1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



293 



soil. It will not grow with its feet in the water. 

 Like the alfalfa, to which it is nearly related, 

 it will not succeed in a soil thai is water-soak- 

 ed during the winter, and this is about the only 

 condition under which it will not thrive. 



It will grow and thrive on any and every 

 kind of soil, and it is not much matter how 

 poor it is; but it must be perfectly drained to a 

 considerable depth. It is abundant in my local- 

 ity, and I will tell you where it grows— along 

 the roadsides, and especially where the road 

 has been piked up, leaving deep ditches at the 

 side; on the banks of large ditches along rail- 

 road embankments, and along the streams. 

 The Huron and Vermillion Rivers have great 

 quantities growing along their banks, and on 

 the bottom lands. You will observe these locali- 

 ties all furnish a good depth of well-drained 

 soil. It is the important requirement, in my 

 estimation, for its success. Do not try to raise 

 it on soil that has not this condition, or you will 

 certainly meet with disappointment. Humor 

 its preference and you will be rewarded with 

 success. 



During last summer I made several trips 

 along the Vermillion River, in pursuit of my 

 favorite amusement— trolling for black bass. 

 I kept one eye on the white patches of sweet 

 clover swarming with bees, that I found in 

 great abundance for a distance of more than 30 

 miles. "Oh!" I said, "if I could raise such 

 crops of sweet clover it would be worth money 

 for the honey alone." But I have no land that 

 is so perfectly adapted to it as that along the 

 river. But I remembered this crop when the 

 seed was ripe, and availed myself of the priv- 

 ilege of harvesting some of it, which the owners 

 of the land granted freely. Hundreds of bush- 

 els of this seed each year falls off. and is washed 

 down the river, to seed and reseed the banks 

 and bottom lands clear to the lake, and un- 

 doubtedly along the lake shore for no one can 

 tell how far. 



I made up my mind that this big crop had 

 come to stay. I have sown sweet clover several 

 times on this kind of land, upon which it will 

 not grow, and I shall not waste any more time 

 in that way. I think I give good advice to 

 others when I say, "Don't sow it unless your 

 soil is adapted to it." 



For field culture I would sow sufficient seed 

 to get a good liberal catch, and not sow more 

 land than I could and do this. Half a bushel 

 to the acre of the unhulled seed is not too much. 

 The spring of the year I think the best time to 

 sow it. It will make a good catch on winter 

 wheat or rye ground, but I think I should pre- 

 fer to harrow or cultivate it in deep with a light 

 crop of oats. 



I will not take time to try to show the value 

 of this plant. I am sure it is being rapidly 

 recognized. 



East Townsend, O. 



CO-OPERATION IN THE HOME MARKET, VS. 

 PEDDLING. 



PEDDLING NOT DISREPUTABLE BUT DISAGREE- 

 ABLE ; FIGHTING COMBINES WITH COM- 

 BINES. 



By F. L. Thompson. 



On reading the peddling articles in March 



15th Gleanings, with the one on page 137, also 



some replies to Query 7, in the American Bee 



Journal, 



A feeling- of sadness came o'er me 

 That my soul could not resist. 



Is it possible that any man or collection of 

 men really believes that, to agitate peddling, 

 will make the skies grow bright again? Of 

 course, it's a good thing. But think of the tons 

 of energy scattered if we lean very hard on in- 

 dividual peddling; and then think of what 

 might be done by merely applying the same 

 dead weight to the home market in a co-oper- 

 ative way. The most emphatic advocate of 

 correct peddling knows very well that, if the 

 subject were agitated ad nauseam in the bee- 

 papers, with bushels of articles as full of hard 

 sense as a brickbat is of grit, that only a small 

 proportion of bee-keepers would follow their 

 instruction, or have any inclination to. Let's 

 think of what may be done, instead of what 

 ought to be but won't be. The competition of 

 cheap honey from those bee-keepers who won't 

 peddle will remain, and flourish with unabated 

 vigor, unless we look elsewhere for a remedy. 



Peddling is not "disreputable." That isn't 

 it. But it is intensely disagreeable to perhaps 

 nine-tenths of ordinary mortals who have not a 

 barrel of tact on tap. Most men like to have 

 some sort of pride in their work. If they can 

 not, they prefer to forego the additional profit, 

 or do something else — and they have a right to 

 do so. That horn-blowing, chewing the rag, 

 etc., is all right. I have nothing against it; 

 only if I am to be called a fool for not selling 

 my honey that way, I vigorously protest. I 

 believe that, when a bee-keeper has worked 

 faithfully to secure all the honey the bees can 

 give, and put it up in good shape, he is entitled 

 to the best market price for it, and that for a 

 few smart fellows with the gift of gab to haul 

 him over the coals for not being as flip as they 

 are is not right. 



I have tried peddling. It was not a failure. 

 I sold over 500 lbs. of extracted honey that way, 

 mostly in pint packa^s. Notwithstanding 

 such unbusinesslike methods as believing a 

 woman when she said she didn't want any 

 honey, making no remarks about pet birds, etc., 

 I made fair wages, considering the time I put 

 on it, and could do so again. But I won't— you 

 hear me? I might give reasons, and good ones, 

 for my determination; but that is not the point. 

 I simply made up my mind that life was too 

 short to employ it in any other way than in do- 

 ing my best, and that I clearly was not doing 



