SWEET CLOVER

Only a few plants up — and not a blossom

My clover did n'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 see

What comes of letting Hunter do your work.

The ground was not plowed right, or disced perhaps,

Or harrowed fine enough, or too little seed

Was sown.

But John, who knows a clover field,

Pulls up a plant and cleans the roots of soil

And studies them.

He says, Look at the roots!

Hunter neglected to inoculate

The seed, for clover seed must always have

Clover bacteria to make it grow,

And blossom. In a thrifty field of clover

The roots are studded thick with tubercles,

Like little warts, made by bacteria.

And somehow these bacteria lay hold

Upon 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 field

From some old clover field, or made a culture

Of these bacteria and soaked the seed

In it before he sowed it.

As I said,

Hunter was sick when he was working here.

And then he ran away to Indiana

And left his wife and children. Now he's back.

His cough was just as bad in Indiana

As it is here. A cough is pretty hard

To run away from. Wife and children too

Are pretty hard to leave, since thought of them

Stays with a fellow and cannot be left.

Yes, Hunter's back, but he can n't work for you.

He's straightening out his little farm and making

Provision for his family. Hunter's changed.

He is a better man. It almost seems

That Hunter's blossomed....

I am sorry for him.

The doctor says he has tuberculosis.