182 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



November 



lightly with the rake, and then sow 

 the seeds and cover lightly with well- 

 rotted leaves or compost. Do this in 

 the fall of the year, and the next fall 

 the starts are ready to transplant. To 

 start from slips, cut early in the spring 

 and stick the cutting in a marsh or wet 

 ground. The swelling or expanding 

 buds will draw nourishment from the 

 ground and will soon throw out roots 

 or feeders. Slips started in the spring 

 will be ready to transplant the follow- 

 ing spring. 



As a honey producer it has no su- 

 perior. Coming in bloom about the 

 middle of July, just as the white clover 

 is going out. 



But it has other values than as 

 honey and ornamental shade trees. Its 

 beautiful, soft, white and pliable wood 

 has been in such demand as to almost 

 threaten complete extermination. Now, 

 I do not believe in planting anything 

 in valuable land for the sake of honey 

 alone. But, if every bee-keeper would 

 see that all his needful shade trees 

 were of the linden, and plant them 

 liberally on the waste and untillable 

 land, and laud their praises far and 

 wide to induce others to do so, in a 

 few years we would have something 

 like the old-time basswood honey 

 crops. 



That white clover is a valuable 

 honey plant is not to be wondered at, 

 when we consider that it is a member 

 of a family that has many representa- 

 tives on the honey producing list. Tre- 

 folium repens, or creeping clover, is 

 a member of the pulse family, or what 

 the botanists call leguminous. So 

 named because the seed of this family 

 is raised in a legume or pod, which 

 opens on both sides, as the pea, bean, 

 etc. 



This family of plants contains about 

 6,500 different species, many of which 

 yield honey. The pulse family is di- 

 vided into three divisions. Our clovers 

 belong to the first or papilionaceous di- 



vision. It was so named by Linnaeus 

 because the flowers of this division, 

 when in full bloom, resembled a but- 

 terfly. Papilio being the Latin for but- 

 terfly. 



The reader may have noted this re- 

 semblance in the pea and the bean. 

 Now, if you will take a head of clover 

 and put it under a microscope you 

 will see that is not a single flower but 

 a collection of many in one. Seperate 

 one of these blossoms and you will see 

 a perfect bean or pea blossom. Select 

 a well-ripened head, and pull off one of 

 the dried blossoms, and underneath you 

 will find a perfect little bean shape. 

 Open it carefully and, lo, you will find 

 a perfect bean. 



To this division of the pulse family, 

 belongs all our clovers, peas, beans 

 honey-locust and a mighty host of 

 others that yield more or less honey. 



White clover is a biennial. The plant 

 that germinates from the seed this 

 year will bloom and bear seed the 

 next, when the old plant will give way 

 again to the seed. If by any means, 

 such as cold or wet weather, during 

 bloom of white clover, the bees do not 

 visit them frequently enough, they will 

 be improperly fertilized, and the per- 

 fect seed will, therefore, be scarce; 

 which accounts for white clover fre- 

 quently being scarce. And when it is 

 very scarce ii will often take two or 

 three years befoi-e it regains its full 

 standing. 



Now, for all this seed costs, every 

 bee-keeper could provide himself with 

 a few pounds and scatter along the 

 roadside and streams, fence-corners, 

 pasture fields, and through the woods, 

 and by so doing the honey crop from 

 this source would be materially in- 

 creased. 



Franklin, Pa. 



If you have a bee-keeping friend 

 who is not a subscriber to this paper, 

 kindly direct us to send him a sample 

 f'opy. 



