SWEET CLOVER 
823 
of sweet clover is most promising. It 
is already cultivated over a section extend¬ 
ing more than 200 miles north of Sioux 
City, Iowa, and is rapidly spreading north¬ 
ward and westward. It is expected that 
soon it will cover a million farms in the 
Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana, and that 
this region will support thousands of colo¬ 
nies of bees and produce millions of pounds 
of honey. The opportunities for beekeep¬ 
ing in South and North Dakota deserve 
careful consideration. 
Already some townships of North Da¬ 
kota are reported to have 40,000 acres of 
sweet clover, and some farms or ranches 
have as many as 10,000 acres of the same 
plant. 
Of course, such immense acreages make 
some wonderful bee-pasturage and some 
enormous yields are reported. 
In Colorado and Utah sweet clover is 
grown to a considerable extent. In the irri¬ 
gated section surrounding Ferron, Utah, 
there are many farmers who are enthusias¬ 
tic in its praise. There are extensive areas 
of sweet clover in Colorado, but usually 
on land which can not be used for other 
agricultural purposes; from 70 to 100 
pounds of honey per colony may be ob¬ 
tained. There seems little probability that 
in the Rocky Mountain region sweet clover 
will displace alfalfa. It is rapidly spread¬ 
ing in central California and is common in 
moist valleys northward. 
AS A SOIL IMPROVER. 
Its power of renewing the fertility of 
eroded ground has been mentioned. By its 
vigorous growth and the decay of the large 
roots it will replace humus where it has 
been weathered away, and by its power of 
taking nitrogen from the air will bring up 
in fertility poor, run-down soils. 
The plant takes nitrogen from the a>ir by 
means of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria 
which inhabit nodules on the roots. This 
adds more nitrogen to the soil and makes 
possible the growth of other plants. The 
bacteria which inhabit the root tubercles of 
sweet clover and alfalfa are identical, or at 
least capable of living on either plant, and 
for this reason sweet clover is valuable as 
a pioneer crop for alfalfa, insuring proper 
inoculation of the soil. 
Besides, the large fleshy roots of the 
biennial sweet clovers store up a great deal 
of plant food the first year of growth, in 
order to get an early and running start in 
the spring of the second year. This supply 
of food, not altogether used up, goes back 
to the soil on the death of the plant, adding 
to and enriching the humus. 
The roots being fleshy instead of fibrous 
decay more rapidly and so hasten the in¬ 
crease of fertility. Their rapid decay 
moreover releases the stored-up nitrogen 
about the ends of the rootlets sooner than 
in the case of roots of the true clovers. 
The exceeding rapidity of the decay 
makes plowing an easy operation—much 
easier than plowing an old alfalfa field. 
In contrast to the other legumes which 
gather nitrogen in the same way but which 
need considerable humus, sweet clover 
thrives where humus is quite absent. This 
emphasizes its value as a pioneer crop. 
The long taproots, piercing the lower 
layers, make way for roots of other crops 
which are not able to penetrate where the 
ground has not been broken up. The con¬ 
tinual growth and decay of the heavy roots 
slowly convert sand into fertile soil. 
Where it is planted as a fertilizer, the 
application of manure or straw will help it 
to get a start and will hasten the work of 
soil restoration. 
“It is best to delay the sowing of other 
grass two or more years after the sweet 
clover has been seeded. Areas should not 
be pastured, but the sweet clover allowed to 
fall down and form a surface mulch. On 
badly eroded areas, sweet clover and the 
yellow locust form an excellent combina¬ 
tion.”* 
Sweet clover’s valuable power of soil 
renewal the Ohio Experiment Station sums 
up as follows: “It belongs with the clovers, 
and it may be used to improve the land on 
which it grows. This appears to be its 
mission. It occupies lands which have 
become unfit for good growth of other 
forage plants. Its rank then is as a useful 
forage plant, capable of increasing the 
fertility of land.” 
RUN-DOWN LAND RESTORED. 
One of the most characteristic examples 
of this service to the land is its work in 
* Ohio Experiment Station, Circular 129. 
