June, July or August are the months chosen for scattering the seed.

Burr clover is also sometimes sown in corn and cotton to provide winter grazing, but when thus sown the object more frequently sought is to enrich the land. Both ends may be accomplished in some degree.

Pasturing.-Opinions differ as to the palatability of this grass. All are agreed that stock do not take kindly to it at first, but that they come to relish it at least reasonably well when accustomed to it. It is said to be relished less by horses and mules than by other domestic animals. It has been praised as a pasture for swine. It is more palatable in the early stages of its growth, and will bear close grazing, and also severe tramping. It will provide pasture for six months, but not so bountifully in the first months of growing as later.

Harvesting for Hay.-Burr clover is not a good hay plant. Owing to the recumbent character of the growth it is not easily mowed, nor has it much palatability in the cured form. The yield is said to be from 2 to I ton per acre.

Securing Seed. In the Gulf States the seed matures in April and May. The plants grow seed profusely. Sown in October, stock may usually be allowed free access to it until March, and if then removed, it will spring up quickly and mature seed so profusely that when the plants die and partially decay seed may sometimes be collected in hollows, into which it has been driven by the wind. It is more commonly sown in the burr form, the form

in which it is usually gathered. The more common method of saving the seed, as given by Mr. A. H. Beattie of Starkville, Mississippi, is to first rake off the dead vines so as to leave the burrs on the ground and then sweep them together with a suitable wire or street broom. It is then lifted and run through two sets of sifters of suitable mesh by hand to remove the trash swept up in gathering the seed. It is probable that other methods more economical of labor are yet to be devised when harvesting the seed crop. As much as 100 bushels of burrs have been obtained from an acre, but that is considerably more than the average yield of seed.

Renewing. —Since this plant is an annual, it cannot be renewed in the sense in which renewal is possible with a perennial. But as has been shown above (see page 294), it may be grown annually for an indefinite period in the same land and without resowing by hand. It has also been shown that by sowing the seed in certain crops at the proper season, from year to year, it may be made to grow from year to year where the rotation will admit of this. (See page 295.) When the ground is well stored with seed, the plants will continue to come up freely in the soil for at least two or three years, even without any re-seeding of the land.

Its

As a Fertilizer.-The growing of burr clover exercises a beneficial influence on the land. value for this purpose, since it can be grown as a catch crop, is probably greater than its value in providing food for stock. Like all plants that are more or less creeping in their habit of growth, it shades

the soil and keeps it moist, which, in conjunction with the influence of the roots, puts it in a friable condition. When the plants grow rankly, it is not easy to bury them properly with the ordinary plow, but in such instances, if cut up with a disk harrow, the work is facilitated. The plants quickly die down so as to make plowing easily possible, but the aim should be to have such decay take place within the soil rather than above it.

CHAPTER XI

SWEET CLOVER

Sweet clover is so named from the sweet odor which emanates from the living plants. It is of two species. These are designated, respectively, Melilotus alba and Melilotus officinalis. The former is also called Bokhara clover, White Melilot and Tree clover. It is possibly more widely known by the name Bokhara than by any other designation. The latter is sometimes called Yellow clover. The difference between these in appearance and habits of growth does not seem to be very marked, except that the blossoms of the former are white and those of the latter are yellow.

Sweet clover is upright and branched in its habit of growth. It attains to a height of from 2 to 8 feet, according to the soil in which the plants grow. The somewhat small and truncate leaves are not so numerous, relatively, as with some other varieties of clover, and the stems are woody in character, especially as they grow older. The blossoms are small and white or yellow, according to the variety, and the seed pods are black when ripe. The roots are large and more or less branched, and go down to a great depth in the soil; especially is this true of the main, or tap root.

The plants, according to Beale, are annual or bi