AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 247 



colonies in one yard in his orchard, where they are under his immediate 

 care at all times. After traveling over much of the Central West, it has 

 become apparent to the author that within a few years the beekeeping 

 possibilities of parts of Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota will be almost 

 inexhaustible because of the increase of this plant. On visiting Falmouth, 

 Ky., I was amazed at the stories they told of what sweet clover had done 

 for that region. One of the pioneer growers was E. E. Barton, and his 

 experience with it sounded like a fairy tale. Mr. Barton said that follow- 

 ing the civil war, most of Pendleton County was given over to tobacco 

 growing, with little live stock, and not much rotation of crops. It was a 

 hill country, and although it had a fertile soil over a clay subsoil, the 

 heavy rains soon washed away the shallow surface soil, and one farm after 

 another was abandoned. Hundreds of farms were abandoned, and many 

 of them were sold for taxes, because no buyers could be found. More than 

 a third of the population left the county, and the farmers who remained 

 had hard lines to make ends meet. Sweet clover was stealthily sowed, 

 probably by beekeepers intent on increasing the bee pasturage. At first 

 it was regarded with disfavor and fought as a dangerous weed. 



Mr. Barton came into possession of a farm, somewhat against his will, 

 because the owner could not pay the mortgage. He tried renting it, and 

 the tenant was unable to make a living, much less pay the rent. After it 

 had been abandoned, he went to great trouble to keep down the weeds, es- 

 pecially sweet clover. Then came a year of drought, when there was very 

 little feed for the cattle, and they were turned into the roads to graze. 

 Even there there was but little except the sweet clover, which was by this 

 time rather common along the roadsides. It was soon noticed that the 

 cows were eating the sweet clover with relish and doing well. Then some- 

 body tried an experiment by sowing it in a field. It thrived, the cows liked 

 it, and the milk flow was increased. Mr. Barton by this time was quite 

 ready to profit by the experience, and within five years the farm which 

 would not grow grass was producing good crops. He bought more aban- 

 doned farms and sowed them to sweet clover, and his neighbors began to 

 do likewise. One by one the farmers came back to their abandoned farms, 

 new settlers came in, and everybody began to grow sweet clover. Now 

 there are fifty thousand acres of it in that county. Ask any farmer you 

 meet on the streets of Falmouth what he thinks of sweet clover and he 

 will tell you such tales of rebuilt fortunes from a combination of dairy 

 cows and sweet clover as you never expect to hear. There are now shipped 

 from the county about half a million pounds -of seed yearly, besides thou- 

 sands of dollars' worth of dairy products every week. They find that an 

 average of 300 to 600 pounds of hulled seed per acre can be secured from 

 the white variety and 500 to 700 pounds of the yellow. An average yield of 

 from $40 to $100 per acre is the return from the sweet clover, according to 

 local reports picked up on the streets. Now one finds evidences of pros- 

 perity on every hand. The farmers have fine homes, automobiles, and 

 money in the bank. 



Soil Requirements. 

 There is no forage plant that will succeed on such a wide range of soil 



