ArorsT, iPift 



G L P: A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



Abraliani Lincoln. (ientM-al Grant, and I 

 might nienrion a score of others, until we 

 come clear up (o that great friend of world- 

 wide humanity, Woodrow Wilson. Well, 

 somewhere in this great wide world, if not 

 in America then in some other country, 

 some good, wise and God-fearing- man will 

 be found who has remai'kable ability to 

 sjieak peaee to the troubled waters during 

 these conflicts between capital and labor, 

 and W'ho will be able to say, as did Jesus to 

 the turbulent waters of Galilee, " Peace, be 

 still." Now do you see what is going to 

 happen? When the cars are stoi)ped, or 



when the wheels in some great factoi-y all 

 at once stand still, a wireless S. O. S. "mes- 

 sage will be sent to this gootl nuin, and a 

 flying machine will bring him to the scene 

 of turmoil so speedily that in just a few 

 hours (and maybe, if God permits, in a 

 few minutes) things' may start up, the 

 " wheels commence to g:o round " once 

 more, and everybody will be busy and 

 happy. 



Do you not believe it? Let us look again 

 at the last part of my text — " The zeal ol' 

 the Lord of hosts will perform tliis." 



HGIH-PRESSURE GARDENING 



"a land flowing with IIILK AND HONEY." 



And this, " milk and honey," from one 

 and the same plant. 



Our readers, at least many of them, will 

 remembei' the articles in regai'd to sun- 

 flowers last fall. Well, some kind friend 

 has just sent me the following from the 

 Jersey Bulletin and Dairy World: 



SUNFLOWERS GOOD SILAGE, MONTANA BUREAUS 

 FIND. 



Montana farm bureaus carried on numerous crop 

 demonstrations last year and did notable work with 

 tame sunflowers as a silage crop. Sunflowers un- 

 der dry-land conditions made an average return of 

 10.25 tons of silage an acre, and under irrigated 

 conditions 29 tons an acre. Thesei demon-strations 

 showed that sunflowers yield almost three times the 

 tonnage of corn under similar conditions. This 

 kind of feed is particularly adapted to high valleys 

 which do not produce abundant corn. The quality 

 of the sunflower silage has been demonstrated to be 

 good. 



Farm bureaus in Montana are the official organi- 

 zation thru which the State experiment station dis- 

 tributes pure and valuable seed which it has de\ el- 

 oped and increased. These organizations afford a 

 reliable means whereby the experiment station can 

 keep in touch with certain varieties of grain of 

 proved worth. By working thru the bureaus it is 

 possible to secure an equitable distribution over the 

 entire State. 



Prof. J. D. McVcan, Extension Animal Husband- 

 man of the University of Wyoming, gives some 

 specific directions concerning the growing of sun- 

 flowers for silage. The following data are gleaned 

 from his letter : 



Yield. — Sunflowers have been grown in Wyomin<i 

 both on dry land and on irrigated land. The irri- 

 gated land produced approximately twice the yield 

 of the dry land, the yield on irrigated land ranging 

 from 18 to 25 tons per acre. 



Planting. — iDistancei between rows on irrigated 

 land, under average conditions, should be 30 inches. 

 Where soil is above average in fertility, 26 inches. 

 Dry land rows should be at least 3 feet apart. 

 Sunflower seed can be drilled with a regular drill, 

 dropping seed every 3 to 6 inches in the row. 



Cultivation. — The land should be prepared as for 

 corn and the methods of tillage should be handled 

 the same as for corn. 



Seed. — The amount of seed will vary anywhere 

 from 8 to 12 pounds per acre, depending on the 

 width of row and distance between seed in the row. 

 The cost of seed this year is somewhat higher than 

 last year. Seed houses quote 25 cents per pound. 

 The variety grown is the Mammoth Russian, and 

 can be ordered from any reliable seed house. 



Professor McVean says that he is firmly convinc- 

 ed that sunflowers are a Godsend to the farmers 

 of the State, whose farms are at an altitude greater 

 than is safe for the production of corn. Crop tests 

 made in different parts of the State show that sun- 

 flowers can he planted earlier than corn, will stand 

 more cold, will mature earlier, yield about twice as 

 much per acre, and apparently are as valuable from 

 a feeding standpoint as corn. 



I take it from the above that the sun- 

 flower will do well on ground that is too 

 ])00r to groAv a good crop of corn ; and un- 

 der such conditions it may give twice the 

 yield for the silo, and also produce a silage 

 that is better for butter and milk than corn. 

 It will stand more frost in cold weather 

 than corn, as I demonstrated to my full 

 satisfaction last fall. It will probably be 

 too late to plant sunflowers when this 

 reaches you, with any hope of growing seed 

 — that is, in most localities; but there will 

 be plenty of time to grow a splendid crop 

 for cow feed, for cows will eat it gi'eedily 

 after they once " acquire the appetite,' 

 even if it should not grow more than a foot 

 high. Of course, the part that interests 

 beekeepers most is the honey; and wherf 

 there are large acreages grown, especially 

 with the view of producing seed, I think it 

 must yield considerable honey. Just now 

 I am testing a sunflower put out by Bur- 

 bank, which he' claims is not only a new 

 creation but a valuable addition to the sun- 

 flower family. 



In Burbank's catalog for 1919 he makes 

 the following statement: 



In 1909 sunflower seed was grown in the United 

 States to the amount of 63,677 bushels. Last seiasoo 



