CLOVER. 



91 



CLOVER. 



him a better quality of hay when mixed 

 with other clovers and timothy, and at the 

 same time increase the annual honey crop of 

 the bee-keeper. One or two years after the 

 free giving of seed, the farmers will begin 

 to find out its value, and will then want it 

 and be willing to pay for it. .Some bee- 

 keepers then furnish it at half price. 



So excellent is the quality of the hay that 

 many fai-mers grow alsike year after year, 

 notwithstanding that red clover or peavine 

 jdelds a larger tonnage, but not necessarily 

 more milk or cheese per acre. It is in such 

 localities that an increase of the annual 

 honey crops is noted. 



Mr. TTm. McEvoy. one of the most exten- 

 sive bee-keepers of Ontario, also foul-brood 

 inspector there, finds it profitable to furnish 

 seed to his neighbors. He writes in Gho.nings 

 in Bee Culture for March Jst. Vol. XXXIV : 



HOW CAX WE SECURE MORE HOXEY OF THE BEST 

 QrAEITT? AU5IKE CLOVER VS. ALFALFA. 



Tliis is the all-important queslion, and I am well 

 aware that nearly every one. if he answered, would 

 say, "By increasing' and moving- the bees to where 

 they can gather honey from clover." This can be 

 done: but will the increase of bees not lead to en- 

 croaching on other bee-keepers' rights? It certainly 

 will if the parties moving bees fi-om place to place 

 do not provide for their share of the pasture. AV 

 most any localitj can be made a good one by seed- 

 ing down 20 acres eacli year for three years \vith al- 

 sike clover. I am going In for increasing, and start- 

 ing out-apiaries in places where no bees are kept, 

 and wiU supply enough alsike-clover seed to seed 

 down 20 acres each year for three years. It will cost 

 me only about the price of -300 lbs. of extracted hon- 

 ey each year; and for this little outlay I shall be im- 

 mensely paid with a fine ciuality of the best honey. 



Woodbura, Ont., Can., Feb. 12, 1906. 



Following the practice of ;Mr. McEvoy. we 

 have for several years been furnishing alsike 

 clover seed to farmers at half price provid- 

 ing that the fields where it was to be sown 

 weie within half a mile of some one of our 

 yards. We have also furnished it free to 

 those who would sow it in fields within a few 

 rods of the yards. 



By continuing this policy we have enor- 

 mously increased the alsike-clover acreage 

 within half a mile of our yards. Oiu- men 

 obser^'ed that the amount of clover honey 

 gathered has noticeably increased, and that 

 less feeding of sugar syrup in the fall has 

 been found necessary. After the alsike is 

 once introduced it will keep on self-sowing, 

 and, what is more, the farmers will discover 

 that it will take root where the ordinary red 

 clovers fail to make any satisfacton- show- 

 ing. Whenever the ground becomes ••clover- 

 sick,"' or whenever there is any ground on 

 which the ordinary red clovers do not seem 



to make a satisfactory' growth, the alsike 

 will usually do nicely. Farmers all over the 

 country are beginning to learn the value of 

 this forage-plant, particularly when sown 

 with timothy. 



After a few years it will not be necessary 

 to furnish seed free and at half price, for the 

 farmer will find the crop so valuable that he 

 will pay full price for it: but he must be edu- 

 cated at first by giving him a bonus. 



WIXTEB-KFLLING A2s^D ITS EFFECT ON THE 

 CLOVERS. 



There are two kinds of winter-killing. 

 One is known as the " heaving-out-' process, 

 by which the alternate freezing and thawing 

 of a water-.soaked soil breaks the roots of the 

 clovers, dismembering them until there 

 seems to be but little of them left. The other 

 kind of winter-killing is from what might be 

 called the dry process. In this the ground is 

 frozen to a great depth, freezing the roots 

 and jjlants solid. While it may thaw and 

 freeze somewhat, it is claimed "that the se- 

 vere cold wind blo\\'ing over the surface 

 when the ground is not protected, if it con- 

 tinues for any length of time, will kill al- 

 most any clover." But on the other hand it 

 is claimed that white clover suffers less from 

 winter-killing than any of the clovers. Un- 

 like the common red. peavine, and alsike. it 

 has no great tap-root. It is essentially a 

 vine like the strawberry, having shallow 

 roots at frequent intervals shooting down 

 into the ground for short distances. During 

 the heaving process of winter-killing, the 

 white clovers are lifted up and down, and 

 apparently are but little harmed by the pro- 

 cess except in cases where there is very se- 

 vere cold without snow that attacks root and 

 branch alike. 



THE EFFECT OF DROUTH A2sD WINTER 

 SNOWS ON THE CLOVERS. 



One authority says the drier it is in the 

 fall, up to a certain limit, and the more pro- 

 longed, the more the root system is strength- 

 ened and the more it grows. If this drouth 

 is followed by winter or spring rains, plants 

 wiU grow amazingly. 



Nearly all the writers agree that clover 

 has freaks of yielding enormously some 

 years and failing almost entirely in others. 

 Some of them assert that a drouth in the fall 

 is not hurtful, but beneficial, providing o/7i«/- 

 conditions that foWnc are favorable. Others 

 assert that a severe drouth in the fall is in- 

 variably followed by a failure of clover honey 

 the following year, and there is considerable 

 proof to support the statement. All acknowl- 



