QUALITY OF THE HONEY. 



I see so many running down Melilotus alba that I 

 feel like saying something in its behalf. It is the 

 first of our forage-plants to come in the spring, and 

 the last to be killed down in the fall. Stock eat it 

 readily until it becomes rather woody, and even then 

 eat the smaller shoots. We grow it for pasture, for 

 - ay, and as a honey-plant. We have no trouble what- 

 ever in getting rid of it here. Our greatest trouble is 

 in keeping it set where stock is allowed to run on it. 

 Melilotus being a biennial, we either have to keep 

 stock off or resow every two years. It makes a rather 

 thrifty growth on our thinnest soil, and even where 

 the soil is washed, leaving the white limestone ex- 

 posed, you will find our melilotus there by itself. We 

 keep from 40 to 50 colonies of bees, and almost our 

 entire crop of honey is from this plant. Our extracted 

 is almost transparent (that is, almost water-white), 

 and of a splendid mild flavor. 



My uncle (a nurseryman), from Southern Illinois, 

 was with us during the holidays just past. He pro- 

 nounced our melilotus. honey as good as the best. We 

 usually sell all we get here at home, and have none 

 for sale now. Hence it can not be said that we have 

 an ax to grind because we praise it, but because we 

 think we have a valuable forage and honey-plant in 

 melilotus. L. H. GOULD. 



Crawford, Mass., Feb. 1, 1899. 



SWEET CLOVER IN COLORADO. 



It is remarkable that sweet clover can be made to 

 grow where nothing else will take root. I have seen 

 it on the alkali lands of Colorado and California 

 lands where nothing could exist, except, perhaps, a 

 kind of alkali weed that is absolutely useless to 

 either man or beast; and yet we hear how sweet 

 clover is regarded as a noxious weed by State legis- 

 latures and township trustees. Even in this State, 

 mayors are ordered to cut down along municipal 

 roadsides all weeds, including sweet clover, and yet 

 tLere is nothing so good as a soil-binder for loose 



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