198 



CiLEANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. I 



seemed to I e as wide spread as was the drouth 

 The summer of 1899 being unusually dry, and 

 followed by ihe still dryer season of 1900, up to 

 ihe end of July, and peihaps into August, the 

 conditions were not favorable to the growih of 

 white-clover seedlings that would yield honey in 

 abundance the fol'owing season; but from August 

 to the end of the season the conditions were very 

 favorable. It may, therefore, be assumed that, 

 after the two protracted dry seasTns, the bulk of 

 the clover that gave the crop of 1901 started after 

 the middle of the summer. I believe New York 

 and Ontario bee-keepers generally will bear me 

 out in the statement that the season of 1901 gave 

 us a bumper yield of white-cl .\er honey. In 

 and adjacent to Buffalo it was as good a season as 

 any of which I have recollection. This was a 

 bumper season clear through, and it will be no- 

 ticed that it was a year of nearly the normal pre- 

 cipitation during the spring and summer months, 

 except June, which shows less than half the nor- 

 mal precipitation. However, it is to be remem- 

 bered that there were light drizzling warm rains 

 and very humid conditions nearly every day in 

 May — just the conditions to promote the best 

 growth of clover, and the plants thus got a start 

 that enabled them to pass through a short drouth 

 in flourishing condition. It will be noticed that 

 the temperature of the spring and summer months 

 of this season is considerably above the mean, ex- 

 cept May, which was almost constantly cloudy, 

 notwithstanding which it lacks but .4 degree of 

 the normal. 



Following the season of 1901, and up to and 

 including the season of 1905, the precipitation 

 and temperature for thespringand summermonths 

 were comparatively normal, and we had continu- 

 ously good honey seasons; and it will be noticed 

 that the precipitation of the summer of 1905 

 shows it to be favorable to the setting of clover. 



There was an unusually rank growth of the 

 yearling clover that bloomed, which may have 

 counteracted the apparently favorable conditions 

 and smothered many of the seedlings and young 

 plants. Fairly well saturated soil and an open 

 winter following the summer of 1905 caused an 

 unusual amount of heaving, and the result was 

 that but little of alsike, white, or sweet clover 

 survived the winter and spring; and what came 

 through produced a growth so feeble that it can 

 hardly be accounted for by the comparatively 

 dry spring months with a precipitation of a little 

 less than - ;, the mean. Query: Does an unusu- 

 ally thick and rank growth of clover impoverish 

 the soil tempoiaiily of the elements best suited 

 for clover, so that the soil needs a rest or change.'' 

 The above combination of conditions caused a 

 failure of the clover-honey crop in this locality in 

 1906, following the best clover growth (in 1905) 

 that I have ever seen. 



Again, the season from July to the end of the 

 summer and fall of 1906 was favorable to the 

 growth of white clover, and our hopes rose ac- 

 cordingly. The record of precipitation for 1907 

 would indicate that we ought to have had a pret- 

 ty fair clover season, but it was nearly a failure. 

 VVe all remember the spring of 1907, how " Win- 

 ter lingered in the lap of Spring." The temper- 

 ature of April was 3.4 degree?; May, 6.3 degrees; 

 and June, 2.8 degrees below their respective 

 monthly means, and the spring and summer sea- 



son was from three to four weeks late. Apple- 

 trees that usually bloom here from the 12th to 

 the 15th of May did not bloom until June; and 

 basswood, that usually blooms about the 4th of 

 July, did not open until near the close of the 

 month. No wonder tha^, with a nearly normal 

 precipitation, enough to produce a fair honey 

 crop ordinarily, we were again met by failure of 

 the white-clover honey crop. But white clover 

 grew, and thus was laid the foundation of the 

 very satisfactory clover honey crop of 1908. Last 

 June and July we had numerous local heavy 

 showers, which make the table of precipitation 

 look favorable; but in many localities the clover 

 crop was cut short by dry weather late in June 

 and early July. 



Conditions in this locality have been propitious 

 for a white-clover honey crop up to the present 

 time, and I believe these conditions prevail 

 throughout most of the region north of the Ohio 

 River and east of the Mississippi. I doubt not 

 that the conditions with Mr. Weaver are such as 

 to cause him to reflect a gloomy view upon our 

 prospects for a clover- honey crop; but viewing 

 the matter from another point, and with past ex- 

 perience as my guide for the future, I would say 

 to the bee-keepers east of the Mississippi general- 

 ly that there is no present need to make prepara- 

 tions to "ship to the mountains." I believe that, 

 in this locality, we have possibilities for as good 

 a crop of white-clover honey as we have had at 

 any time within my apicultural experience, and 

 that the same will hold good for all similarly cir- 

 cumstanced. Go tight on preparing for the out- 

 pouring of clover honey. The chances are more 

 than even that you will not be disappointed. 



Kenmore, N. Y., Feb. 24. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



SoAvn with Timothy and Red Clover it 

 Greatly Improves the Hay, and Furnishes 

 Additional Pasturage for Bees; How Poor 

 Bee-ranges May be Made Good Ones. 



BY BARRET PJERSON. 



I have noticed your efforis for several years to 

 have bee-keepers encourage the growing of alsike 

 clover; but as no one has told of its most profit- 

 able culture I write you the methods used here. 



For several years the agricultural press has ad- 

 vocated the sowing of more clover upon the farms 

 of this country, showing that the clovers remove 

 free nitrogen (the most expensive element of fer- 

 tilizers) from the air and leave part of it in the 

 soil, and also furnish protein (the highest-pric- 

 ed element of food) in the cheapest form, so that 

 it will be unnecessary to enter into that discus- 

 sion here. 



Pound for pound, alsike-clover hay is worth 

 as much for feed for cattle and sheep as either of 

 the red clovers, and very much more for horses, 

 because it is free from the fuzz on the stalks which 

 makes so much dust; but as alsike clover does 

 not grow as large as either the common red or 

 the mammoth clover it is rarely as valuable for 

 forage when grown by itself, though sometimes 

 when grown by itself as a seed crop the money 



