Vol. LVII.— No. 10 



HAMILTON, ILL, OCTOBER, 1917 



MONTHLY, 1.00 A YEAR 



THE SWEET CLOVER BELT OF THE SOUTH 



Beekeeping in Alabama and Mississippi as Seen by Our Staff Correspondent 



on His Recent Trip 



THE sweet clover belt extends al- 

 most across the State of Ala- 

 bama, east and west, but does 

 not quite reach the Georgia line. Mr. 

 J. E. Marchant is located at Colum- 

 bus. Ga.. across the Chattahoochee 

 river from Alabama, but gets no 

 honey from sweet clover. Union 

 Springs, about fifty miles west, is on 

 the edge of the sweet clover section. 



In the last issue I told something 

 of the lack of summer pollen on the 

 Appalachicola river in Florida. The 

 Chattahoochee river flows into this 

 stream, or rather changes its name at 

 the juncture with the Flint river, at 

 the southwestern corner of the State 

 of Georgia. 



Mr. Marchant finds it easy and 

 profitable to move about two hun- 

 dred colonies by boat, to the tupelo 

 region of Florida. At a cost of 

 twenty cents per colony each way he 

 is able to have the bees delivered and, 

 in a favorable season, harvest a 

 profitable crop and return the last of 

 May, in time for the regular flows of 

 his Georgia location. At Columbus 

 his first honey comes from sweet 

 gum. He also has tulip poplar, black 

 gum and gallberry. In the fall he 

 gets some honey from bitterweed 

 and aster. 



From near Union Springs the sweet 

 clover belt extends west into the 

 State of Mississippi and northward 

 almost to the Tennessee line. Al- 

 though most of the localities men- 

 tioned in this article are already well 

 stocked with bees, there are many 

 unoccupied ranges in this section of 

 Alabama. At Fitzpatrick, Mr. 

 Achord has nine hundred colonies in 

 eleven yards. While he is in a posi- 

 tion to harvest good crops of honey 

 he prefers to convert most of it into 

 bees and queens for the northern 

 trade. He reports sweet clover as 

 yielding generally from about June 5 



to -August 20. He also gets some 

 white clover, but there are few re- 

 ports of this bloom amounting to 

 much so far south. Through this 

 section rattan is frequently referred 

 to as a source of nectar. Tulip pop- 

 lar, black gum, hawthorne, field peas, 

 privet and dwarf linden about com- 

 plete the list of important honey 

 plants. There is little aster in this 

 section, as far as could be ascer- 

 tained. 



Through the sweet clover belt I 

 found the average number of colo- 

 nies in a single apiary much larger 

 than in other parts of the south. 

 They have generally the same honey 

 sources, aside from the sweet clover, 

 while this plant adds a tremendous 

 advantage. M. C. Berry, of Hayne- 

 ville, has 170 colonies in his largest 



N. AND A. I. FOREHAND. .SONS OF 

 W. J. FOREHAND. 



yard. He runs several yards for 

 honey in addition to his queen and 

 package business. In another of 

 these honey yards he has 140 colo- 

 nies. 



The section about Montgomery is 

 the finest appearing country that I 

 saw in Alabama, as there are many 

 nicely improved farms and dairies 

 there. There are few sections where 

 white people live in the country to 

 any extent. In most of the south- 

 eastern States the white people live 

 in the towns, while the colored popu- 

 lation tills the soil. 



Mr. Berry gets a good start from 

 redbud in early spring. This honey 

 is consumed for brood rearing. He 

 also gets a little white clover, some 

 poplar, locust, black gum, etc. There 

 is little surplus from cotton in this 

 section. Sweet clover is the princi- 

 pal source of surplus. 



As one goes further west and north 

 he finds a constantly increasing 

 number of colonies in a single yard. 

 Near the west line of the State as 

 many as 200 to 500 colonies are kept 

 in single apiaries, with apparently 

 dependable flows. In addition to 

 sources already mentioned one hears 

 of lespedeza. black medic. Cherokee 

 rose. China-berry, rattle-weed, etc. 

 At Ft. Deposit, which is some dis- 

 tance south of Montgomery, the 

 Foreliand apiaries are located in a 

 China-berr3' grove, which is very at- 

 tractive. 



It seems unwise to mention the 

 specific locations where I found the 

 best reports, since so many bee- 

 keepers are inclined to rush into a 

 good location which is already occu- 

 pied, rather than look up an unoccu- 

 pied one for themselves. This re- 

 sults in injury to the man already lo- 

 cated, and frequently in disappoint- 

 ment to the newcomer. I found re- 

 ports of many very good locations 



