1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



631 



Now, no bees of any aceuiuit are kept near it. 

 After it was cut I found i lie flow stopped at my 

 apiary, four miles away, and did not resume 

 until after the middle of .Ume, when red clover 

 came out. White was very plentiful, but no 

 honey. Now, I am not sure that the bees ob- 

 tained the flow from the crimson clover, but 

 there is no flow here between fruit and clover — 

 no raspberries or wild flowers. We are not far 

 north of Philadelphia, and the land is all 

 farmed. 



I took a bunch of dry hay of the crimson 

 clover, and put it in the horse-rack when he 

 was eating fresh-cut undried red clover and 

 timothy. He left that and ate the dry crimson. 



I raise Belgian hares, and I fed it to them 

 green, and expect to feed to them one and a 

 half tons dry before next May. They eat it 

 every bit, and grow like weeds; but they eat 

 ragweeds with a relish too. 



I have sown one and a half acres of buck- 

 wheat and crimson clover with it; but we had 

 only a few sprinkles of rain for a month, and 

 the clover has not started. I intend to make 

 it a regular rotation — buckwheat and clover 

 right along, and expect to make the field rich. 

 You see I read Terry. The Lord bless him and 

 all the big and little Roots, including J. T. C. 



Pottstown, Pa. 



^ — » — ^ 



CKIMSON CLOVEK IN DELAWARE. 



HOW IT IMPROVES THE SOIL; NO PLANT EQUALS 

 IT AS A HONEY-PLANT; HONEY EXCELLENT. 



By T. F. Cuoke. 



Crimson clover is probably more extensively 

 and successfully grown in this locality (Dela- 

 ware) than in any other in the U. S. at present. 

 We consider it a most valuable plant, for on it 

 greatly depends the production of fertility with 

 which to grow the luscious fruits and fine veg- 

 etables for which this peninsula is noted. Its 

 growing has been widely extended here during 

 the past few years, and almost every farmer 

 and fruit-grower has tried it, and knows its 

 uses and value. Years before it was popular, 

 the plant was known, tried, and pronounced a 

 failure, probably because it did not show the 

 marked characteristics of red clover, then al- 

 most the only member of the clover family in 

 use here. Since then, slowly at first, and with 

 a rush later, it was adopted, and its wonderful 

 adaptability to our style of farming has become 

 apparent. We were told that, beneath the 

 working soil, the ground was full of plant-food; 

 but a trial of deep plowing to briug it up inva- 

 riably resulted in disaster. This plant, with its 

 mass of roots in the surface soil, sends deep into 

 the earth a number of roots after water and 

 food, and from the air it draws nitrogen. More 

 or less of these added elements of fertility are 

 left in the soil, whether the crop is removed or 

 plowed under; and the results seen in the 



growth of succeeding crops are .wonderful. 

 That more fertility is gained by allowing the 

 crop to fully mature, and be removed, than to 

 plow under while green, is believed here gen- 

 erally, except, perhaps, where the land is in- 

 tended for late potatoes, or is lacking in vegeta- 

 ble matter. On such land, plowing under the 

 green crop when in full bloom is recommended, 

 provided always that the quick improvement 

 of the soil is of more value than the crop which 

 might be removed and used for soiling, ensi- 

 lage, cured hay, or seed production. The straw 

 and chaff, after removal of seed, equals in val- 

 ue many of our cultivated grasses in feeding 

 value. 



The value of crimson clover begins as soon as 

 the plants appear above ground, for then they 

 begin to act as a shade and mulch, and to use 

 and conserve fertility which would otherwise 

 have been leached or blown away. They soon 

 begin to draw nitrogen, for the nodules on the 

 roots are found in great plenty, even in early 

 December, or before. From that on until the 

 busy bee extracts its store of sweets from the 

 blossoms, the roots are lengthening out and 

 searching for food three, four, and more feet 

 under ground. We have been told that crim- 

 son clover has no tap-roots, and therefore can 

 not reach down after phosphoric acid and pot- 

 ash; also that its life is too short to accomplish 

 the work which red clover does. The facts are, 

 that it does do it; and it has been proved by 

 chemical analysis. We consider the root ar- 

 rangement of crimson clover more advantage- 

 ous, because the mass of roots ai'e in the sur- 

 face soil, where they are most needed. It can 

 be used with or after almost every crop. None 

 should be used on strawberries; for these, use it 

 the year before the patch is set. It should be 

 sown every year in blackberries and raspber- 

 ries. It will stand the winter here if sown after 

 sweet potatoes are dug. No plant we have 

 here equals crimson clover as a honey-plant. 

 It produces every year, and all the time while 

 in bloom, some three or four weeks, according 

 to the nature of the soil and climatic condi- 

 tions. Tne growth of the blossom seems well 

 adapted for honey production, as it grows in 

 length, and the bees work on the new growth 

 until the blossom is full grown, two or three 

 Inches in length, in many instances. The prin- 

 cipal trouble here in getting the honey seems 

 to be in having the bees good and strong, and 

 ready. It comes early; and if the bees are 

 ready the sections fill very rapidly, and the 

 honey is excellent. 



This season white clover did not produce any 

 honey here; and during crimson-clover bloom 

 the weather was very unfavorable for bees to 

 work; so our honey crop is a short one. 



I can furnish you no photo of the plant; but 

 it is a beautiful sight to see our broad level 

 fields of it, vi^hen in full bloom. It is quite a 

 curiosity to those who travel through here, and 



