754 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



be one of the best plants that can be 

 sown to renew old and worn-out lands. 

 No subsoil plowing need be done where 

 it is grown. It frees and makes the sub- 

 soil porous and tender, growing to the 

 height of 11 K feet in some places, like 

 a little forest. Such an amount of 

 woody fiber must contain a large quant- 

 ity of potash, and in dry, arid districts 

 will be found an excellent fodder for 

 cattle. 



In this neighborhood it was sometime 

 before the cattle took to eating it, but 

 now they browse it down, and are doing 

 all -the seeding for me except in inacces- 

 sible places. It can be seen everywhere 

 growing out of their droppings, there 

 being several hundred acres within two 

 miles of my bee-yards. 



Basswood being a failure for several 

 years, I look no more to that source, 

 having something better — the sweet 

 clover yielding a large surplus every 

 year of bright honey, equal to clover or 

 basswood in color, and an excellent 

 flavor. The moment you open the 

 honey-room door, the aroma permeates 

 the whole place. The milkmen say their 

 customers complain about their milk 

 tasting of herbs. Having tasted the 

 milk, I can easily distinguish the aroma; 

 it is not disagreeable, but otherwise. 



Hoi»ses eat sweet clover greedily when 

 cut and cured as hay. It requires to be 

 cut early, before it blooms or becomes 

 woody. I have seen a horse leave its 

 oats and take to eating sweet clover hay. 



Too much cannot be said in its favor 

 as a honey-plant. You will not see any 

 benefit from it until you have quite an 

 acreage growing. A few acres will 

 amount to nothing. If you want to 

 grow it, don't be afraid of a little exer- 

 cise or seed. It would startle you, were 

 I to tell the amount of seed I have used 

 in accomplishing this work. 



In 1890 I was short of seed, and a 

 lot of barren land presented itself — an 

 old brick field of some thirty acres. The 

 temptation was too much for me, to see 

 so much waste land at my door. Any 

 one seeing it would have said that noth- 

 ing would grow thereon. Fellow bee- 

 keepers, it would do you good to see 

 that field in the months of July a7id 

 August! It cost me §21 for seed, and 

 is not 40 rods from my home yard. 



My advice is, be careful not to sow it 

 where it will become a nuisance, and 

 have it end in a lawsuit. The writer 

 was once caught on forbidden ground, 

 and made sure the law was after him. 

 So he at once sent a 10-pound package 

 of nice extracted honey in way of com- 

 pensation. It had the desired effect. 



There are 300 acres of a sand-bar on 

 Toronto Island yet before me to seed. 

 When this is accomplished, my work 

 will be done. I will leave it then in 

 Nature's hand, and have no fear as to 

 results. 



Let me here say it is my opinion that 

 before long sweet clover will become one 

 of our fodder-plan Ls, as it can be cut 

 several times in a season. It certainly 

 makes good pasturage. In excessively 

 dry seasons it is the only thing that can 

 be seen green in the fields, and this is 

 the time cattle take to eating it. Milk- 

 men drive their cows among it ; they 

 browse it down, and thus gives a length- 

 ened flow of honey, lasting through Au- 

 gust. Bees will work on it until cut 

 down by frost. By cutting the tops off 

 after the first blossoms are about past, 

 will give you a second equal to the first. 



The land in this immediate vicinity 

 being rough and hilly, unfit for cultiva- 

 tion, the river bottoms being covered 

 with water every spring, melting snow 

 brings down seed, and sediment from 

 the hills is deposited on the flats, secur- 

 ing a crop of sweet clover every year, 

 and at high water cast the seeds there- 

 on, carrying out the old scriptural plan 

 of " casting our bread upon the waters," 

 thus saving much time. 



I have heard some grumble at the 

 foothold sweet clover has got in this 

 locality. After all, I think the work a 

 laudable one, and many are the hearts 

 that have been cheered in taking a drive 

 or walk along the many ravines and 

 hills of our northern suburb, inhaling 

 the beautiful aroma that is wafted on 

 the breeze. 



A writer, in describing the picturesque 

 scenery of Toronto, mentions the north- 

 ern suburb as being redolent with the 

 perfume of sweet clover, little knowing 

 the labor and cost it took to produce it. 

 For several years I enjoyed the field to 

 myself, but now I am surrounded with 

 13 bee-keepers who are quietly enjoying 

 the fruits of my labors ; some of these 

 being men of fortune, and have no need 

 to keep bees from a pecuniary point of 

 view. Such flood the market with their 

 honey — what they cannot sell or barter 

 they give away. 



I will give an editorial extract from 

 the Cdtutdian Bee Journal of Oct. 15, 

 1891, page 675, and I have done: 



" Why is it our friends do not raise 

 more of this sweet clover ? We have 

 urged, time and again, and it seems 

 strange they neglect their interests. Mr. 

 John McArthur, of Toronto, is getting 

 large crops from that source every year. 

 He has divided his apiary into three, 



