304 



September, 1915. 



American Hee Journal 



should be used. By keeping these in 

 mind the housewife will have good re- 

 sults from the use of honey. 



A honey can specially adapted to 

 contain the cooking and preserving 

 honey, should not be larger than two- 

 gallon capacity, and should have a large 

 opening sufficiently large so that the 

 honey may be either poured out or 

 dipped out with a large spoon. A wood- 

 jacketed can may be sent by parcel 

 post, and with a large round screw cap 

 is admirable for cooking and preserv- 

 ing honey. 



if our darker grades of honey can 

 be put up and disposed of as cooking 

 honev, we can find a market that has 

 no; been open to us heretofore. This 

 will also help keep inferior honey ofif 

 the market as a table article, where it 

 is an injury to the trade. Let us have 

 some "cooking honey " and "preserv- 

 ing honey" labels gotten oiit and be- 

 gin a little publicity along this line. 



The Home Economics department of 

 the Colorado Agricultural College 

 have taken up this subject of the use 

 of honey in cooking and preserving, 

 and when the ladies in charge have 

 tested out the use of honey sufficiently 

 we expect the results to betaken direct 

 to the people through the Extension 

 Department and the County Agricul- 

 turists. Perhaps yet Colorado will 

 develop the home market to the extent 

 that our product will be mostly con- 

 sumed within our borders. 



Honey Harvest and Prices 



Weather has been reported cool in 

 Idaho early in August, and apparently 

 the flow has about ended there with a 

 fair yield. The Colorado crop has not 

 yet been secured, but some honey is 

 being taken off, and if the flow lasts 

 through August we can get a little 

 surplus yet. 



The season still continues to be 

 about one month late, and with a late 

 fall the late swarms will fill their hives. 

 Swarming has not amounted to much 



this year, the increase will not make 

 up for the last winter's loss in most 

 localities. 



Honey is in better demand locally 

 than common, especially extracted 

 honey. Comb honey is selling at $3 50 

 to $4 00 a case direct to the retail gro- 



cers, but tliis price will dropas soon as 

 a larger amount of honey is taken off. 

 Extracted honey retails at 10 to 12>2 

 cents, and wholesales at S's to 9 cents. 

 As soon as more extracting is done 

 the price will hardly go 'above SV cents 

 in a wholesale way. 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Sweet Clover 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



THERE has been a gradual decrease 

 in the honey-producing flowers of 

 our northern and northeastern 

 States during the past 50 years. There 

 is doubtless more honey produced than 

 50 years ago, but it is owing to the 

 greater intelligence and enterprise of 

 beekeepers, rather than the greater 

 supply of honey-yielding flowers. The 

 destruction of our basswood forests by 

 lumbermen has set us to thinking as to 

 whether, if other sources fail, we may 

 not be driven out of busin ss. Had not 

 alsike clover been introduced some 50 

 years ago, I fear many of us would 

 already be out of business. 



The great value of alsike clover leads 

 us to ask if there may not be other 

 plants of value alike to the farmer and 

 Ijeekeeper. Crimson clover has been 

 introduced that is equally valuable to 

 farmer and apiarist, but it is too tender 

 for our severe northern winters. Sain- 

 foin, too, has been introduced, but does 

 not seem to make much headway. 

 Hairy vetch is another candidate for 

 our consideration, but so far does not 

 seem as promising as some others. 

 Buckwheat is helpful in certain locali- 

 ties, and on certain soils, but is a flat 

 failure in others. Alfalfa has proved a 

 great success in the far West, but east 



A. KLLIUITS AiMARY IN LARIMER COUNTY. COLO. 



of the Mississippi river has, so far 

 failed to yield much nectar. 



It is now 45 or 46 years since M. M. 

 Baldridge, of St. Charles. 111., called the 

 attention of beekeepers through the 

 American Bee Journal, to the value of 

 sweet clover as a honey yielding plant. 

 This was not new, for its value has 

 been recognized for thousands of 

 years. But such a plant was not likely 

 to prove useful unless it could be 

 brought into general cultivation. Of 

 its value for forage for hay and pas- 

 ture no one seemed to know until quite 

 recently. I wish to call attention to 

 other qualities that commend this 

 plant to all who are interested in its 

 cultivation. 



The northern and northeastern States 

 are especially subject to drouth, as well 

 as those of the West. Next to alfalfa, 

 sweet clover can endure drouth, when 

 our old clovers or grasses would be 

 almost a complete failure. Not only 

 can it endure drouth, but with its 

 strong long tap roots it fills the soil 

 with humus, and as they decay it will 

 absorb water like a sponge, and retain 

 it for the use of succeeding crops. The 

 large amount of humus furnished by 

 these roots improves the condition of 

 the soil, fitting it for the growth of 

 future crops. 



I met in Florida two years ago a 

 party from Kentucky, who told me that 

 one county in that State, formerly con- 

 sidered the poorest in the State, was 

 now considered one of ihe best through 

 the f re ' use of sweet clover, so greatly 

 had the mechanical condition of the 

 soil been changed, by the cultivation 

 of this plant. While the seed of sweet 

 clover does not seem to germinate as 

 readily as that of alfalfa, requiring 

 more seed to the acre, the young plants 

 are much hardier. Alfalfa requires a 

 good seed bed and freedom from weeds, 

 grain or grass to get a start, while 

 sweet clover cares little for the hard- 

 ness of the soil provided it is covered 

 to start with, nor does it mind very 

 much weeds or grain It will grow in 

 almost any soil which contains a good 

 supply of lime. In fact, it seems to 

 require no other fertilizer. 



I believe sweet clover is to play a 

 very important part in subduing cer- 

 tain weeds of very bad character. In 

 many parts of northern New luigland 

 a weed has come of the most vexatious 

 character. It is worse than useless. It 

 spreads from the roots freely, and by a 

 multitude of seeds that the wind car- 

 ries everywhere without regard to the 

 wish of the farmer. It is known as 

 paintbrush or hawkweed. This weed 

 has been spreading so rapidly in this 



