THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



103 



he had seeded 1,000 acres to sweet clover, 

 in narrow strips, has had poor success in 

 securing a good stand. Much of his seed 

 was sown on land utterly unsuited to the 

 plant — being destitute of lime. On such 

 land the plant is always a failure. Sweet 

 clover is truly a lime plant, and there is 

 no use in trying to make it grow on any 

 land not strongly impregnated with lime. 

 In lime soils the plant here is always a 

 grand success; and our drouths, however 

 severe, never kill it after it has become 

 well rooted. I think it is only a question 

 of time when the northern prejudice 

 against sweet clover will die out and its 

 merits will be properly appreciated. Al- 

 sike clover is also a success here in aver- 

 age seasons; but a deal of it was killed by 

 the last summer's drouth. Still, in some 

 places the stand is fairly good." 



Mr. Montgomery is a breeder of choice 

 Jersey cattle; keeps a fine dairy; uses a 

 cream -separator; and lives where sweet 

 clover has been grown quite extensively 

 for hay and pasturage for live stock for 

 about 20 years. 



Sweet clover is also grown as a fertiliz- 

 ing plant. At first it was, ])erhaps, grown 

 more for this pur])ose than anv other. 

 As no special attention has been given to 

 bee culture by the growers of sweet clover 

 in eastern Mississippi, it can not therefore 

 be charged that the plant is grown main- 

 ly for honey purposes, or by bee-keeping 

 lunatics. 



.\lfalfa, red clover and alsike clover, as 

 well as many other forage plants, also 

 grow with success in eastern Mississippi. 

 In fact, alsike clover produces two crops 

 of seed in good seasons there, which is 

 seldom or never the case in the Northern 

 States. 



Having now shown why sweet clover 

 does not grow profitably or successfully 

 on certain kinds of soil, I will now con- 

 clude by stating that, in my opinion, it 

 can be made to grow upon any soil by a 

 proper supply of lime applied thereto, 

 artificially. My plan would be to plant 

 the sweet clover in hills, or drills, the 

 same as corn, and then use a cup full, a 



pint, or possibly a quart of fresh slacked 

 lime to each hill. I would use a hoe to 

 make a depression to receive the seed, 

 then cover with lime, and finish with 

 soil. The seed will come up if covered 

 two inches deep, more or less. No one 

 need be afraid to use even a quart of 

 .slacked lime, if thought best, to each hill, 

 for it is my belief that the sweet clover 

 plant will grow and thrive in lime alone, 

 and without a particle of soil ! My ex- 

 perience along that line seems to corrob- 

 orate that statement. Three to five 

 seeds to each hill will be ample, for if but 

 one of them germinates, the plant will 

 make a stool large enough to shade the 

 entire plat of ground; even if not closer 

 than three feet apart each way. 



vSt. Chari.es, 111., March iS, 1898. 



TESTS OK COMB FOU.\I).ATI()\. 



Deep-Cell i'oundation 37 per cent. Thiclier 



thrill Natural Comb; Some Makes of Thin 



Foundation Thinner than Natural 



Comb— No-Wall Foundation 



Thinnest of all. 



He could (listinKnish ami divide 



A h.iir 'twixl south and south-west side, butler. 



&0 great is the 

 ^ imp ortance 

 to bee - keepers 

 in my estima- 

 tion of securing 

 the best possible 

 quality in comb 

 foundation that 

 I again made an 

 effort the past 

 season ( 1 897 ) to 

 test several spec- 

 imens from different sources. These con- 

 sisted of two from the A. I. Root Co. of 

 Medina, Ohio, thin and extra thin, two 



