NOVEMBER 15, 1913 



817 



contains a poisonous ingredient which is wholly 

 liarmless to stock, and which eliminates any posi i- 

 bility of bloating in ruminants, which is the most 

 serious drawback to alfalfa as a pasture plant. 



Horses are espcicially fond of sweet clover as pas- 

 ture and hay, and hogs and cattle thrive on it. 

 Chickens, big and little, like young sweet clover bet- 

 ter than alfalfa. 



As a soil-builder sweet clover is unexcelled. The 

 two-year-old plants die. The roots, extending eight 

 to twenty inches deep, from quarter to half an inch 

 in diameter, decay, adding humus to the soil. Where 

 the plant is allowed to reseed itself this becomes an 

 annual occurrence. It breaks up the soil to admit 

 air and water, and, being a nitrogen-gatherer, it 

 also fertilizes the land. Ground intended for alfalfa 

 will be greatly benefited by growing sweet clover for 

 a couple of years before. 



Sweet clover has proved of real service on worn- 

 out upland farms for it is a soil-renovator as well as 

 a flesh-former, a milk-maker, and a money-maker. It 

 will thrive where not even weeds will grow. It pros- 

 pers on the best soil, and will produce abundantly 

 on barren wastes. It is the greatest tlrouth resister 

 of all forage plants ; its roots penetrate the hardest 

 ground, even taking hold in crevices of rocks. 



There are some facts in the above that it 

 would be well for our farmer neighbors to 

 know. Why not send the names and ad- 

 dresses of your farmer neighbors in to the 

 Country Gentleman, Philadelphia, and have 

 them send marked issues of the Sept. 20th 

 issue to them ? I'll venture to say that there 

 will be more than one trial-plot of sweet 

 clover in your neighborhood next year if 

 you do. And, while you are about it, it 

 might be well to see to it that Bulletin No. 

 244 of the Ohio Experiment Station falls 

 into their hands. This will be a good " fol- 

 low up," such as our present-day advertis- 

 ers are using so successfully. Tliis bulletin 

 will give them directions for planting, inoc- 

 ulating, varieties, securing seed, etc. 



Writing of this bulletin in Kimball's 

 Dairy Farmer, Mr. W. B. Quarton, who has 

 furnished that well-known paper with sev- 

 eral articles on sweet clover, its value as a 

 fertilizer, etc., says: "This bulletin is the 

 most exhaustive thing I have even seen on 

 sweet clover. It covers the widest field and 

 the widest investigation. The results and 

 conclusions attained bear out fully and com- 

 pletely all I have said in Kimball's Dairy 

 Farmer in regard to sweet clover, and very 

 much more. In composing these articles 

 that I have been writing, I have been very 

 conservative; but this bulletin goes far be- 

 yond any of the claims I have made for 

 sweet clover; and any farmer who will read 

 the evidences given by the 1882 farmers of 

 Ohio as to the value of sweet clover for all 

 purposes, can not help being convinced of 

 the real merits and value of sweet clover to 

 the farmer." 



Here is the summary given in the bulle- 

 tin referred to, showing the various soil 

 types on which it was found gTowing: On 

 the sands of the lake shore, the sandy loam, 



the pure sand dunes, on the thin soil of the 

 " opens " on the lake ridges, on the old lake- 

 bed soils, on very heavy soils, on gravelly 

 moraines, on black j^rairie soils, on disinte- 

 grating limestone outcrop, on the river bot- 

 toms, on the wliite loess soil, on the red 

 clay soils, on shale banks, sandstone bluffs, 

 sour clay, and the sandstone quarries 20 

 feet below the surface. 



Gleanings has a wide circulation, but 1 

 don't believe there are many subscribers but 

 live on or near at least one of the above- 

 mentioned types of soil; and as Mr. Quar- 

 ton, the "conservative" writer quoted above, 

 says, " It will grow from the Gulf of Mexi- 

 co to Canada," there is no reason why every 

 beekeeper can not have a field of sweel 

 clover growing on a neighbor's farm as well 

 as his own by next year. Once the farmers 

 have learned the value of sweet clover for 

 feeding stock and renovating worn-out soil. 

 I believe it will be grown extensively by 

 them. 



Let us beekeepers turn missionaries and 

 introduce sweet clover to our farmer friends 

 as a falsely condemned criminal — a giiile- 

 less wayside waif — that is waiting to fill 

 their pails with milk, their soil with fertil- 

 ity, their barns with plenty, and their pock- 

 ets with money, if they will but transplant 

 it from the roadside to their fields. At any 

 rate, let us see to it that there are no Sept. 

 20th issues of the Country Gentleman to go 

 to the scrap-pile; and, if jDossible, back 

 numbers of Kimball's Dairy Farmer con- 

 taining Mr. Quarton's articles on sweet clo- 

 ver ought to be circulated. And, by all 

 means, see that Bulletin No. 244 of the Ohio 

 Experiment Station has to be ran through 

 a second edition. 



New Brunswick, N. J. 



WINTER FEEDING 



BY O. S. REXFORD 



Our usual fall honey-flow in this locality 

 was nearly a failure in 1912, and the bees 

 started in for winter light in stores. 



I fed late in the fall, but the unusually 

 warm weather in December and January, I 

 think, caused a greater consumption of hon- 

 ey than would have been the case if the 

 weather had been normal. I had no extract- 

 ed honey to make candy, and I knew of no 

 other very satisfactory way to feed in win- 

 ter weather. Still, if I did not do some- 

 thing I knew that I would lose some colonies 

 through starvation. 



When Feb. 1st Gleanings came I was 

 undecided whether to try to feed in some 

 way or to let them take their chances. I 



