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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OFF YEARS IN SWEET=CLOVER NECTAR 



BY VIRGIL WEAVER 



Sweet clover is a great honey-plant under 

 favorable conditions. It will yield as fast 

 as almost any of the clovers, but it will not 

 provide nectar every year. I was led to 

 believe tliat this was the case, so in 1913 I 

 -hipped 131 colonies of bees to Pendleton 

 I ounty on the first of July. Pendleton 

 County beekeepers told me that the last of 

 June and the first half of July is the best 

 time for white sweet clover. The result was 

 that they never stored a pound of honey, 

 and had to be fed through August and 

 September. Out of the 131 colonies, 28 of 

 them wintered. 



As the 1913 droutli killed all prospects 

 for white clover for 1914 in Madison Coun- 

 ty (where I formerly lived) I shipped all 

 my bees in Pendleton County for 1914. 

 Here is the result. Until May the rain was 

 plentiful. May 8 giving one inch. By May 

 15 the yellow was in full bloom, and by 

 June 1 the bloom was gone and not a pound 

 of honey had been gathered. From June 1 

 to 6 we had 2^4 inches of rain on the 

 eastern side of the county, and from 2^4 to 

 7 inches on the west side of the county — a 

 regular soaker. White sweet clover was in 

 full bloom by June 15. 



The record of the colony on scales will 

 tell the result better than I can. Here is 

 what it says : 



May 20, weight 581/2 lbs. ; July 10, 63% 

 lbs. This was a No. 1 colony. I got through 

 the season without any feeding. Buckberry 

 did the work and not sweet clover. Buck- 

 berry gave us a slow honey-flow from Aug. 

 1 to September 15, ample for the need of 

 the bees. 



Sweet clover is one of the very best forage 

 plants, and provides wonderful pasturage 

 and excellent hay. Its value as a soil ren- 

 ovator is unequaled. This county of Pen- 

 dleton fifteen years ago was a barren waste. 

 It had been " tobaceoed " to death. By 

 some means this plant became introduced, 

 and for long it was fought as a weed. 

 Finally the farmers began to realize its 

 value, and, to make a long story short, land 

 which was worth from five to ten dollars 

 per acre at that time is now realizing from 

 forty to sixty dollars per acre. There is 

 another comparison. At that time the farm- 

 ers were abandoning their farms and seek- 

 ing employment in the cities. They did not 

 have sufficient means to buy suitable cloth- 

 ing for themselves. At present there is on 

 deposit in the various banks of Pendleton 

 County money aggi-egating over $100 per 

 capita, most of which belongs to the farmei'S. 



But don't get it into your head that sweet 

 clover does not have to have moisture to 

 make it yield honey. I believe that about 

 one year in three it will yield a good lot of 

 honey. This will help out white clover here, 

 as that yields about one year in three also. 

 So the two together make a good team. 



Alsike clover is the surest yielder of 

 honey of all the clovers. I saw this demon- 

 strated this year. Fifty colonies of bees in 

 reach of fifty acres of alsike stored thirty 

 sections per colony, while those in reach of 

 a larger area of sweet clover stored nothing. 

 It takes two years to work the combination 

 on honey production, one year to grow the 

 plants, one year to grow the seed. We are 

 hoping for something better this year; so, 

 come down and see us. 



Falmouth, Ky. 



SOME SEED PROBLEMS OF SWEET CLOVER. 



[Can sweet clover be gotten rid of after 

 a crop has been grown, and small grains 

 sown the next year? This is a question 

 which has worried farmers wherever the 

 plant is being introduced. One reported 

 that he had planted wheat the spring fol- 

 lowing a crop of sweet clover in the same 

 field, and that the clover had choked out 

 the wheat. The experience is unusual, to 

 say the least. 



The best crop to put in immediately fol- 

 lowing sweet clover is corn. The effect of 

 the sweet clover will be noticed only in 

 increased growth of the corn, sometimes as 

 much as twenty bushels heavier than in land 

 not previously jDlanted in corn. Sometimes 

 corn is grown two years in successrion, and 

 then followed by wheat. No trouble with 

 smothering is ever reported. The farmer 

 need fear no difficulty in getting rid of 

 sweet clover after he has once sown it. The 

 fact that the plant gi'ows abundantly along 

 the roadsides, and seldom appears in culti- 

 vated fields, is evidence that it can be easily 

 destroyed if necessary. 



Another point on which there is question 

 is the amount of sweet-clover seed to be 

 mixed with oats in seeding them together. 

 Some sow ten pounds to the acre, others as 

 much as twenty. A good average is fifteen. 

 Care must be taken in mixing the seed in 

 the drill, and in not having so much in at 

 once that the clover will work down under 

 the oats in the drill-box. This would mean 

 uneven proportions in the field. With care 

 the seeding can be made even. Hulled sweet 

 clover is more satisfactory in such a mix- 

 ture, since some of the unhulled is not like- 

 ly to come up the first year. — Ed.] 



