The Mena weekly star., 1913-04-24
A Little Talk About Clover.


 l wish to say few things to the newcomer. and also to the settlers concerning my observations. have, of course, been told many things of the surrounding country adjacent to the city of Mena that are not very complimentary, while some others are very compliment ary. Among the things l Wlsh 10 write about is the growing ol clover in Polk county \ number have been telling me that 1t cannot be grown successfully in thlS colh- try, while a few claim 1t can. me short time I have been Tn your clt! I have driven considerably through the country looking for clover anu meadows. I must acknowledge that good meadows are very scarce. have found that clover will grow here, but some fields are so worn out that 1t is a hard matter to Set clover to catch after 1t haS been sOwn. I have found clover growing here as prolific as in the northern states. where clover fields are every where on every farm and my obser- VatiOns satisfy me that clover can be grown here on the land near Mena as we'll as anywhere if the land is properly prepared to feceiNe the seed. A field. to grow clover must be we'll fer,iliZed with barn. yard manure. Commercial fertlllz- CT is good, but nothing is as good as barnyard manure. If any farm CT wishes to prove this, let him take a load of manure, spread It over just what ground it will cover, from two to four inches deep, and SOW his clover seed on that patch. and see if it will not grow. 1 know he will ask, where will l get enough manure to cover my whole farm from two to four inches deep. That, under conditions existing here at present, is a conundrum. If he will only save his manure from his team during the winter months he will be surprised at the amount of ground he can cover. Now if he will keep his cattle at home where they belong. and save that manure also, instead of having them stand out in the wooi> looking for shel- ter in some valley out of the wind, he would soon have enough ma nure to cover a large portion of his land If he only covers five acres of his land and gets it in clover. he will soon see that there is more money in his five acres than all the range he could find for miles around his home and his five acres of clover would make him more fat hogs and more money than he ever got off his range in all his eX- perience.
 Another thing that convinces me more than anything else that clover will grow if it has a chance, is, if you will take a walk with me up Mena street. where they are going to put the government building. will show you as fine a growth of clover as will gr9W in any country. That is growing of ifs own accord. If clover will grow on this land of it's own accord. if will surely grow if piece of ground is fitted prop erly tO receive ho seed. And if you will look a little further up the street. to the front of the Flks' home, you will not only see
 clover of the hay-makinG kind. but sweet cloVer-quite a patch.
 Just a few words about sweet clover. I do not think if very good for hay. although I have seen cattle eat ii, but they do not relish il very much. I have known it to be cut with other hay, and it is claimed cattle and horses both eat it with relish. However, I wish to say it IS great fertilizer, as ii will make Ia very large growth in few months time. I have seen it two feet high in two months time. and then ploWed under and the land cropped to corn and grand crop .of corn grown. l have seen it planted where a meadow had been completely annihilated by the dan dellons, and sweet clover grew so thick and fast that it killed all the dandelions, and this crop of sweet clover was plOwed under and the ground put into grass again. and the dandelions were no more. and the ground was made as good as ever by blowing under the sweet clover.
 Now the sweet clover is looked upon as a weed in Michigan. where lived, for it grows everywhere. but it is not a bad weed to get rid ot, for If it Is plowed under it is Killed. Bu' it will take a large amount of legume in the soil. Ii is calculated to grow on any kind of ground, and it might be just the thing to SOW here on some of this Wornout land near Mena. This sweet clover, as I have said. makes a very large growth in a very short tlme l would like for some farm CT 10 SOW patch in the fall. say In September, and it will get some growth before the winter will freeze It, and 1t will start early in the spring and in an ordinary spring if ought to be two feet high by the llrst or middle of April. about the tune the farmer would want to pioW for his crop. Plow this sweet clover under good and put it in the crop and see if it does not pay well for the seed and trouble in the increase of production of either cotton or corn I think this sweet clover would soon put the ground m shape so that farmers would not