Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1916-01-21

sweet clover spells opportunity OH
many weed-grown, impoverished,
soil-washed farms. 1t will probably
never be a substitute for alfalfa
where alfalfa thrives, and it will new
er supplant red clover on high-priced
deep-soil farms in Illinois and Iowa.
Sweet clover, doubtless, will never
gain universal popularity, but it has
proven that it is not merely a weed
and that in itself is a victory. Any
Sweet Glove is not, strictly speak,
entitled to consideration.
Sweet clover is not, strictly speok-
ing, clover. 1t is a legume and is
thought by some to have a common
parentage with alfalfa. Like alfalfa,
it originated along the Mediterranean
Sea. 1t resembles alfalfa in root sus-
TEN, except that it has larger and
more extensive roots. The top is lar
ger growing and more woody than
alfalfa when mature; the leaves are
similar and the young plant closely
resembles alfalfa. But it may be
distinguished by the more stemmy
growth, bitter taste, and strong, fra
grant odor.
While there are at least four fairly
well established varieties of sweet
clover only two-the white-flowered
biennial and the yellow flowered III q.
ennial-have won widespread favor.
Indian sweet clover is a low-growing
yellow flowered annual and is limit
ed in its adaptability. The fact that
il dies out TOO early for fall pasturiug
and that it is especially bitter and
unpalatable makes it of no practical
value. The blue sweet clover is little
grown in the United States, but it is
valuable in some countries for bee
pastures and for the manufacture Of
perfumes and medicines.
Except where nitrogen-fixing bac-
terra are present in the soil 1t will be
necessary to supply these bacteria,
either by soil transfer or commercial
cultures. Where incubation is re-
quired the soil transfer method is to
ne recommended, applying 800 to 400
pounds of inoculated soil to the acre.
Application should be made on a
cloudy day or after dusk and bar
rOwed in at once. The same species
of bacteria that are present in the
nodules on the roots of alfalfa also
work in sweet clover nodules and
the soil from a field growing one
crop may be used to inoculate that
of the other. When unhulled seed
is used it is supposed that the bac-
terra cling to the hull and further
/ inOculation is unnecessary.
The termination of sweet clover.
when planted from untreated seed,
is very low, due to the high percent
age of "hard seeds" The seed is
encased in a hard shell that is i'm
pervious to moisture and difficult to
break down. A number of methods
of treating the seed have been tried
out and scarifier invented by Prof.
II. ID. Hughes, at Ames, Iowa, has
been used successfully and promises
to eliminate most of the trouble ex-
perienced heretofore. The machine
breaks down the hard coat without
injuring the seed itself and makes
termination easy. Treatment with
sulphuric acid greatly increases the
per cent of termination of the seed
Many persons have attributed the
low termination of sweet clover tC
a lack of vitality in the seed, but II
is now generally admitted that where
the hard shell can be broken or re
moved, either by machinery or by
p treatment with chemicals, 1t is no
unusual to obtain 95 pc rcent germiu
alton or even better.
In a general way it may be saiC
that sweet clover does better with
out excessive soil preparation. TIL,
roots are very aggressive and fore,