More About That New Clover 
A clover that increases rapidly from deep underground rhizomatic roots 
So much interest has been mani- 
fested in the clover described in this 
magazine in Nevember, 1945 that a 
progress report seems necessary. It 
is one of about 100 new legumes 
which have been planted in the test 
garden maintained by the American 
Bee Journal on the writer’s farm at 
Atlantic, Iowa. These have been 
brought together through  corre- 
spondence with agronomists and plant 
collectors throughout the temperate 
world. 
The new clover is’ Trifolium 
ambiguum which comes from the Cau- 
casus in eastern Europe. Since it is 
new to this country and had no 
common name, officials of the Iowa 
Beekeepers Association wrote the 
secretary of agriculture at Washing- 
ton to suggest that it be named 
“‘Pellett Clover’ as a compliment to 
the effort being made in the test 
garden. The name ‘‘Kura Clover” 
has also been suggested. 
This new clover is a deep rooted 
perennial and four year old plants in 
our garden have a root system such 
as one rarely finds with any plant. 
A plant dug up at the time of the 
honey plant conference in 1945 had 
a mass of roots sufficient to nearly 
fill a bushel basket although a large 
portion of the extensive spread was 
left in the ground when cut off at 
three feet below the surface. Indi- 
cations were that the roots must pene- 
trate to ten feet or more in depth to 
judge from the size at the point where 
they were cut. 
The surprising thing about the 
plant is the way in which it branches 
and rebranches, constantly sending 
new leaves to the surface. If any 
branch is cut off and reset it grows 
vigorously and the new plant spreads 
in similar manner. Root divisions 
set jin April on our grounds have 
multiplied by twenty or more by 
September. It is easy to establish 
new plantings by setting such divi- 
sions in rows three or four feet apart 
with plants twelve to eighteen inches 
apart in the row. In a little more 
than a year such rows are completely 
filled until one cannot tell where the 
original plants were set and there is 
a solid mass of clover over the area. 
NOVEMBER, 1946 
The plants are still in the experi- 
mental stage and there is little infor- 
mation available as to the require- 
ments of soil and climate to insure 
By Frank C. Pellett 
success. There has been a wide dis- 
tribution of plants by Melvin Pellett 
of Pellett Gardens, Atlantic, Iowa for 
trial. Hundreds of questions are asked 

Root divisions, set in rows four feet apart in April and May, had spread nearly to fill the 
vacant space hy Septemher. 

A portion of the roots uncovered to show how they branch and form new plants. 
AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 
