710 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



few men here and there succeed?" I do not 

 know, unless it is because so many go down 

 there with a sort of idea that they can get a liv- 

 ing in Manatee Co. without work. It is not 

 true of that region nor of any other that I have 

 ever visited. 



CELERY VERSUS WHEAT. 



The following, clipped from a letter written 

 to a brother of the writer, "Stenog," brings out 

 one point very plainly: 



I like 10 look at the pictures in Gleanings. The one of the 

 five acres of celery, for which $5000 was refused, makes the 

 wheat-farms of Ohio seem sick. If live acres of wheat brought 

 $100 it was considered a good crop. Moral — raise more celery 

 and less of something else. F. J. Root. 



545 North Grove St., East Orange, N. J., May 12, 1908. 



SWEET CLOVER AS A FORAGE-PLANT, FROM THE 

 STANDPOINT OF THE FARMER AND STOCK- 

 GROWER. 



The two letters which are herewith appended ap- 

 peared in the Breeder's Gazette for May 13. They 

 are self-explanatory. Both tend to show that sweet 

 clover, rightly considered, is one of the most valu- 

 able forage-plants we have. It may be added 

 that the Breeder's Gazette is the leading paper of 

 its kind in this country. Its large circulation 

 will help to make sweet clover popular, or at 

 least give it fair hearings. w. K. M. 



SWEET CLOVER A BOON TO .ALABAMA. 



To THE GAZETTE. — In your issue of April 29 J. D. Grimes 

 condemns sweet clover (Metilotus alha) as a worthless weed, 

 saying stock have to be starved to make them eat it, and that it 

 is very difficult to destroy. 



Here in the lime belt of Alabama we consider it one of the 

 most valuable plants we have. Stock, when first placed in a pas- 

 ture containing it, will not eat it; but they do not come any- 

 where near starving before they begin to eat. In many pastures 

 there is nothing but melilotus, and these are nearly always the 

 pastures that contain the fattest cattle in the neighborhood. Sev- 

 eral of our best farmers depend upon it very largely for hay, cut- 

 ting it when about 12 to 18 inches high. They say it is nearly as 

 good as alfalfa hay if cut young enough, and their stock is just as 

 fat as the stock that gets alfalfa for roughage. We find it no 

 trouble to kill. One year in corn nearly always about clears the 

 land of it. 



As a soil-renovator we think it has no equal on thin lime land. 

 1 have seen land that would not make five bushels of corn per 

 acre planted in melilotus for five years and then produce about 

 twenty-five bushels per acre (nearly double the average Alabama 

 yield). This land was pastured a part of the time, and the meli- 

 lotus was cut for hay the other part. 



Some of our most prosperous farmers say if they could have only 

 one of sweet clover and alfalfa they would take the sweet clover. 

 It will grow vigorously, and afford two or three fine cuttings of 

 hay on land so poor that on it alfalfa will not get a start. 



SHOTES LIKE SWEET CLOVER. 



To THE Gazette. — I have been reading the discussion in 

 your journal about sweet clover, with considerable interest. 1 

 have had some experience with it. I sowed 20 acres some years 

 ago to alfalfa. The seed contained a liberal percentage of sweet 

 clover. It was a new thing to me, and every one told me that it 

 was a noxious weed and would take the farm, so I decided to 

 plow it up; but before doing so I pastured it one year with cattle. 

 These cattle had the run of an adjoining 20 acres of wild grass. 

 They kept down both alfalfa and sweet clover to the neglect of 

 the wild grass. I plowed it up, and the clover disappeared with- 

 out any trouble whatever. I do not think it as hard to kill as al- 

 falfa by my means. The only place where it has remained is 

 along the division fence where I have not molested it. 



Adjoining this fence I have 30 acres of rye and 10 acres of blue 

 grass on which I have been mnning 175 shores. I have noticed 

 that these shotes, which have an abundance of tender rye and 

 blue grass, have kept this clover nipped close to the ground, 

 while on the other side of the fence it is knee high. I should 

 like to sow a field to it. Could you tell me where I could get 

 the seed.' J. G. KuNZ. 



Hall Co., Neb. 



Remarks. — Write any seedsman whose advesiisenient has 

 appeared in our columns the past few weeks. — Ei). Gazette. 



PAULOWNIA IMPERIALIS. 



Our readers will remember our paulownia-tree 

 that grew 16j4 feet high the first season, but 

 which, during the winter of 1906, killed down to 

 the ground. Last summer I had given it up for 

 dead; but I had one of my happy surprises along 

 toward the first of June when a great strong shoot 

 shot up close to the base of the old tree. A little 

 later, several shoots started likewise. Of course, 

 I took away all but one. The shoots looked so 

 rank and thrifty that it occurred to me they might 

 be put in damp sand and started as we start cuttings. 

 The plan proved to be a success. Almost every 

 one took root; and last fall, when I started for 

 Florida, I had 25 little trees, one foot and under, 

 planted in a bed of rich ground north of my au- 

 tomobile-house. Before leaving I gave particu- 

 lar directions to one of the men to be sure to 

 mulch the little trees with coarse stable manure 

 before hard freezing; but during my absence it 

 was not attended to, and so I was afraid all of my 

 little trees were winter-killed. At this writing, 

 however. May 1, I am greatly pleased to find al- 

 most every one of them alive and sending up 

 great strong shoots. 



Now, here is something in regard to this same, 

 tree in Mississippi: 



I wish grandpa Root could see a paulownia imperialis that is in 

 my back yard. It is 18 inches in diameter, and has been in full 

 bloom since April 1. There is no greater honey-tree than this. 

 The bees work on it from daylight until night drives them in. 

 They even work on \l when it is raining, as the flowers hang 

 downward and the nectar does not wash out. R. V. Goss. 



Verona, Miss., April 15. 



Many thanks for your report, friend G. I am 

 glad to know you succeed so well with them. 

 I have been wanting to try them in our Florida 

 home, but have not yet got at it. It makes such 

 a tremendous growth in a season here i\6)4 feet 

 tall with leaves over a yard wide) that it is worth 

 while to plant them, even if they should winter- 

 kill down to the ground nearly every season. In 

 that event, however, of course we could not get 

 any bloom for honey. 



I got my first trees of George W. Park, of La- 

 park, Pa. He has not only the trees for sale, but 

 the seed for planting; but he tells us the seed is a 

 week in germinating, and I am under the im- 

 pression that it requires special treatment. I 

 think propagation by cuttings will be the quick- 

 est and surest way. 



JELLY-MAKER VS. GLUCOSE TRUST. 



The Corn Products Co., manufacturers of glu- 

 cose, is in a controversy, it seems, with makers of 

 low-grade pail jellies, among them the American 

 Preserve Co., of Philadelphia, a chief antagonist 

 to the glucose concern. 



The controversy has arisen because the Corn 

 Products Co. has embarked in the business of 

 manufacturing compound jellies which, it is re- 

 ported, it is selling at prices lower than those 

 made by the regular manufacturers of jellies. 

 The American Preserve Co. resents what it con- 

 tends is an encroachment upon its business. It 

 charges the Corn Products Co. with entering the 

 jelly-field in order to compel regular jelly-manu- 

 facturers to buy their glucose from it. 



The Corn Products Co. asserts that it has a 

 perfect right to go into any business that it likes. 

 — Grocers' Crilerio-i. 



