

m 

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aeoRae w. york, editor. 



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40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JULY 5, 1900, 



No, 27. 



The Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus Officinalis.) 



BY JOHN R. SCHMIDT. 



THIS subject has been written up so often in our bee- 

 periodicals during- the past two or three years that it is 

 almost impossible to say anything new. But it is such 

 a good thing- that those who have 

 had any experience with this queen 

 of honey-plants never tire of seeing 

 it "aired " in the journals from time 

 to time by some enthusiast. This, at 

 least, has been ray experience, and it 

 now appears before the readers once 

 more, and I use as an illustration a 

 photograph from nature instead of 

 the usual pen-and-ink drawing. My 

 first intention was to get a picture of 

 the whole patch of clover in bloom, 

 but owing to yellow photographing 

 very dark, the whole beauty of the 

 picture was lost, and undesirable for 

 reproduction. The accompanying 

 picture is a branch in detail, and, 

 taken as a whole, more desirable 

 than a large mass of the same thing. 

 The yellow variety of sweet clo- 

 ver is much more scarce than the 

 white, but I am pleased to say it has 

 all the good qualities of the white, 

 and some to spare of its own. It may 

 justly be called its own sister, as a 

 description of the the white variety 

 answers equally well for the yellow, 

 with a few exceptions as to color, etc. 

 This plant begins to bloom when 

 the common white clover (trifolium 

 repens) first makes its appearance, 

 and sometimes a little sooner — this 

 year about the middle of May, which 

 is at least 4 weeks ahead of the white 

 variety of sweet clover. 



The plants do not grow as tall as 

 the white, but it is in my estimation 

 a better bloomer. The stems are 

 thinner and more slender, and the 

 leaves are very small. When a large 

 mass is seen in full bloom it presents 

 a solid, yellow color, the leaves being almost entirely hidden 

 from view by the profuse bloom. This bloom lasts 5 or 6 

 weeks, and then the white sweet clover forges ahead and 

 claims our attention. Just think of the bebutiful appear- 

 ance these so-called " obnoxious weeds " would present if 



they were sown together and allowed to bloom unmolested 

 along our roads and waste lands I White, and golden yel- 

 low, how beautifully they harmonize, and how rich and 

 pure ! Try a combination of these two colors and see how 

 pleasing they are ; or, better still, get some seed of each of 

 these plants and have the plants themselves. Once started 

 they will need no further care, and will spread rapidly. 



The honey-producing qualities of the yellow sweet clo- 

 ver cannot be excelled if ever equaled by any other plant, 

 excepting the white sweet clover. The following little in- 

 stance will serve as a good example : 



The past early spring and up to the last of May I prac- 

 ticed uncapping sealed honey and spreading brood almost 

 to an extreme, and as a result the hives were crammed full 

 of brood with little or no honey. Then came a spell of very 

 disagreeably cool, rainy weather, 

 with the bees confined to the hives 

 almost entirely for 5 days. At the 

 end of this time all the honey was 

 consumed, and they were actually 

 beginning to starve. The prospects 

 for buying several dollars' worth of 

 granulated sugar were excellent, but 

 on the sixth day the clouds all cleared 

 away, the weather warmed up, and 

 the bees began to work desperately 

 upon a small patch of this yellow 

 clover along a railroad track. As 

 this was the only thing they were 

 working on I thought the sugar had 

 to be bought anyhow. 



But I waited two days longer, 

 trusting to luck that they would at 

 least work upon the profuse bloom 

 of white Dutch clover that was now 

 in bloom ; but every bee seemed to 

 make a bee-line for this yellow 

 clover, and it fairly swarmed with 

 them. Late in the afternoon of the 

 second day I took a peep at some 

 queen-cells that I expected to hatch, 

 and you can imagine my surprise on 

 seeing the top part of each comb 

 more or less filled with neiv honey. 

 Now, I know this came from the 

 yellow clover, because it was so 

 black and dirty. I first thought it 

 was stored on top of pollen, but this 

 was the color of the honey, and was 

 caused by the soot and dirt falling 

 on the blossoms from passing trains. 

 This patch of j-ellow sweet clover 

 is the only one in reach of my bees, 

 and is about 4 years old, the first 

 plants of which undoubtedl)' received 

 their start from seed dropping from 

 a passing freight-car. It extends along the railroad track 

 about 200 yards, while all the plants together would proba- 

 bly cover a space about 30 feet square. So you can .see it 

 does not take long to spread, and that a small amount will 

 make a good showing in the hives. Everyone should intro- 



