It. M. Hanna, of 
New Jersey, who has probably done as 
much work with Sweet clover as anyone 
in the East.] 
The regular reports on the new an 
nual white Sweet clover appearing in 
THE R. N.-Y. the past Summer and Fall 
were read with a live interest by a host 
of your subscribers. In our home it be¬ 
came customary to ask, “What’s new on 
Sweet clover this week?” and there was 
always a slight feeling of disappointment 
when nothing new came to light. It was 
with this feeling in mind that I secured 
the following information which may 
prove helpful and interesting to your 
readers. 
As we recall, the wave of Sweet clover 
interest is due to the generous good will 
and work of the Iowa Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station, which during the past 
season sent out seed samples to 45,000 
farmers, hundreds of whom have thank¬ 
fully made favorable reports of the re¬ 
sults attained. In view of the fact that 
they had already done so much in behalf 
of this new plant, I wrote specially to 
find out what would be their policy in 
regard to further seed distribution the 
coming season. Their letter says that 
the Iowa Experiment Station, Ames, 
Iowa, is sending out small packets of the 
annual white Sweet clover to those who 
send a self-addressed stamped envelope to 
cover cost of mailing the seed. This 
means a great increase in the army of 
Sweet clover growers the coming year. 
Many of the 45,000 who were in on the 
previous distribution will grow an in¬ 
creased acreage, so that America will soon 
be one of the greatest “honey” producing 
countries on the face of the globe. (The 
bees seem to get the idea that it is an 
effort especially in their behalf, and they 
certainly “camp” on the ground.) These 
honey bees remind me that the only ad¬ 
vertisement of a commercial supply of 
the new annual white Sweet clover seed 
was noticed in one of the bee journals 
last Fall. To the average seed planter 
one ounce of clover seed at 50c does not 
seem a worth-while investment, yet, if 
properly used, a one-ounce start will give 
greater results than several pounds broad¬ 
cast and uncultivated. The average seed 
sample sent out by the Iowa Agricultural 
Experiment Station contains about 100 
seeds. 
It is calculated that one pound of 
Sweet clover seed, hulled, contains 290,- 
000 seeds. One ounce would contain 18,- 
125 seeds. If germination were only 50 
per cent over nine thousand plants would 
result. These nine thousand plants reset 
in the open field, 8 ft. 6 ins. apart each 
way, just as you would transplant toma¬ 
toes, and cultivated both ways with horse 
Implements, would give you a two-acre 
prospect of 10 bu. of seed at 10c per 
oz., $960 from a 50c investment—and 
some work ! Few realize the ground-cov¬ 
ering capacity of Sweet clover plants. If 
you do not given them the room, of course 
they can make no audible complaint, and 
resign themselves to the space allotted, 
yet some of these plants when given the 
room and allowed to grow for seed will 
cover over 25 sq. ft of ground space; 3 
ft. 6 in. each way gives each plant about 
12 sq. ft. of ground to cover. 
Ar to transplanting Sweet clover plants 
the past ccason, I wish to say I was suc¬ 
cessful with even the smallest seedlings. 
Of course, trail Ranting will never be¬ 
come a “popular p.rctice with Sweet 
clover, any more than it did with Alfalfa, 
but I do not know of any better way to 
get started with a valuable new plant 
whose seed commands such a high price. 
I was also sufficiently interested in the 
success of the venture to water the sets 
in cases of need. Taken all around, I 
think they stand replanting as well as 
tomatoes. 
As the planting season will soon be 
with us, I wish before closing to tell how 
Vigorous Growth of Annual Sweet Clover 
the seed was planted in the garden to 
grow plants for resetting. A fairly rich 
piece of ground was well broken and an 
average application of lime was raked in. 
The rows were laid off about 15 in. apart 
and, late in the afternoon, in order to 
protect the bacteria, inoculated soil from 
an active Sweet clover field (Alfalfa 
would do) was sown down the rows, 
about a good handful to each foot, and 
then worked into the ground. After 
firming the ground with the hoe face the 
seed was distributed along the rows and 
covered with about in. of fine soil. 
Some inoculated soil could be used in this 
covering. After again firming the soil 
with the hoe face, the rows were mulched 
with y<> in. of well-rotted oat straw, 
which broke up into a fine light covering. 
This was done to prevent “baking in,” 
Avhich is liable with slow germinating 
seed on some of our New Jersey land. 
The rows of seedlings were weeded and 
tended just as you would care for toma¬ 
toes or cabbage seedlings. When thev 
were ready for transplanting the ground 
was thoroughly wet, and as much soil 
left with the roots as possible. To pro¬ 
tect the bacteria nodules, which always 
sho' ed very plainly, the roots were 
dipped in thin mud and kept moist until 
reset. This work was usually done on a 
rainy or cloudy day. 
Although variety is the spice of life, it 
seems like a world upsetting experience 
for farmers to make the acquaintance of 
a new plant. “Looking for them” down 
the row is a great game when you are 
not sure for what you are looking, only 
surpassed by “wondering how they will 
behave” after they get into their rompers. 
The only way to “get wise” to Sweet 
clover is to grow it and keep on growing 
it “more abundantly.” It can bring more 
hope and promise to a tired profession 
than any other single plant. I thoroughly 
believe “marking time” on some of the 
regular routine will pay in order to hitch 
up with some of the ideas which are des¬ 
tined to revolutionize the farming out¬ 
look. Commercial fertilizers may be used 
profitably to balance a crop ration, but 
humus, the more natural plant food and 
ground conditioner, the “meat and pota¬ 
toes” of the crop’s meal, must be grown 
these days, and the trick cannot be done 
better than by a liberal use of Sweet 
clover. R. M. HANNA. 
New Jersey. 
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