ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



141 



I think it would be well to have an 

 educational campaign. 



That makes me think of a story: 

 At a country school house where they 

 were having a Wet and Dry campaign, 

 they had a "Dry" speaker who was do- 

 ing hig best to persuade the audience 

 that the one thing the country needed 

 was to do away with the manufacture 

 and sale of intoxicating liquor. 



One farmer who seemed to think his 

 time had come got up and asked the 

 speaker what he thought all the farm- 

 ers in the country would do with their 

 corn if they stopped the manufacture 

 of whiskey, and before the speaker 

 could reply another farmer said: "My 

 friend, we will raise more hogs and 

 less hell." 



Mr. Mosier — The bee-keepers are 

 pushing sweet clover, and I am satis- 

 fied that the Soils Department of the 

 University is going to push sweet 

 clover because of its value as a soil im- 

 prover. 



It seems to me that if the bee-keep- 

 ers and the Soils Department of the 

 University of Illinois get behind sweet 

 clover we ought to hear from it pretty 

 soon. 



I look for a big increase in the grow- 

 ing of sweet clover in a few years be- 

 cause we are demonstrating right along 

 its value. 



And another thing: We are just 

 getting ready now to publish a bulletin 

 on the subject of sweet clover as a 

 soil improver, and those bulletins go to 

 something like 60,000 farmers in the 

 state and in other states; they will 

 reach a lot of people, and I have no 

 doubt we will do a good deal towards 

 increasing the growing of sweet clover. 



Mr. Wheeler — I was glad when I read 

 that the University was going to take 

 up sweet clover because I have seen 

 the bee-keepers trying to work up the 

 use of sweet clover among farmers for 

 years and it didn't seem to work. 



As soon as the bee-keepers begin to 

 talk on that which seems to be in their 

 own interest, men naturally seem to 

 work against it. 



I remember that Mr. Baldridge was 

 talking sweet clover thirty-five years 

 ago; and Mr. Thomas G. Newman also 

 talked about the use of sweet clover 

 over 30 years ago, but they were talk- 

 ing of it as bee-keepers. 



It is a mighty good thing to have the 

 State University Agricultural Depart- 

 ment take it up. The bee-keepers have 



had rather a poor showing; of course 

 it would not do any harm to work to- 

 gether. 



I would like to ask the Professor 

 what bearing it is going to have on 

 bee-keeping if the Dairy Companies 

 around Chicago should make use of 

 sweet clover. How will they take it 

 up, and will they let it bloom enough 

 so that we will get something out of it? 



Mr. Mosier — It seems to me it would 

 be almost impossible to grow sweet 

 clover without permitting -it to bloom. 

 It might not be as valuable in dairy 

 use as on grain farms, where they de- 

 sire a crop of seed. In dairying they 

 would want some hay and they might 

 for that reason keep it from blooming 

 more, but then there would be an im- 

 mense amount more of sweet clover 

 blooming in the dairy section than 

 there is at the present time. Until the 

 seed w-ould get down to the very lowest 

 price, the seed crop will be a, paying 

 proposition and they will let it go to 

 seed, and that will of course necessi- 

 tate the blooming of the plant. 



Mr. Dadant — Have you any idea, or 

 can you venture to guess as to how long 

 it would take before the seed would get 

 down to where the red clover is, — a 

 reasonable price? 



Mr. Mosier — I should say five years. 



Mr. Dadant — I heard Mr. Cloverdale 

 and Mr. Frank Pellett of low^a talking 

 the matter over, and Mr. Cloverdale 

 made a guess of seven years. He 

 thought it would take from five to seven 

 years, and Mr. Pellett thought it would 

 take longer before we got enough seed 

 in the country, that the demand would 

 be as great as it is now; so we have 

 from five to seven years ahead of us 

 where they are going to grow it for 

 seed, and bee-keepers can take advan- 

 tage of it. 



Mr. Wheeler — Do you cut it with a 

 regular ordinary harvester binder? 



Mr. Mosier — Yes. 



Mr. Wheeler — That would be another 

 argument in favor of cutting It for hay 

 for the first crop; to have it of even 

 growth, it would be more easily cut, 

 not so scraggy. 



Mr. Mosier^ — To cut that sweet clover 

 this year after it had blown down and 

 the plants were six and seven feet high 

 was a pretty difficult undertaking. I 

 cut it as high as I oould, and then the 

 plants were so long they would stick 

 out from the binder. It would be an 



