62 



February, 1913, 



I " i^iS^ ^ 



American Hee Joarnal 



contain only about 26 pounds of nitro- 

 gen per ton, or tops and roots contain 

 respectively 8(3 and 11 percent of the 

 total nitrogen of the entire plant. The 

 above indicates that sweet clover may 

 be made a very valuable crop for soil 

 improvement if properly managed. A 

 large part of the crop should be turned 

 back into the soil. If the entire crop 

 is removed not only will no nitrogen 

 be added to the soil, but since the plant 

 takes approximately one-third or 33 

 percent of its nitrogen from the ordi- 

 nary brown silt loam soil as deter- 

 mined by another e.xperiment, the 

 nitrogen content of this soil would 

 actually be reduced. 



At the Wyoming Experiment Sta- 

 tion in 190.5, two plots produced from 

 two cuttings about 4.5 tons of hay per 

 acre— from two other plots 3.75 tons 

 were secured. 



During the present year, with a de- 

 ficiency of 8.3 inches of rainfall from 

 March 1 to Sept. 1, the sweet clover 

 produced on my own farm an average 

 yield of organic matter of 3.6 tons per 

 acre. 



The above yields will give some idea 

 of the value of this plant for adding 

 matter and nitrogen to the soil. This 

 w^ill undoubtedly be its primary func- 

 tion in our systems of agriculture. If 

 a secondary use can be made of it for 

 hay and pasture so much the better. 

 If, however, everything is removed, 

 sweet clover in the hands of a selfish 

 farmer may become one of the worst 

 soil robbers. 



Very few definite experiments have 

 been published that give the actual 

 value of sweet clover in increased 

 yields of succeeding crops. The 

 following yields were obtained near 

 Tost, Germany, as given in Ohio 

 Experiment Station Bulletin No. 244. 

 Sweet clover was seeded in May and 

 turned under the next year as a green 

 manure : 



Soil treatment Oats per Potatoes per 



acre, bushels acre, bushels 



No ereen manure ,^4,3 123,6 



Green manure 51,4 258.0 



The question is often asked regard- 

 ing the difficulty of plowing sweet 

 clover ground as compared to alfalfa 

 sod. The plowing is very difiicult the 

 first season, but if left until the crop is 

 mature the roots soon begin to decay 

 and may then be cut readily with the 

 plowshare. The decay of these roots 

 leaves the soil in fine physical condi- 

 tion. 



DROUTH RESISTANCE. 



Sweet clover is a better drouth re- 

 sistant than any other clover. On 

 three fields that had both red and 

 sweet clover seeded side by side, the 

 latter has maintained itself during the 

 dry season of 1913 and made a good 

 stand, while the red clover was a total 

 failure. The same was true in 1914. It 

 is matter of common observation that 

 sweet clover along the roadside will be 

 green when blue grass in the pasture is 

 dry. Probably no crop but alfalfa is a 

 better drouth resistant than sweet 

 clover. 



One of the objections frequently 

 spoken of by farmers is the liability of 

 sweet clover becoming a serious weed 

 pest if introduced into our cultivated 

 fields. This danger has been magni- 

 fied to a considerable degree. I have 



written to dozens of men who have 

 grown sweet clover more or less, ask- 

 ing them about this very point, and 

 the answers have been unanimously in 

 favor of sweet clover. It may do a 

 small amount of damage to oats or 

 wheat, but this injury will be much 

 more than counterbalanced by the. 

 good that it does to the soil. Sweet 

 clover may be used primarily as a soil 

 improver, and when farmers are grow- 

 ing it, as they will in the near future, 

 the price of clover seed will be re- 

 duced to the point where land owners 

 will not hesitate to furnish the seed. 

 Champaign, 111. 



European Foulbrood 



BY P.'^UL SCHEURING. 

 {Rcaii at- the VVisconsir/ Meeting.) 



■ HAVE been asked to tell what I 

 know about European foulbrood. 

 It is a very undesirable thing to 

 have, and very, I'cry difficult to get rid 

 of in a large apiary. A few years ago 

 when I first discovered it in my apiary, 

 I promptly burned all the bees, combs 

 and frames of all affected colonies, 

 and wrote to our State bee inspector, 

 Mr. France. He told me that killing 

 the queen and giving them a new 

 queen would cure the disease. 



This advice was of great benefit to 

 me, but this will not always effect a 

 permanent cure, although it certainly 

 checks the disease. That the bees 

 will sometimes supersede their queen 

 and thereby cure it I have ample proof, 

 especially in earlv spring. 



In the fall of' 1913 I found three 

 affected colonies. I took away all of 

 their combs and gave them combs of 

 honey from good healthy colonies. 

 This was done in the forepart of No- 

 vember, after all the breeding had 

 ceased. Up to the middle of October, 



1914, there was no sign of the disease 

 in these colonies, and this with no 

 change of queens. There is no guess- 

 work about the queens, as I clip all 

 of mine. On the other hand, I 

 have taken the queen from an affected 

 colony and put her in a queenless col- 

 ony in the breeding season, and the 

 disease was evidently carried by the 

 queen. I burned these colonies later. 



My guess, or at least one them is, 

 the disease is spread by the nurse bees 

 when they have a general flight, and 

 on their return go into the wrong 

 hive. This, in my opinion, occurs far 

 oftener than is generally supposed. Of 

 course, there may be other ways of 

 spreading the disease, but until our 

 scientific men find out for sure how it 

 is spread, we are certainly "up a 

 stump," and must do the best we can. 

 We may effect a real cure of a colony 

 and later it may get the disease in 

 some unknown way. We quite nat- 

 urally conclude the cure was not com- 

 pleted ; although a neighbor bee- 

 keeper may have lost all of his bees by 

 the disease; possibly one, two, or 

 three miles away there may be a num- 

 ber of colonies in the cornices of 

 houses, old hollow trees and other 

 places too numerous to mention. From 

 any of these sources the bees might 

 get the disease. If a beekeeper keeps 

 a close watch of his bees as he ought, 

 there is no reason why he should lose 

 a whole apiary. 



West De Pere, Wis. 



Candied Honey 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



AN experience with which I met four 

 years ago may be very useful to 

 some beekeepers just at this time 

 of the year. Many have trouble with 

 their honey turning into " sugar " or 



KIG. 12 -CLUMP OF YELLOW CONE KLOWEKS BY RIVERSIDE 



