1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



all we can do is to give a summary of the con- 

 clusions made by a few of them. 



It is remarkable with what unanimity nearly 

 all of them agree; and it is no less remarkable 

 how they support the statement made by our 

 neighboring farmer, Mr. Adam Leister, whose 

 views were reported on pages 48 and 96, to the 

 effect that the clovers had not been killed by the 

 drouth. 



As we glean from this pile of letters, we find 

 that there are two kinds of winter-killing. One 

 is known as the " heaving-out " process, by which 

 the alternate freezing and thawing of a water- 

 soaked soil breaks the roots of the clovers, dis- 

 membering them until there seems but little of 

 them left The other kind of winter killing is 

 from what might be called the dry process. In 

 this the ground is frozen to a great depth, freez- 

 ing the roots and plants solid While it may 

 thaw and freeze somewhat, it is claimed that" the 

 severe cold wind blowing over the surface when 

 the ground is not protected, if it continues for 

 any length of time, will kill almost any clover." 

 But on the other hand it is claimed that white 

 clover sutlers less from winter-killing than any of 

 the clovers. Unlike the common red, peavine, 

 and alsike, it has no great tap-ioot. It is essen- 

 tially a vine like the strawberry, having shallow 

 roots at frequent intervals shooting down into the 

 ground for short distances. During the heaving 

 process of winter-killing, the white clovers a e 

 lifted up and down, and apparently are but little 

 harmed by the process except in cases where there 

 is very severe cold without snow that attacks root 

 and branch alike. 



Referring to the effect of drouth, one writer in 

 particular draws attention to the fact that, the dri- 

 er it is in the fall, up to a certain limit, and the 

 more prolonged, the more the root system is 

 strengthened and the more it grows. If this 

 drouth is followed by winter or spring rains, such 

 as we have been having this year, the plants will 

 grow amazingly. 



As to being able to prognosticate a flow of 

 honey from white clover, nearly all the writers 

 scout the very idea. Conditions, they say, may 

 be ideal in the fall, and in the succeeding winter 

 and spring; but if they are not ideal at the time 

 the clover is in bloom, even though the fields may 

 be white with it, there will be little or no clover 

 honey. Nearly all the writers agree that clover 

 has freaks of yielding enormously some years and 

 failing almost entirely in others. Most of them 

 assert that a drouth in the fall is not hurtful, but 

 beneficial, providing other conditions that folloTu 

 are favorable. All acknovvledge that a drouth 

 may be so severe that the clover may be killed 

 and is killed; but the reports from various sections 

 of the country show that the drouth of last fall 

 killed the clovers in only limited areas. 



The majority assert that in most localities the 

 conditions last fall were not unfavorable, and 

 ihat the conditions during the past winter and so 

 far in March have been very favorable; but they 

 are not equally positive that we shall have a clo- 

 ver-How — that no man knows what Dame Nature 

 will do at that season of the year when the plant 

 is required to give up its precious sweets to the 

 world. 



Attention is railed to the fact that some years 

 ago a prominent writer made the positive predic- 



tion that we could depend on a crop of honey 

 from clover if we only have deep snows in winter. 

 Referring to this, one correspondent says, in the 

 winter of 1907 they had comparatix ely litile snow, 

 and yet there was a bumper crop in the summer 

 of 1908; and then he adds, " As an actual fact, 

 the amount of clover honey is not measured by 

 the quantity of bloom; for I have seen the fields 

 white with an abundance of bloom, but only a 

 fair crop. I can remember one year when we 

 had a great scarcity of bloom, and yet we had a 

 good crop of clover honey. I have also seen, as 

 Mr. Doolittle and Dr. Miller have said, fields 

 white with clover, but no honey. " He then goes 

 on to say that he has seen the clover parched by 

 drouth in June — not a blossom in sight, and at 

 the very time of year when there should be bloom 

 if ever. Then a series of soaking rains came on, 

 and, presto! bloom and a crop of honey. This 

 same man makes a further statement that is 

 worth recording here. He winds up by saying, 

 "In the fall and latter part of the summer of 1897 

 or '8 we had a very dry time — not as dry as last 

 fall, but dry enough — so dry that it was spoken 

 of as being remarkably so. . . I had a bump- 

 er crop the following summer." This man is 

 George Shiber, of Randolph, N. Y. ; and if we 

 had the space we would use the whole article. 



Another writer, Mr. John McLauchlan, of 

 London, Canada, confirming the quotation just 

 made, says: 



The f^U of 1899 or 1900, I forget which, was exceptionally 

 dry in this district right through from August 15 until winter set 

 in. This was followed by a very dry spring with very little grass 

 of any kind until the later part of May, when a series of warm 

 rains commenced which continued almost daily until about the 

 20th of June. The effect was marvelous. By the end of June 

 the fields and roadsides were one beautiful mass of white clover 

 and alsike, and the honey crop was the best my memory can re- 

 call. John McLauchlan. 



London, Canada, Feb. 22. 



Mr. E. Lamont, of New Dover, Ohio, says: 

 " Late summer and fall drouths, as a rule, harm 

 clovers but little ... 1 doubt if, in the 

 long run, the conditions brought about by last 

 year's dry spell are a damage to the bee-keepers 

 of the white-clover districts;" and then, implying 

 that a wet fall is too much of a good thing, he 

 adds: "I am satisfied that a rank growth of clo- 

 ver at any time, except white clover, does not 

 yield the nectar that it otherwise would. This 

 is proven conclusively in the case of red and al- 

 sike clovers that are cut for seed, as there is never 

 so much seed on the low ground, where the 

 growth is rankest." And then he concludes by 

 saying that he believes it is an advantage, in point 

 of nectar secretion, that clovers should have an 

 occasional setback by drouth. 



Taking it all in all, the weight of testimony is 

 to the effect that bee-keepers who depend on clo- 

 ver for their honey have not so much to fear from 

 a drouth in thefall as from. winter-killing or drouth 

 during June; but even then white clover, nine 

 years out of ten, will stand a heaving of the soil 

 that would kill red and alsike. 



Another writer makes the point that damage 

 done by a severe drouth will usually be repaired 

 providing we get in time some good soaking 

 rains. If the spring rains are all followed by a 

 severe drouth, clovers will be killed outright. 



We have endeavored to give here the essential 

 facts of all this mass of testimony. It speaks lor 

 itself. 



