The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1921-08-04
SWEET CLOVER FOR MADISON
COUNTY

SONIC udN III tilt Htot
son county will be noted for Dairying,
Bee raising and Sweet Clover.
Six years ago men cursed Sweet
Clover in Madison and said nothing
would eat it. Today men praise
Sweet Clover and all stock eat it..
It's only a matter of time until AL
Of our farmers of Madison county
will realize the value of Sweet Clover
as a hay crop, soil crop and the fin
est grazing crop. Blue grass is fine
grazing but the hot sun comes along
in June, July, and August and de-
stroys the tender growth to some ex.
tent. Sweet clover grows on. Why?
Because it has deep root and goes
down for moisture while Blue Grass
does not go so deep.
Sweet Clover will fatten cattle,
hog, sheep, horses and mules. 1t will
produce more eggs. BY doing these
things it will bring more money to
our farmers, and money is what we
want 1t takes money to run any
business. Farming is the biggest
business in our county and should be
looked upon as such.
There are thousands of acres of
land in Madison county that are not
producing-only covered with a wild
coat of grass here and there and cut
TO pieces by ditches-thousands of
acres bald knobs" which are consid-
cred worthless and thrown out to the
commons; thousands of acres of steep
hillsides washing away from year to
year; thousands of acres poor and
thin covered with castles and monu-
ments built by the crawfish. All of
this land is valuable and can be made
to produce and bring forth plenty.
Sweet Clover will do the work. On
the steep, rough land, "bald knobs"
and where there is lime in the soil
Sweet Clover will grow in abundance.
On the crawfish land ground limestone
should be applied at the rate of 2
tons per acre and seeded to Sweet
Clover.
The day is coming when We will
need more and better soil. Madison
county is blessed with much fine pro-
ductive land and yet she has some
very poor non-productive land. This
firm, rich land should be cared for by
keeping it rich, and the poor land
should be made better. 1t can be
done, and I believe it is up to us to
do it. There are thousands, yea, mil
lions, possibly, to follow us in Madi-
son county and get their support
from the soil. Not only get their
support but must feed the people of
Richmond, Berea, and other small
towns within the county. Yes, we
must have plenty to spare if money
is to be made in the county as it
has been done in the past.
As the soil so will the county be-
then if we wish to be rich we must
take care of our soil. Rotation of
crops, more and better live stock and
cover crops for the winter will make
the poor land better and maintain our
present soil fertility. Rotation of
crops to be worked out to suit the
farm-Sweet Clover to be in the 70.
tation. More and better live stock
can be secured by getting better
sires-bulls, bucks, boars, stations,
jacks and roosters, and giving them
plenty of Sweet Clover to Craze up
on and to eat during the winter.
Cover crops for the winter should be
on every farm when possible. The
cover crop holds the fertility of soil
from being washed away during the
winter rains. 1t also gives pasture
early and late. 1t furnishes a green
manure crop to turn under to make
more humus. Sweet Clover is one of
the best crops. There are others but
do not forget Sweet Clover.
John l.. Green, Berea RI, has so
acres in Sweet Glover. He cut 8
acres for seed, is grazing 80, and has
II which were seeded last spring and
will soon be grazing. Since the
clover has been high enough to Craze
in the early spring he has had from
Is to 25 cattle on the 80 acres all
the time up until August /. In spite
of all the cattle the clover grew SO
fast that in many places the cattle
can hide themselves in the clover
Some say stock won't eat Sweet
Clover. Call on John l.. Green and
see his stock and listen to him fol
an hour. Go with him over the poor
hillsides and see what's there.
Mr. Green has corn in a field thi.
year where he has been growing
Sweet Clover for four years. The
reason he had it in Sweet Clover /.
because nothing else would grow