870 



SWEET CLOVER ADAPTED TO POOR LAND. 



Please note the enclosed clipping. It looks as if 

 the despised weed was at last coining to its own. I 

 expect to attend this opening; and if I can find any 

 one who has fed sweet clover, or used it for pasture, 

 I will give yoii the details. 



You wrote me some time ago regarding the time 

 the farmers cut their alfalfa. The thinking man cuts 

 his after it blooms, as the cured hay has more sub- 

 stance, and is not what is termed washy; in faict, 

 it is impossible to feed cured alfalfa that was cut 

 green (or before blooming) to horses, as it has a 

 very bad effect on their kidneys, and weakens them. 

 It does not seem to affect cattle or hogs. I think that 

 in five years from now half the alfalfa will be allow- 

 ed to bloom before it is cut. 



I look for heavy winter losses on bees this year. 

 Dry weather killed all plant life, and the fall flowers 

 were just nicely started when we had a killing frost. 

 However, it is all for the best, as the majority of 

 those who lose out never give their bees any atten- 

 tion, and that is where half the foul brood comes 

 from. 



We have what might be termed an inactive foul- 

 brood law. The county commissioners of the various 

 counties of the State are supposed to appoint an in- 

 spector who is to receive two dollars a day and no 

 expenses, and the inspector is to collect his fee from 

 the owner of the bees. How a man can cover & 

 county on a team hire of two dollars a day is a 

 mystery. We expect to take this matter up with the 

 next legislature, and try to get sufficient money to 

 make the law a real law. 



Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 10. H. W. Jeffries. 



[The following is a part of the extract from the 

 Nebraska State Journal referred to : ] 



The government proclamation, issued when it was 

 originally decided to open the North Platte forest 

 reserve to homesteading did not promise much for 

 the settler in this region. Some Lincoln men who 

 intend to file for claims say, however, that they have 

 no choice ^^etwoen the Fort Niobrara land and the 

 North Platte reserve land. Two-thirds of the North 

 Platte reserve land is not the best for farming; but 

 the adaptation of sweet clover for cattle feed recently 

 demonstrated, has led many to say that they would like 

 to try the North Platte land. This land, they say, 

 will grow an abundance of sweet clover where even 

 alfalfa would not grow. 



WHAT TO DO WITH ALFALFA WHEN YOU 

 GET IT." 



The above is the title of a most valuable 

 and interesting article in the Ohio Farmer 

 for August 30. In fact, that article alone 

 ought to be worth to almost evei-y farmer 

 the subscription price to the Ohio Farmer 

 several times over — that is, 50 cents a year. 

 See the following extract : 



I have been a good deal interested and somewhat 

 amused to see the efforts now being made to cause 

 everybody to grow alfalfa upon every farm. Of 

 course I know that everybody can grow it, and I am 

 sure also that everybody would be profited if he 

 would grow it; but also I know full well that many 

 a man will succeed in getting a stand of alfalfa and 

 will fail with it after he has gotten it. There is not 

 a doubt in the world that alfalfa will pay. Take this 

 year of drouth. Suppose a man gets only two tons 

 to the acre — which we exceeded at our first cutting. 

 If the hay is well made, that is equal in feeding 

 value to corn, pound for pound. 



What do you think of that? Alfalfa hai/ 

 worth as much as corn, pound for pound!'' 



* By the way, if a pound of alfalfa hay is worth 

 as much as a pound of corn, how about alfalfa for 

 chicken feed? You see there would be no harvesting 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Now, one important part of the alfalfa bus- 

 iness — at least to beekeepers — is the bloom. 

 See the following: 



It must always be allowed to attain a sufficient 

 maturity so that the little shoots are starting at the 

 base of the stems, i; it is cut before this time it is 

 greatly damaged, and the later crops of hay will fall 

 far short of perfection. Hundreds of fields of alfalfa 

 in Ohio have been plowed up in disgust because men 

 simply cut them too early, and in this way stunted 

 and diseased their plants. 



Of course, friend Wing does not say the 

 alfalfa should be permitted to come in 

 bloom before cutting it for hay, but it tends 

 in that direction. I believe it is generally 

 understood that alfalfa is not worth very 

 much to beekeepers unless it is grown foi 

 the seed. One of the greatest crops of hon- 

 ey I ever saw in one locality was from the 

 alfalfa fields of York State; but as those 

 fields were a perfect mass of bloom over 

 hill and vale, I presume they were growing 

 it for the seed. I tliink it will pay not only 

 to read but to study the whole article. I 

 hardly need tell you that there is no better 

 authority on growing alfalfa than W. 0. 

 Wing. 



I am glad you are hammering away at the bad 

 things in this world. Note the enclosed clipping. 

 We are going to vote on that bill. Dr. Owens-Adair 

 is an elderly woman. I have known her for 25 

 years, and she always stood for clean things. 



Necanicum, Ore. Herman Ahlers. 



AUTHOR OP NEW LAW DEFENDS IT ; STERILIZATION 



A BENIGN AND HARMLESS TREATMENT OF 



UNDESIRABLES. 



Sterilization is little understood, and many will 

 vote against the bill, believing it to be a harsh and 

 inhuman measure, when in reality there could be 

 no more humane remedy for the protection of the 

 unborn children and for the purification and per- 

 petuation of our nation. Senator Day said when he 

 voted for my bill : " This bill can hurt no one, there- 

 fore I vote yes." . 



It is shown by statistics that insanity is increasing 

 3 per cent faster than the population of our country. 

 It was claimed by a physician who addressed a 

 meeting called by the prominent men of science to 

 discuss the social-evil question that 50 per cent of 

 all the boys and men of the United States were 

 afflicted with venereal diseajres. Is not that enough 

 to make the people stop and reflect? Where will we 

 stand 100 years from now if these terrible conditions 

 are not changed? 



In 1907, when I barely succeeded in getting my 



nor hay-making. The chickens will attend to that 

 part of it. Of course the green leaves are not worth 

 as much in weight as dried hay; but in Florida, Cal- 

 ifornia, and other places where corn is away up. 

 have we fully demonstrated the value of alfalfa for 

 chickens ? If it has to be sowed every year on ac- 

 count of its not standing the wet hot summers in 

 Florida, will it not pay even then? And I notice by 

 the Florida papers that they are succeeding in many 

 places in getting alfalfa tO' make a stand through the 

 summer as well as through the winter. Just one 

 thing more along this line. In the West, turkeys are 

 grown and fattened by the carload on alfalfa and 

 nothing else. Can anybody tell us more about feed- 

 ing chickens alfalfa? and can we get at least a fair 

 amount of eggs without any grain whatever? What 

 is to hinder having an alfalfa egg-farm ? 



