Culture.
clover does best on a shal low•, calcareous soil with a rotten limestone subsoil. It is never fertilized or manured. It is propagated from seed, two to eight pecks of unhulled seed per acre being sown on a well-prepared seed-bed. In the South the sowing is done in February or the early part of March, or by nature in August. The seed is frequently broadcasted among growing plants of small grain, and usually covered with a harrow'.
Place in the rotation.—The field is left for two years in melilotus, or, if very poor, for four years, reseeding occurring at the end of the second year if the crop is allowed to stand till seed is formed. The crop immediately preceding sweet clover is usually oats or cotton and the succeeding crop is usually corn, after which cotton, alfalfa and other crops may be grown.
Harresting.---When sown on land that is poor or poorly prepared, the growth of the first season is usually insufficient for mowing, and is unused or utilized as pasture in late summer and fall. On rich or well-prepared calcareous land in the South, two cuttings are secured the first season, aggre As a While chemical analysis shows that sweet clover hay is practically of the same composition as alfalfa, the former is decidedly in ferior because of its want of palatability, its coarse ness, and its tendency to shed its leaves in curing.
Melilotus hay is at first refused by live-stock, but in time it is eaten fairly well and sustains the animals in good condition. Likewise, in time ani mals become accustomed to melilotus as a grazing plant, but continue to give preference to other forage plants. When used as a pasture plant for hogs, melilotus should be mowed occasionally, thus causing a new growth of tender shoots to be pro duced. The forage value of melilotus is practically unrecognized in California and other parts of the West.
Enemies.
Sweet clover seldom suffers seriously from disease or insect injury. The leaves are occasionally attacked by leaf-spot.
Literature.
In agricultural writings very little has appeared on the subject of melilotus, except brief notes and reports of chemical analyses, occurring chiefly in the reports of the Massachusetts State Experiment Station. Brief notes are found in Alabama (Cane brake) Experiment Station Bulletins ; Illinois Ex periment Station, Bulletin No. 94; Mississippi Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 20 ; United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 18; Wilcox and Smith, Farmer's Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Orange Judd Company ; Shaw, Forage Crops, and Soiling Crops and the Silo, Orange Judd Company.