September, IfllS. 



305 



American Hee Journal 



section that I have felt anxious lest it 

 ruin the beekeeping industry. 



Imagine my pleasure on being in- 

 formed recently that a farmer in a 

 nearby town had discovered that sweet 

 clover would run it out, or from its 

 strongei growth smother this pernic- 

 ious weed. 



There is another weed that is doing 

 great damage to the agricultural inter- 

 ests of the country. Almost all plants 

 when out of place are weeds. I refer 

 to witch grass, known also as barnyard 

 grass, quack grass and devil grass. It 

 comes into cultivated fields, making 

 cultivation difficult, and choking grain 

 crops With modern methods of till- 

 age it spreads rapidly by its strong 

 creeping roots, any joint of which will 

 grow into a new plant. Already I find 

 it crowding out alsike clover, and if it 

 continues to spread as it di I of late, it 

 may seriously injure our crops of 

 honey. 



There are two or three ways of sub- 

 duing it. The roots may be dug out 

 or the grass constantly cut off at the 

 surface of the ground by intensive cul- 

 tivation. I have tried both ways, but 

 they are expensive. Another way is 

 to smother it with shade. A crop of 



buckwheat has often been advised for 

 this purpose, and where the soil and 

 weather are favorable, will do much to 

 subdue it. Some years ago I subdued 

 a half acre of this grass, by planting 

 the ground to artichokes, and cultivat- 

 ing carefully the first of the season. 

 Later the shade did the business. I 

 doubt if the adaptability and value of 

 sweet clover for this purpose has been 

 appreciated. If a quack grass sod is 

 plowed late in autumn and sweet clover 

 seed sown at once, or sown in early 

 spring with a light seeding of oats or 

 barley, and the grain cut early for hay, 

 there might be, if the soil and season 

 were favorable, a crop cut later for 

 hay of mixed clover and grass. 



The next spring the sweet clover 

 roots having stored up a supply of 

 nutriment, will start into a vigorous 

 growth almost as soon as the frost is 

 out of the ground, and soon, if there is 

 a good stand of clover, get such a start 

 of the grass as to most thoroughly 

 smother it before the close of the 

 season. 



The next spring, the ground filled 

 wit I decaying grass roots and the dead 

 nitrogen-bearing roots of the sweet 

 clover will be in an admirable condi- 



M 



R COREY'S FE1:DER TERMAVENTLY attached TO BAOK OF THE HIVE 

 Mr. Corey lives at Oiathe, Colo., and has about iso colonies 



tion for a crop of corn or other grain 



But has sweet clover no faults ? 

 some one may ask. We answer yes, 

 and so have some of our best friends, 

 but we do not propose to give them up 

 for that reason. 



For best results, it is well to remem- 

 ber that its seed does not germinate as 

 readily as other clover seed, so heavy 

 seeding is necessary. The second 

 growth of sweet clover, the second 

 year, does not start from the crown 

 like alfalfa, but from the stalk, and the 

 first crop should be cut high. Again, 

 like red clover, the leaves aie liable to 

 rattle off when curing for hay, and it 

 should, therefore, be cured in the 

 cock. It should also be cut before it 

 blooms or soon after, before the stems 

 become woody, for hay. Not a very 

 long or serious list of faults. "But 

 why," some one will ask, " if sweet 

 clover is so valuable has it not been 

 utilized before ?" 



Let me answer by asking another 

 question : If electric power and light 

 are of so great value as we have come 

 to think in these later years, why has 

 the water been allowed to pour over 

 our waterfalls ever since the white 

 man first came to America without 

 producing either ? Simply because we 

 did not know how to turn falling water 

 into light or transmit its power. Sweet 

 clover has not been appreciated be- 

 cause its value has not been known or 

 the best methods of producing it. 



I believe beekeepers should take the 

 lead in introducing it and proving to 

 farmers its value as a farm crop. Send 

 to the United States Department of 

 A'^riculture for bulletins, study them 

 until you thoroughly understand its 

 culture, give them to your neighbors, 

 and prove their statements true by 

 your own success in cultivating it. 



I believe that sweet clover is the 

 most promising plant at present known 

 to both beekeeper and farmer, to whom 

 it will give good crops of hay, pasture 

 and seed, and elements of fertility to 

 the soil as well as honey. 



I have overlooked an important fact 

 as to the value of sweet clover. It is 

 well known to experts that it is more 

 and more difficult to grow clover on 

 soils that have been long cultivated, 

 owing largely to exhaustion of humus 

 in the soil. Sweet clover will grow 

 freely in soils almost entirely lacking 

 in humus if there is only a good supply 

 of lime. The necessity of growing 

 legumes to keep up the fertility of soil 

 need not be discussed here. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



[We cannot too strongly emphasize 

 the remark made by our able contribu- 

 tor that " sweet clover is to play a very 

 important part in subduing weeds of 

 very bad character." 



Paintbrush or orange hawkweed 

 {//leiaci'um auituitiacum') was culti- 

 vated as an ornamental plant in Maine 

 in 1875. It became frequent in New 

 England in the early eighties, and is 

 now distributed from eastern Quebec 

 to the central States.— P.\mmel. 



There is legislation against it in 

 Canada. 



Quack grass or quick grass {Agro- 

 pyron repcns), common in the central 



