AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



in Arizona, has visited me since I came 

 home, and he is very anxious to have me 

 go there to live. He says they cut four 

 crops of lucerne there in one year, while, 

 as a rule, we only cut three. They fat- 

 ten hogs on it by the thousand. He says 

 that one acre of lucerne will produce 

 more honey, and fatten more hogs than 

 three acres of corn ; and also that he 

 can make more producing honey there 

 at 5 cents per pound than he could here 

 at 8 cents ; still, I beat him, but he ac- 

 cuses me of being an expert at the busi- 

 ness. They certainly have a beautiful 

 country there ; by using a system of 

 irrigation such as we do here, they can 

 grow tropical fruits and plants — in fact, 

 almost any kind of a crop, in great 

 abundance. 



We have farmers here that came from 

 different parts of the East, and some of 

 them declare to me that they make as 

 much off one acre here as they did from 

 five back East. Be that as it may, by 

 keeping the land in good condition, and 

 by irrigation, we can raise large crops. 

 While we raise large crops of grain, 

 potatoes, fruit, roots, etc., the lucerne is 

 said to be one of our very best paying 

 crops, and a number of farmers have 

 told me that they have cut nine and ten 

 tons off one acre in one season, but as 

 far as I can learn six is about the 

 average. 



Now if any of our bee-friends in any 

 part of the country wish to try some 

 lucerne, I have a little of this seed, and 

 will send samples to any one asking for 

 it; that is, as long as I have any left. 

 Of course I can purchase any amount, 

 if any of our bee-friends wish to try 

 some of it. I will send it at first cost 

 of seed. I believe this plant will grow 

 in any part of the United States except 

 perhaps the most northern points ; a 

 light, sandy loam, not too wet, but mod- 

 erately dry, is the best. The Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant will grow any place 

 where the soil is warm, dry and sandy. 

 Either of these plants should be sown 

 early in the spring, as also the sweet 

 clover. 



On page 748 of the Bee Journal for 

 1893, I notice a question from P. S., of 

 Kansas, about sweet clover, and some 

 comments on this, one of the best of all 

 honey-plants, and by many it is said to 

 be the best of all honey-plants in Utah. 

 I have heard hundreds of bee-keepers 

 praise it, but I have never heard one 

 condemn it. 



As to sooty honey from sweet clover, I 

 cannot find any one in Utah that ever 

 heard of such a thing. Is it possible 

 there may be two varieties of this plant? 



When looking for a place to locate an 

 apiary here, one of the first things the 

 bee-keeper thinks of is. How much sweet 

 clover is there in the vicinity? It will 

 yield a good flow of honey often in a dry 

 season, and as has been said, it is easy to 

 kill it out by cutting it two years in 

 succession, before it seeds. Of course 

 bee-keepers are its greatest admirers. I 

 do not think it is valuable as a honey- 

 plant and a fodder plant at the same 

 time, for to make good fodder it should 

 be cut while it is young and tender, be- 

 fore it blooms ; but for a good, all- 

 around paying crop for bee-keepers and 

 farmers alike, I believe lucerne is the 

 best. 



Yesterday I saw a Missouri farmer, 

 but for the last three years a Utah 

 sheep-raiser, and he says that one acre 

 of lucerne is worth more than two acres 

 of Missouri corn for any purpose ; be- 

 sides, the corn has to be planted and 

 cultivated every year, while we have 

 been cutting lucerne off of the same field 

 for 20 and 25 years, and it is still 

 growing. 



One more note by the wayside : I 

 noticed a dearth of timber in many parts 

 of the country. Now the people here in 

 the last 25 years have planted many 

 poplar trees in rows through the coun- 

 try. While they beautify the general 

 appearance of the country, they are also 

 of great benefit as wind-breaks. I saw 

 a farmer in this county that has a double 

 row of those monarchs, running from 

 the base of the mountain down through 

 his farm ; he says that before he had 

 those trees, the winds used to come 

 howling up the side of the valley near 

 the mountains, and sometimes they car- 

 ried away his lucerne and grain stacks ; 

 but now the trees protect him so that he 

 has no more trouble from the wind ; and 

 in a dry climate they have a tendency to 

 produce more rainfall, and thereby 

 change the climate, if planted in suffi- 

 cient quantities. 



Again, it is cheaper to grow those 

 trees for wood or timber than it is to 

 buy it, if planted in bunches, say about 

 four feet apart. They will make good 

 timber in from 10 to 12 years; and for 

 finishing lumber, or for making bee- 

 hives, frames and sections, some of our 

 bee-keepers say that there is none better. 



355 6th E. St., Salt Lake City, Utah. 



A Binder for holding a year's num- 

 bers of the Bee Joubnal we mail for 

 only 50 cents ; or clubbed witb the 

 Journal for $1.40. 



