446 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the red clover. One ton of the Alsike is worth more than four tons of the best 

 red clover we have. I am satisfied this Simpson honey plant is a most valuable 

 plant. 



Mr. Gulley. The Alsike clover is good for feed and also for honey. Every man 

 who owns a farm and has an orchard on it should sow this Simpson honey plant 

 in his orchard ; it is a good place for it to grow. It grows under the shade of the 

 apple tree. We have got two acres of it in an old orchard. 



Mr. Catterson. I have ten acres of Alsike clover. My experience is contrary to 

 that of Brother Davis, though from the same county. I pastured mine early in 

 the spring with sheep. The Alsike clover don't fill out ready for bees until after a 

 portion of the white clover has turned brown ; that clover continued on until frost 

 last fall. The soil was comparatively new, having been cultivated six or eight 

 years perhaps. There was one place in that field on which I could not get any- 

 thing to grow, but Alsike clover grew on this particular portion of the field, and 

 done better there than in any other part of the field. It will grow on ground 

 where red clover will not take hold at all. I never had a better stand of clover 

 than I had with the Alsike. 



Mr. Kennedy. It only requires one-half as much aeed to the acre as the red 

 clover. I have eight acres sown and only took one-half bushel of seed. In setting 

 out my raspberry patch I put my rows five feet apart and four feet in the row, in 

 between the rows I have planted the Simpson honey plant. 



Mr. Co7. I have been raising Alsike clover for eight or ten years; it is the 

 best I can get hold of. The bees will leave the white clover and go to the Alsike. 

 If it is sowed on damp ground it will be rank, but on poor soil not so much. Stock 

 will leave red clover and go to it. 



Mr. Smith. If you had fifty or sixty acres would you sow all in the Alsike, or 

 only a part ? 



3Ir. Pope. There is no better pasture than Alsike, or for hay. 



Mr. 3IouUen. I agree with the brother on that question. As to pasturing red 

 clover, it often causes us to lose a cow. The Alsike does not produce a gas. It is 

 more like white clover in that respect. 



Mr. Pope. It won't slobber horses, and I don't think it will hurt cattle. 



Mr. Cotton. The black locust comes in after apple bloom, and is fine for pro- 

 ducing honey. 



J. Kennedy. The timber of the black locust is superior for fence posts. "Where 

 a farmer wants a line where it is not to be moved, he can better plant a row of 

 wild locust, and nail his wire to those posts. Black locust may be raised as tim- 

 ber, for fire wood, fence posts and honey. 



3fr. Anderson. My opinion, there is nothing better than wild locust. How- 

 ever, there is one trouble in connection with the cultivation of this tree — if they 

 are cut down they sprout badly. We want them on the line permanently. If you 

 find any danger of sprouting, cut a ditch beside your locust trees and you will not 

 be troubled with anything passing that ditch. At first you will have some sprouts, 

 but in a few years it will stop. Chestnuts have spreading tops, and throw a con- 

 siderable shade, and we can not raise anything there ; but locusts — I can raise any- 

 thing right up to them. 



