ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



73 



finest example of the value of lime- 

 stone in growing alfalfa or sweet 

 clover. 



I know of a man in the state of Wis- 

 consin (the County Agent) who had 

 a farm and planted a field of alfalfa; 

 a field where the seed was inoculated, 

 and the soil was given the finest kind 

 of preparation, was very rich, and the 

 only place the farmer got a reason- 

 ably good stand from the field was 

 within 150 feet of the north and south 

 road and this man, the County Agent, 

 claims, and I do not doubt his state- 

 ment, the reason for the yield along 

 the road was, the prevailing winds 

 were from the west; and, whenever a 

 team gofes by this gravel road, it picks 

 up dust and that is carried over in the 

 farm, a very fine limestone, and scat- 

 tered over the surface of that soil; 

 and within a reasonable distance of 

 that road, where the dust could be ex- 

 pected to blow, there was an excellent 

 stand; and on the same land, eight 

 or ten feet away, and the balance of 

 the field, it was an absolute failure. . 



President Baxter — The only way to 

 do is to test your soil. If the soil is 

 acid you will have to have lime, other- 

 wise, if the acid is not there, the poor- 

 est clay soil will raise sweet clover." 



Question: Does alfalfa yield honey 

 in Illinois? 



Mr. Stone — I never saw a bee on it. 

 We have had it for twenty years. 



Mr. Valerius — My brother had .i 

 piece of alfalfa on which the bees 

 worked heavily and it yielded lots of 

 seed. 



President Baxter — Did you see any 

 results of the alfalfa honey in the 

 hives? 



Mr. Valerins — Not to amount to any- 

 thing, but you could see it. 



Mr. Stone — How manx bushels of 

 seed to the acre? 



Mr. Valerins — On one and one-quar- 

 ter acre I got seven bushels of seed. 



President Baxter — "Did it yield 

 honey?" I suppose that question 

 means in quantities, for commercial 

 purposes. 



Mr. Valerins — Only in dry time we 

 found that the alfalfa would either 

 bear seed or that the bees would 

 work on it. 



Mr. Hawkins — It is a good deal like 

 buckwheat, certain soils will yield 

 and others won't. 



Mr. Diebold— -My* bees are located a 

 half mile from ten acres of alfalfa and 

 I have never seen a single bee on the 

 bloom. :; 



Mr. Pjies — I have seen bees work 

 heavily on alfalfa in the hot, dry 

 weather, along the river bottom, near 

 Rose Hill, but there was aft ideal con- 

 dition there, dry, hot air (k)ming over 

 the sand, with water close by. 



This year when Mr. Kildow and I 



were at Minooka, Dr. B told us 



that he was south three or four miles, 

 in the limestone country, and the bees 

 w-ere working heavily on alfalfa. 



There are two cases, close to Rose 

 Hill, and in this instance, where the 

 bees worked heavily on alfalfa, and 

 Dr. B^ 's word would be like gos- 

 pel with me. 



Mr. Coppin — Out on the prairie — 

 w^here I live, there are thirty acres of 

 alfalfa within a few hundred yards of 

 my bees and I never saw any bees on 

 it. I have watched them; as soon as 

 I would get up to the fence I would 

 hear the bees singing but they were 

 on the sweet ! clover by the side of the 

 alfalfa. 



Mr. Seastream — I have the same re- 

 port to make. 



Mr. Heinzel — My experience is like 

 Mr. Coppin's; upon watching it for the 

 last two years, I have never yet seen 

 a bee working on alfalfa. , 



Mr. Bender — I have never been able 

 to see it. 



President Baxter — It is safe to say 

 that generally they do not produce 

 honey. 



Mr. Stone — I have seen a good many 

 different kinds of insects working on 

 alfalfa but never saw any bees; there 

 is a kind of wild bee that works on it. 



President Baxter — Probably for pol- 

 len. 



Question: Is sweet clover for seed 

 profitable? 



President Baxter — Who has raised it 

 to know? 



Doctor Phillips — You heard what Mr. 

 Cloverdale said at Hammond last' 

 summer; that ought to pretty nearly 

 answer that question. 



Mr. Coppin — One gentleman lived in 

 the same county as the man who 

 asked the question. He had twenty 

 acres there and I had some bees with- 

 in reach of it a year ago this summer. 



