Chemical studies on oil bearing seeds. II. Hubam clover seed

H UBAIV[ sweet clover is an annual var ie ty of white sweet clover and is known botanical ly as Melilotus alba annua (9). I t was first observed in Mississippi as early as 1898 and was later (1916) isolated f rom a plant ing of biennial white sweet clover and brought to general a t tent ion b y H. D. Hughes of the Iowa Agricul tura l Exper imen t Station (2, 4, 6). I t is believed to have originated in Alabama (4). The name H u b a m is der ived f rom the names Hughes and Alabama. In recent years H u b a m clover has at tained considerable recognition as a forage crop and as a soil builder. I t has been used ve ry sat isfactori ly as a cover crop and as a green manure crop. By crop rotat ion with cotton and other grains t I u b a m clover is said in some cases to produce as much as 50% increase in yields because of the ni t rogen enrichment of the soil (8). This is a very strong factor in favor of H u b a m clover as a southern legume crop. In the South, and par t icu lar ly in Texas and other areas of the Southwest, it is grown for seed product ion and is assuming importance as one of the lucrat ive cash crops. F rom the s tandpoint of agr icul tural economics it is considered especially desirable that a crop serve as a soil bui lder and at the same t ime provide an at t ract ive cash income without being unduly difficult to cultivate and harvest. H u b a m clover satisfies all of these prerequisites. Yields of 700 pounds of seed per acre are not unusual, and the average price to the f a rmer has made it an at t ract ive cash crop as well as a soil builder~. Seeding requires about 20 pounds to the acre, no cultivation is necessary, and harvest ing is done by combine. Losses dur ing harvest are minimized and 85% of the seed is saved b y cutt ing and windrowing in a single operation, followed by threshing out of the windrow with a combine (8). Dur ing the past few years there has been a remarkable increase in acreage planted to H u b a m clover. In 1947, for the first time, seed product ion exceeded the marke t demand, and producers were left with a surplus of this commodity. In ant icipat ion of this trend, and in view of the t remendous importance of H u b a m clover to southern agriculture, extensive chemical investigations have been carr ied out in the laboratories of the Texas Research Foundat ion to determine the chemical composition of H u b a m clover seed and to find industrial applications for its pr incipal components. The object of this pape r is to repor t the results of our investigations to date and to give a pre l iminary evaluation of H u b a m clover as a potential source of industrial raw materials. Seed A~alysis. Mature samples of H u b a m clover seed, freed f rom all foreign matter , were ground to pass a 40-mesh screen and the ground mater ial was subjected to a series of analyses, the results of which are reported in Table I. The methods were those accepted as official procedures (1, 3). Approximate ly 7% of the composition of the seeds remains unknown. The smallness of the seed and the in t imacy with which the constituents are in contact with one another makes a quant i ta t ive determinat ion of each very difficult. I t is quite likely that the seeds T A B L E I