About this time Emil made a decision that affected agriculture practices in the region for the next 20 years: he decided to attempt growing alsike clover. He’d been reading about this crop, knew that it was being used successfully in the East for hay and pasture, but no one in the area had yet grown any. Among other advantages it would be a great source of nectar for the bees. Rosalia was somewhat skeptical as alsike clover is a perennial, and she was afraid in might take over the farm. However, Emil prevailed, ordered seed, sowed it with oats in the spring as directed, and waited to see how it might turn out. The outcome was all that he had hoped for. Once the oats were harvested the field turned green with clover, and the next year the clover produced a wonderful crop of seed. It is not known how the first crop or two were harvested, but neighboring farmers who saw what was happening on the Hofmann farm were eager to try the new crop. However, they were reluctant to do so without a means to harvest the seed, and here Emil saw an opportunity: he again extended himself to purchase a new clover huller and a secondhand steam engine to furnish power to the huller and transport it between jobs. He was now able to offer his services as a contract huller.
Having a way to get their seed harvested gave local farmers reason to immediately began growing alsike clover, and it became a huge success. From American Bee Journal, March, 1925: “In 1906 he interested a few farmers in growing alsike clover for seed, and since that time, under his leadership Janesville has grown to be one of the leading centers for alsike clover seed in the United States.” At least in the initial years, Emil provided custom clover hulling for many farmers in the area (figures 8–9). From Charles
Hofmann’s autobiography:
“Alsike continued to be the prime crop grown by farmers for many miles around, and for a period of over twenty years it reigned as the best cash crop the area had ever seen. Other clover hullers eventually began appearing on the scene, and our mail carrier claimed that one beautiful day in clover hulling season he stopped his one-horse sulky on a high hill and counted twenty-two hullers at work. When alsike clover was in full bloom it was also quite a sight to see the fields. Many townspeople made it a point to drive through the countryside on warm sunny evenings to see the fields and enjoy the perfumed air. A little before Alsike harvest began, seed company buyers took residence in the little hotel in Janesville and competed with each other to buy the seed. One time the editor of the local paper printed an article saying that, for quite a period of time in the fall, more freight cars left Janesville than from the city of Mankato because of the many carloads of alsike clover seed being shipped.”
