692 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



THE ST. REGIS RASPBERRY, 



Just after I got back from Florida (I 

 tliink it was about May 10) J sent to W, N. 

 Scarff, New Carlisle, Ohio, 25 cents for 

 three plants of the St. Regis raspberiy. I 

 was induced to do this because the card 

 declared they would bear fruit the first sea- 

 son. It is now July 29, or about 80 days 

 sinc^ the little plants were put out in good 

 ground. By the way, instead of sending 

 me three plants for the 25 cents, as adver- 

 tised, I received six. They were only a 

 few inches long, and it was some days be- 

 fore the entire six really started to grow. 

 Perhaps it was June 1 before they I'eally 

 got to going;. Well, it has been one of my 

 happy surprises to see them put out bloom, 

 and now evei*y one of the six little bushes 

 is pretty well loaded with berries; and they 

 are about the largest red raspberry I ever 

 saw. I have been disappointed so many 

 limes in new tilings extravagantly written 

 up that I do not know but I was beginning 

 to lose faith. I^ut here is a beautiful fruit 

 right before my eyes, only 80 days from 

 planting. I wrote Mr. Scarff liow well 

 pleased I was witli the new raspberry, and 

 he replies as follows : 



We are very glad you are pleased with the St. 

 Re^is. We have just finished picking a fine crop 

 of berries from plants of the St. Regis set last spring. 

 It is certainly a fine berry. They will rest up now 

 for a short time, but will again begin to Ijear about 

 Sept. 1 and continue until Oct. 15 to 20. 



New Carlisle, O., July 26. W. N. Scarfp. 



Perhaps I should mention the fact that 

 one reason for my good success is that the 

 six plants stand where there was a small 

 poultry-yard for two or three years. Red 

 raspberries are selling now in our market 

 for 20 cents a quart. This is a day and age 

 in which we want returns quick. Do you 

 know of any other fruit or beri'y where you 

 can reap a harvest in 80 days from the time 

 of planting? 



SWEET clover; the good THINGS ABOUT IT 

 NOT YET ALL TOLD. 



We clip the following from the National 

 Stockman and Farmer: 



EXPKRIENCE WITH SWEET CLOVER. 



So much has been -written both for and against 

 sweet clover, also of its uses, that it would seem that 

 all has been told. 



Such is not half the case. Its evils are none that 

 I know of, and I have known it for many years. 

 It may become a pest when it runs wild, but a 

 blessed pest it is— more blessed than bluegrass or 

 any other plant I know of that has the ability to run 

 wild and be useful. As a soil-builder it has no 

 equal. More than fifty years ago the Panhandle rail- 

 road was graded along by Raccoon Station, and a 

 deep fill had to be made to the approach to the tres- 

 tle over Raccoon Creek. To get dirt enough for the 

 deep fill they stripped off all the soil down to the 

 solid rock, this stripped area being about five acres 



in extent. A school-house was built on this bare 

 rock, as many readers of The Stockman may remem- 

 ber. In some unknown way the seeds of sweet 

 clover got into the cracks of this rock. This was 

 about thirty years ago. The rock being exposed 

 began to soften on the surface, and the sweet clover 

 spread over the entire area, as well as all around it. 

 I was along the road about ten years aft€r the sweet 

 clover came. The schoolhouse was gone, but the 

 growth of sweet clover was simply immense. Then 

 I began to dig in the newly made soil, which was 

 fully five inches deep, and the rotten rock under the 

 soil was deeper, and was filled with the clover roots 

 that were fast breaking up the underlying rock and 

 making it into new soih 



It is said that sweet clover must have an abun- 

 dance of lime; but this rock did not have much 

 lime in it, as it is what is known as the Connells- 

 ville sandstone. 



In many other places I have seen fine sweet clover 

 growing where no limestone was to be found, yet it 

 doe« far better in a good limestone soil, or a soil 

 that has been well supplied with lime. 



The good qualities and many valuable uses of 

 sweet clover are too numerous to mention. Its 

 nutritive qualities are superior to alfalfa, and it is 

 eaten just as greedily after stock of all kinds has 

 learned to like it, which is not very long. Its earli- 

 ness exceeds all other plants, even rye. This day 

 (April 10} the young sweet clover is over two inches 

 high, and the frost has not been out of the ground 

 over one week, and you just ought to see the chick- 

 ens eating it. They pasture right on it all summer 

 and fall, as it stays green till killed by hard freez- 

 ing; then the seeds begin to fall, and the hens just 

 scratch and pick up seeds from dawn till dark. I 

 am safe in saying that an acre of sweet clover will 

 produce more chicken feed from the seeds than an 

 acre of wheat or corn, and fowls will pasture on it all 

 the growing season, and still be making the ground 

 richer. At the same time the bloom will produce 

 from three to five dollars' worth of the finest honey. 



Sweet clover is also a g^reat sub-soiler and an 

 underdrainer. I have measured roots that were an 

 inch and a quarter in diameter, and often from three 

 to five feet or more in length. These long roots are 

 of unlold economic value in their process of plowing, 

 draining, and fertilizing the sub-soil. 



At Downeyville, in Butler County, Pa., there was 

 a swamp of two or three acres along the creek. 

 After the railroad went through, sweet clover got a 

 hold in it, and in five years that swamp was drain- 

 ed; the roots had pierced the subsoil and let the 

 water down into a lower stratum. 



There are three species of sweet clover on the 

 market. Melilotus alba is the largest and best. It 

 has white blossoms. Melilotus indica is small, lives 

 only one summer, and is of very little value east of 

 California. It has yellow blooms. 



Jefferson County, Pa. George Hough. 



Permit me to call attention to the state- 

 ment that it furnishes the best of feed quick- 

 er than any other clover or any other plant 

 gi'own on the farm. In corroboration of 

 this I may say that just across the street 

 from our home is a field of sweet clover on 

 this 13th day of May, knee-high, and grow- 

 ing as thick as it will stand. The seed was 

 sown with oats a year ago, and near this 

 sweet-clover field is a field of crimson clover 

 and also rye; but the sweet clover certainly 

 furnished good feed away ahead of any of 

 the others. I was particularly interested 

 also in the statement about an acre of sweet 

 clover for cliickcn feed. It seems to mp i' o 



