SWEET CLOVER
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nly a few plants up--and not a blossomMy clover didn't catch. What is the matter?Old John comes by. I show him my result.Look, John! My clover patch is just a failure,I wanted you to sow it. Now you seeWhat comes of letting Hunter do your work.The ground was not plowed right, or disced perhaps,Or harrowed fine enough, or too little seedWas sown. But John, who knows a clover field,Pulls up a plant and cleans the roots of soilAnd studies them. He says, Look at the roots!Hunter neglected to inoculateThe seed, for clover seed must always haveClover bacteria to make it grow,And blossom. In a thrifty field of cloverThe roots are studded thick with tubercles,Like little warts, made by bacteria.And somehow these bacteria lay holdUpon the nitrogen that fills the soil,And make the plants grow, make them blossom too.When Hunter sowed this field he was not well:He should have hauled some top-soil to this fieldFrom some old clover field, or made a cultureOf these bacteria and soaked the seedIn it before he sowed it. As I said,Hunter was sick when he was working here.And then he ran away to IndianaAnd left his wife and children. Now he's back.His cough was just as bad in IndianaAs it is here. A cough is pretty hardTo run away from. Wife and children tooAre pretty hard to leave, since thought of themStays with a fellow and cannot be left.Yes, Hunter's back, but he can't work for you.He's straightening out his little farm and makingProvision for his family. Hunter's changed.He is a better man. It almost seemsThat Hunter's blossomed. ... I am sorry for him.The doctor says he has tuberculosis.
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