The total yields of sweet clover per acre for the season are usually
less than those of alfalfa except in the semiarid unirrigated portions
of the country. Sweet clover ordinarily yields more to the acre than
any of the true clovers.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Cutting sweet clover for hay in western Kansas.]
When the seed is sown in the spring in the North without a nurse crop,
yields of 1 to 3 tons of hay of good quality may be expected the
following autumn, The Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station
obtained 2,700 pounds of hay per acre in the fall from spring seeding,
while the United States Department of Agriculture obtained 3,000 pounds
of hay per acre in August from May seeding in Maryland. Yields of 1
to 2 tons, and occasionally 3 tons, have been obtained in Michigan,
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, the Dakotas, and other States. In Illinois,
Iowa, and Kansas yields of 1 to 1-1/2 tons are often obtained after
grain harvest when weather conditions are favorable.
The first crop the second season yields 1-1/2 to 3 tons of hay to the
acre in the northern and western sections of the United States. The
second crop of the second season will yield from three-fourths to 1-1/2
tons to the acre, although this crop usually is cut for seed.
When sweet clover is seeded in the South without a nurse crop on fairly
fertile soil that is not acid, three cuttings of hay, averaging at
least a ton to the cutting, may be secured the year of seeding. When
the seed is sown in the early spring on winter grain, two cuttings,
yielding at least 1 ton to the cutting, may be obtained. The first crop
the second season yields on an average 1-1/2 to 3 tons of hay to the
acre. In 1903 the Alabama Canebrake Station obtained 2-1/2 tons of hay
after oat harvest and a total yield of 3 tons per acre from the same
field in 1904.