Some farmers hesitate to plant sweet clover on their farms for fear
they will have difficulty in eradicating it when the fields are planted
to other crops. The results obtained annually by hundreds of farmers
are sufficient proof that there is no foundation for such fear; in
fact, farmers are experiencing much difficulty in cutting the first
crop the second season so high that the plants will not be killed. The
new crop of sweet clover, unlike that of red clover and alfalfa, must
come from the buds left on the stubble, so when the plants are cut
below these buds they will be killed. As sweet clover is a biennial,
the plants die as soon as the seed crop is produced.
When the first year's growth of sweet clover is to be turned under
for green-manure it is recommended that the field be plowed after the
plants have made some growth the following spring rather than in the
fall of the year of seeding. When the first year's growth is plowed
under the same fall many of the plants will not be entirely covered,
and these will made a vigorous growth the following spring. When the
plowing is delayed until the plants have made some growth the following
spring no trouble will be experienced in eradicating them. (Fig. 11.)
* * * * *
PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RELATING TO FORAGE
CROPS.