The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-03-13
GROWING SWEET CLOVER IN LATAH co.
By O. S. Fletcher, County Agent


: came up in a very few days afte
planting"
Eight growers inoculated the see
with pure culture, prepared by tn
experiment station. All of these re
ported that the incubation. took
and that nodules grew on the root
Of the plants. l.. A. Sheldon, O
Princeton, gave an interesting repOr
on the effect Of incubation. He stat
ed hat the first three acres he SOW
ed, he ~inoculated the seed on on
acre only and left two acres not in
oculated: The seed that was in
oculated produced an excellent stan'
and the plants grew very rangy thu
first season, while the other was
poor stand and seemed to be yer,
delicate. The plants did not get tt
be more than a foot high the frs
year and the second year they die
nOt do much better, while the in
oculated part of the field made a very
heavy growth the second season.
Eight growers used a nurse crop
while fourteen planted sweet clover
alone. OF those using a nurse crop
three used oats; two used peas; two
doSQ WHICH,, duu Oluc uSGQ d lulAIui {
of barley and oats. Three of the
eight cut the nurse crop for hay; one
hogged off the peas; and foul cut a
grain crop. Nordby Brothers, OF
Genesee, secured an excellent stand
of sweet clover in 1921 with oats
that were cut for grain and yielded
better than so bushels per acre;
while in 1922, they secured a fair
stand of sweet clover with beardless
barley and peas as a nurse crop. The
oats and barley we're cut fairly early
and used as ensilage.
l.. A. Sheldon reports hat in start
ing one field of 20 acres he used a
nurse crop of wheat. In seeding the
drill missed in a few strips so nat
part of the field had wheat as a
nurse crop, while some was really
without such a crop. The following
winter all Of the sweet clover was
killed by freezing and heaving, ex-
cepting that in the strips where the
drill did not seed wheat. Here the
sweet clover came through the win
ter in perfect condition. Mr.. Shell
don states that he would not recon-
the use of a nurse crop with
sweet clover. The majority OF those
reporting state that as a rule it is
best not to plant a nurse crop if one
is anxious to get a good stand of
sweet clover as soon as possible.
Utilizing the Crop.
Those farmers who planted sweet
lover, planted it primarily as a pas
ure crop and in general followed a
that would get the greatest
mount of pasture from the land
Twenty of the % growers pastured
he crop the first year of it's growth.
The time of starting to pasture the
irst season ranged from June 18th
o October LIST, with the majority
tarting by August 1st. Eight began
f pasturing the first seasons growth
eported was June 1st. Cattle, horses,
heep, and hogs were p~astured the
irst season by various farmers and
he average number of stock used
he first year was equivalent to one
ow per acre after July 18th. The
en- farmers reporting on the second
growth pastured the crop. The
amount of stock pastured the
econd yea was a little more than
equivalent of two COWS per acre.
IL but two report that they could F..
ave pastured more stock. :
Six farmers report that they had {
0 trouble in getting stock to pasture {
clover at first, while four re- 1
ort that they had some difficulty in +
the stock started to pasture .
lie crop. None of those reporting had q
ny animals bloat on sweet clover. s
of the % reporting state that 4
veet clover pasture tainted milk of +
p%astured on the crop. The Z
hers said it did not. Q
Four farmers cut a hay crop the Il
rst year. The dates of cutting of s
ese four fields were July 10, July Y
(, August Is, and September Is. The Il
rmer who cut on August Is said that =
should have cut one month earlier. y
lie average yield of hay the first u
ar was three-fourths of a ton. s.
Seven of the ten growers reporting =
the second yea of sweet clover u
t one hay crop the second year. M
lie height of the plants at cutting e
nged from fourteen to forty-eight 4
hes, with an average of thirty-six hi
In cutting, all left a stubble ~
than is left in cutting alfalfa lII
The height of stubble ranged nj
m four to eighteen inches. Leaving ~
the figures of the maj who left ST
hteen inches of stubble, the aver l[
height was five inches. None re- IL
It that any of the plants died after S[
ting on account of the cutting. UEE
tes of cutting the second year Ur
go --o-- June zna 20 july l2-n Ia
pr