162 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb 1 



10. This 35-acre field was sown with timothy and 

 sweet clover af er being: plowed and harrowed, just as 

 you would seed to alfalfa. The ground should be put 

 in good condition, and the seed covered shallow. In 

 this respect it seems to differ somewhat from red clo- 

 ver, which should be covered deeper It should be 

 sown thicker than red clover to get the best results. 

 It will not smother out either timothy or blue grass. 

 In fact these grasses do their best when sown with 

 sweet clover. 



11.1 have never found out the capacity of this thir- 

 ty-five acres for yielding grass, as it is such a rapid 

 grower. However, after once getting established it 

 will very far outstrip any other clover that grows 

 here, and should be better as the years go by, which 

 is not true of any other clover. Trampi ig the ground 

 benefits it, provided it is allowed to reseed itself each 

 year. Other grasses will come to the front if sown 

 with sweet clover. 



12. My neighbors are just beginning to wake up to 

 the value of this crop, and are purchasing seea to sow 

 from ten to forty acres for pasture. 



I sowed 70 acres last fall on stubble, and hoped to 

 get a good catch. It was sown on the bare ground 

 early in December, and proved an entire failure, only 

 a bunch here and there surviving. I have never failed 

 when I put it in in the spring, covering lightly, and 

 then turning on the cattle. The tramping does it no 

 hurt. However, the soil should be inoculated with 

 soil that is full of the bacteria, which seems to be the 

 same as that of alfalfa. A good stand can always be 

 secured by sowing with oats and pasturing moderate- 

 ly Last spring I sowed a narrow strip through the 

 oats-field, and at this writing it is a fair stand of slen- 

 der plants that look rather sickly, just as alfalfa 

 would look under similar conditions. Inoculated soil 

 should have been sown with it and covered with the 



July 23 I took steers off from this 35 acres in order 

 to let it grow up for seed. I harvested the seed Aug. 

 18 and part of the steers that were not shipped were 

 turned back on it Aug. 25, by which which time the 

 young clover growing up was 20 inches high. It was 

 eaten -at once with evident relish. The mower-bar 

 was run over the top of this young clover ten or 

 twelve inches from the ground, thus allowing only the 

 tops of the old clover for seed. The steers will make 

 heavy gains on this field. 



After my four years' experience with sweet clover I 

 would advise farmers not to put too many cattle on 

 the field if they wish to fit them for market, as I have 

 done and save two months' feeding of expensive 

 corn' My cattle that were shipped off this pasture 

 (without corn) weighed 1163 lbs. at Chicago, and 

 brought $5.75 per 100 lbs. while other cattle on the 

 market at the same time, and of better quality, 

 brought from $4 90 to $5.25 Mine went on grass thin, 

 while the latter went on in better flesh. My cattle 

 had a nice sleek coat, similar to corn-fed cattle, and 

 they were nearly as fat. 



Now, friends, the above article ought to 

 answer the question, and it ought also to re- 

 fute the statement that has been made sev- 

 eral times in different periodicals, to the ef- 

 fect that sweet clover is of no value to farm 

 stock, or that horses, sheep, and cattle would 

 not eat it. The above explains quite fully 

 why it is that farm stock will at first refuse 

 to eat it. I feel confident that I can in a 

 very little time teach horses, cattle, sheep, 

 and pigs— yes, and poultry too — to eat sweet 

 clover with avidity anywhere in the United 

 States wherever sweet clover will grow. 



Temperance. 



THE ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE IN FLORIDA. 



Our temperance meeting last Sunday eve- 

 ning was a "hummer." It was a union 

 meeting of all the churches, and the house 

 was crowded. I opened the meeting with a 

 five-minutes' talk, and then Mr. Lambert, 

 the State Superintendent of the Florida An- 



ti-saloon League, spoke about 40 minutes. 

 They are exceedingly fortunate in getting so 

 bright and wideawake a man for the work. 

 He got them so waked up that every man, 

 woman, and child in the church rose up and 

 voted against the saloon. He is a godly man, 

 and at the same time fearless, and of re- 

 markable ability. Florida will soon be all 

 dry, if he keeps at it. 



Dear Friend Boot:— We are glad to welcome you 

 back to Florida. I want to see you this time before 

 you skip out. I suppose you will go to the fair at 

 Tampa next month. Why not plan to be there at a 

 certain time and give notice in Gleanings, as many 

 of your friends would likely plan to meet you V 



There is one phase of the question we temperance 

 folks are ignoring. Man is a gregarious animal. You 

 and I have our homes friends books, papers, a bright 

 light, and a cheerful fire ; but many men, and espe- 

 cially the tempted ones, have not these things, and 

 the saloon offers companionship, light warmth, and 

 cheer, and do we wonder they fall in with it? 



This wave of temperance in the South does not 

 P^ean that drinking is at an end; but much of it is 

 t-hrough fear of the darkle, and is to keep him from 

 whisky. The gallons and gallons coming by express 

 every day means some one is drinking a lot of rot- 

 tenness. Well, come and see us. and bring Mrs. Root 

 by all means. We shall be glad to meet her. 



Bowling Green, Fla., Jan. 7. Ibving Keck. 



I have asked the fair commissioner to ap- 

 point a day for bee-kpepers, and I will give 

 due notice as soon as I hear from him, and 

 arrange to be on hand. The Florida Anti- 

 saloon League is already after the express 

 companies, and I think something is going 

 to happen soon. 



PARCELS POST, AGAIN. 



With a few exceptions the entire agricul- 

 tural press of the United States is a unit on 

 the subject of parcels post. The editors 

 seem to be well aware that the entire oppo- 

 sition to this great improvement originates 

 with the express companies and their friends 

 the railroads. Underneath all this opposi- 

 tion lies the idea that the farmer is a sort of 

 hoosier, peon, or peasant, and that he ought 

 to be very contented with things as they are. 

 They forget he is the great wealth-producer 

 of the nation, and that it is he who supplies 

 most of the exports to pay our indebtedness 

 to other countries. All other goods are a 

 mere fraction of our exports of wheat, cot- 

 ton, and other farm products. The farmer 

 makes the millionaires. 



There is a more important side to the con- 

 troversy, which is seldom mentioned, name- 

 ly, the propriety of improving the conditions 

 of the farmer's life. Good roads, free mail 

 delivery, telephones, and, finally, parcels 

 post, would go a long way toward making 

 life on a farm an ideal existence Tsolation 

 is not good for any one — certainly not for 

 the farmer's wife nor his children. 



With central grammar schools it will soon 

 come to pass that the farmer's children will 

 get as good an education as the banker's 

 child in the city. And why not? But the 

 farmer will have to fight for these things. 



w. K. M. 



