crop, it would not seem necessary to try to renew this crop, because of the relatively low value which it possesses for these uses. When grown for bee pasture, it will renew itself for an indefinite period when the plants are not cut for seed and where the conditions are favorable to growth. When grown to keep soils from washing or railroad embankments from breaking down, it will, of course, renew itself in the same way. In time, however, it is usually superseded by some kind of grass, for which it has prepared the way by the ameliorating and renewing influence which it exerts upon the soil.

Value for Bee Pasture. All authorities are agreed as to the high value of this plant as a honey producer. The claim has been made for it that for such a use it is more valuable acre for acre than any ordinary grain crop. By cutting a part of the crop before it comes into bloom, the season of honey production may be prolonged from, say, July 1st until some time in the autumn, as the part thus cut will come into bloom after the blooms have left the plants that were cut. When not disturbed, sweet clover yields honey in the interval between the blooming of the basswood and the golden rod. The honey is of excellent quality. There should be no good reasons, therefore, why bee-keepers should not sow the seed in by and waste places. But the wisdom of growing it as a honey-producing crop on valuable land where other honey crops, as alsike and white clover, can be grown in good form may be questioned.

Value as a Fertilizer.-The high value of this plant as a fertilizer and soil improver cannot be questioned. But whether it should ever be sown for such a use will depend on the capacity of the soil to produce other crops valuable for fertilizing and also more valuable for producing forage or fodder. Where other clovers more useful can be grown, also cow peas, soy beans and other legumes valuable for food uses, it would seem unwise to sow sweet clover. This would restrict its use, therefore, as a soil renovator; first, to soils too poor to grow those useful legumes; second, to areas where the climate conditions will not admit of the growth of these; and third, to areas from which the surface soil has been removed, and which it is desirable to so ameliorate and improve the soil thus laid bare that it could later be covered with some more valuable cover crop. Under present conditions this would restrict its growth for the purpose named to sandy and gravelly soils, to certain areas in the semi-arid region east of the Rocky Mountains, and to such small areas as the surface soil had been removed from.

In the semi-arid region where crops of grain and also some varieties of field corn can be grown successfully, but where the clovers are not successful, it would seem practicable to sow a few pounds of sweet clover seed per acre at the same time as the grains, and to plow under the plants produced some time in the month of May the next season. The clover thus buried could be at once followed by corn or potatoes, or, indeed, by any kind of a

price

cleaning crop. The high price of seed at present practically forbids growing clover thus.

Whether sweet clover grown for renovating uses should be turned under the season in which it has been sown will depend largely on the growth that has been made. In many instances, the growth made is so rank as to justify plowing it under the following autumn. In other instances, better results will follow plowing it under the next season. It frequently happens that the growth made is so rank that a strong plow and also a strong team are necessary to do the work properly.

Value on Alkali soils. This plant has been grown to some extent to aid in removing alkali from soils superabundantly impregnated with the same. It will grow, it is claimed, under certain conditions on such soils so surcharged with alkali as to prohibit almost every other form of vegetable growth. The extent to which it may be thus used profitably had not yet been fully demonstrated. But where it can be grown on such soils, the fact that it takes up and removes relatively large quantities of alkali would appear to be well established.

Destroying the Plants. Should the conditions be found so favorable to the growth of the plant that it persists in growing where it is not wanted, it will soon cease to appear, if prevented from going to seed. Ordinarily, the blossoms appear only during the second year of growth. If, therefore, the plants are cut off when in bloom, seed forming will

not only be prevented, but since sweet clover is a biennial, the plants will die. When thus dealt with, the only source from which other plants may come while extermination is being thus sought is from seed lodged in the soil and still capable of germinating.

CHAPTER XII

MISCELLANEOUS VARIETIES OF CLOVER

In addition to the varieties of clover that have been discussed at some length in previous chapters are a number the value of which may be considerable to areas more or less local and limited. These include Sainfoin, Egyptian clover, Yellow clover, Sand lucerne, Japanese clover, Beggarweed and Seaside clover. Some of these, as Sainfoin and Buffalo clover, have been in the country for several years, and yet but little is known as to their behavior, except in very limited areas. Others, as Buffalo clover, native to the country are thought to have merit, and yet the degree of such merit does not appear to have been yet proved under cultivation. The three varieties but recently introduced are thought to have considerable promise for certain soils and climates to which they have special adaptation, but sufficient trial has not been given them to determine even approximately the measure of their worth to this country. These varieties will now be discussed, but for the reasons stated above it will be manifest that the discussion will of necessity be imperfect and fragmentary in character.

SAINFOIN

Sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa) is a perennial, leguminous, clover-like forage plant of the bean family.