1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



83 



I have drawn, to seed your whole farm to sweet 

 clover, for it would result in an unprofitable 

 failure, I am sure. But if you desire to 

 test its value, do it on a small scale, with 

 an acre or two, and do it thoroughly. I have 

 found it no easy thing to succeed in making 

 it grow as a field crop, and I would advise 

 sparing no pains in getting it started. When 

 once it gets possession of the ground it will stay 

 if allowed to ripen a late crop of seed. Sow 

 with winter wheat or rye in the spring, the 

 same as other clover. Please don't write me 

 for seed. I have none to spare. 

 East Townsend, O., Jan. 7. 



DOES ALSIKE CLOVER PAY T 



WILL GROW ON SOD LAND; A SUBSTITUTE FOH 

 BASSWOOD, NOW BEIN(i RAPIDLY CUT OFF. 



By M. M. Baldridge. 



Under date of Dec. 24, 1893, a correspondent 

 in Hamilton Co., Neb., writes me in substance, 

 in regard to alsike clover, as follows: 



Mr. BnJdridge :—I have now grown alsike clover 

 about six years. At present I have about 80 acres of 

 it, but I expect to plow it up the coming spring. 

 Tiie dry weather of the past year lias about used it 

 up. I cut the past season some 70 acres of alsike for 

 seed, but the drouth was so severe upon It that I 

 got only 5.5 l)ushels. fine year I cut63acresof alsike 

 for seed, and got an a\erage of 4 bushels per acre. 

 I shipped the seed to Ciiu-ago, and It netted me $8.15 

 per bushel. List fall I plowed up 80 acres of alsike 

 and seeded the land to wheat. The land, owing to 

 drouth and too close pasturing, had become weedy. 

 1 have now 110 acres of alsike mixed with timothy. 

 Some of this I intend to cut for hay, and use the 

 rest of the land for pasture. Alsike does well on 

 land too wet for red clover. With me it seems to 

 seed best in moderately dry seasons. 



I have sown alsike on timothy sod, also on wild- 

 grass sod, and with grand success. With plenty of 

 moisture the seed will catch and grow on almust any 

 kind of land already seeded down to grass. I have 

 never seeded land with alsike in the fall; but if sown 

 with rye or wheat, and early, I see no reason why it 

 should not winter all right. When sown early in 

 spring, on rye or wheat, it makes a good catch, and 

 Is a success. 



I keep a few bees. Alsike makes a good bee-pas- 

 turage, and the honey therefrom can hardly be sur- 

 passed in quality. 



Now, dear reader, please send me your report 

 on alsike, in case you have one, no matter 

 whether favorable or otherwise. The bee-keep- 

 ing fraternity wants all the facts about alsike 

 it can get. Owing to the rapid destruction of 

 basswood we desire to sui)ply its loss with some- 

 thing that will be at least its equivalent. It is 

 my belief that alsike clover is the very thing 

 we want, and is a profitable substitute for bass- 

 wood. I have kept bees for many years where 

 basswood abounds, and have had more or less 

 experience with alsike, and I have concluded 

 that I should much prefer to depend on alsike for 



honey. One thing is certain— the honey from 

 alsike is superior to that from basswood, and 

 gives far better satisfaction, as a table sauce, 

 to consumers geiu'rally. At least, that has 

 been my experience. 



The reader will please notice, in the letter 

 from Nebraska, that sod land, of any descrip- 

 tion, will do to sow alsike seed upon. This is a 

 fact very important to know. It is by no means 

 a new fact to the writer, nor to several others 

 in this vicinity; but it may be new to the mul- 

 titude. The present winter is just the time to 

 scatter alsike seed upon sod land. The melting 

 of the winter snows and the early spring rains 

 will be certain to cause nearly every seed to 

 germinate and grow. Try a few acres at least, 

 and note the results. Utilize the roadsides and 

 the waste places everywhere, and especially 

 the unused land of the railroads. If you own 

 no land, try to induce .^ome of the farmers, 

 whose land is within short range of your bees, 

 to give this plan of getting a start with alsike 

 a trial. You can afford to make your farming 

 friends a present of enough seed to keep every 

 bee you own at work while the alsike is in 

 bloom. But it is not, necessary to do this, nor 

 is it policy to do just that way. The better 

 way is to supply thi:'m with seed at your own 

 expense, and then have them repay you as soon 

 as they'ascertainThlTFact that they can afford 

 to do so. This plan does not excite suspicion 

 that you alone have an " ax to grind," and that 

 yon are on the hunt for some one to furnish the 

 grindstone. 



On sod ground, or when mixed with timothy 

 seed, two pounds of alsike seed is plenty for one 

 acre. Four pounds of alsike is plenty for one 

 acre when sown alone. I have no alsike seed 

 for sale, so t lease don't write me for any. I 

 presume Mr. Root can supply the readers of 

 Gleanings with all the seed they may want. 



St. Charles, Illinois. 



POISONOUS HONEY FROM YELLOW JASMINE. 



BEES AVOID IT WHEN THEY CAN GET HONEY 

 FROM OTHER SOURCES. 



By J. P. H. Broivn. 



In reply to the question yon ask in your foot- 

 note appended to the article on yellow jasmine, 

 by Mr. M. Arter, page 24. 1 beg leave to say 

 that my apiary is surrounded for miles by yel- 

 low jasmine; and from a close observation for 

 nearly a fourth of a century I am prepared to 

 give facts. It belongs to the composite family 

 of plants, and is known in materia medusa as 

 Gclsemium sempervirens. The roots, leaves, 

 and flowers of the vine are all highly poisonous, 

 and very rapidly reduce the nerve- power and 

 the force of the circulation. A few years ago a 

 neighbor of mine lost a child that chewed and 

 ate the flowers. The honey that is gathered 

 from the bloom is also very poisonous, as I know 



