114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Pel. 25, 



white clover when there were blossoms; and the same thing I 

 think will apply to the scarlet or crimson clover — bees work 

 on it as eagerly as on the white. 



Crimson clover is a most beautiful flower, rivaling many 

 of our cultivated flowers in our flower beds. It is so rich and 

 deep ; many persons were attracted to stop and admire our 

 field while in blossom, and reraarkl that it made a beautiful 

 pansy bed. Just on the opposite side of the road was a red 

 clover field that smelled very fragrant, but no bees could be 

 seen there; probably the only reason, no bees had tongues 

 long enough to reach the honey that was there waiting in the 

 air, or it would not have been so fragrant. There were plenty 

 of bumble-bees. Now I wish we might in some way get hold 

 of a bee that could reach the honey in the common red clover. 



Our scarlet or crimson clover that was cut for seed, so 

 seeded the ground that it made a splendid stand, probably 

 because it sowed itself more thickly than if sowed by hand. 

 As soon as it was cut and removed from the ground Mr. Axtell 

 cultivated and harrowed the ground, making the surface very 

 mellow. Where it came up very thick the weeds did not 

 bother it any, but where it came up thin the weeds bothered 

 it. Mr. Axtell mowed the weeds down to give it a chance, 

 but the weeds sprang up again and nearly killed it out, and 

 so where it was sowed by hand in June the weeds nearly 

 choked it out, because of its being so thin. But where it was 

 sowed in the corn just before the last cultivation, the weeds 

 did not bother, but it did not grow so thrifty and strong as 

 where sowed on land by itself, but did better than what he 

 sowed in September. October is altogether too late to sow it ; 

 it entirely winter kills, or kills out the first heavy freezes be- 

 fore winter. 



Mr. Axtell thinks the best way to start it is by sowing it 

 in the corn, and then if not on land to be left for its blooming, 

 it can be plowed under the following spring to enrich the 

 ground. After being cut for seed it can be removed from the 

 ground for the threshing in four days, if the weather is dry- 

 ing, but if damp and rainy, it should stand longer, or until 

 dry. Warren Co., 111. 



[Ten to 15 pounds of crimson clover seed are necessary to 

 seed an acre properly. 



The Prairie Farmer of recent date contained the follow- 

 ing by Prof. C. C. Georgeson, of Kansas, who wrote in reply 

 to a question about the growing of alfalfa : — Editor ] 



ALFALFA I>f NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 



Alfalfa can be grown successfully in northern Illinois 

 provided a suitable soil is selected. It will not do well on a 

 soil which has a layer of either hardpan or rock within two or 

 three feet of the surface, nor should it be sown on land where 

 the water level is within that distance of the surface. It pre- 

 fers a deep, somewhat porous subsoil, such as we find in 

 alluvial river bottoms, but it will also do well on any reason- 

 ably good upland soil where the roots can penetrate eight or 

 ten feet deep. The climatic conditions of northern Illinois 

 should be no obstacle to its successful culture. 



The method of seeding this crop depends somewhat on 

 circumstances. In Illinois, where the rainfall is usually 

 sufficient for the growth of crops and where the summer 

 drouth is seldom severe, alfalfa seed can be sown with oats in 

 the spring, as grass or clover is sown, either broadcast or 

 drilled. If, on the other hand, there is danger of drouth in 

 July, the young alfalfa might suffer severely after the re- 

 moval of the oats. In that case it would be better to sow the 

 seed by itself. Of late years, I have used a common shoe-drill 

 with press wheels In preference to any other method of seed- 

 ing alfalfa. 



It requires 20 pounds of alfalfa seed to the acre. When 

 sown by itself on old ground, the weeds usually spring up with 

 great vigor in early summer, and if not held in check they 

 will cnoke out the alfalfa. To remedy this, the mower should 

 be run over the field as often as it is necessary, especially in 

 the early part of the season. The cutter-bar should be set as 

 high as possible so as to miss the alfalfa. 



Alfalfa can be sown In July, or the beginning of August, 

 with good success, In which case the weeds will not interfere 

 seriously with the crop. C. C. Georgeson. 



[For seed rates on the above clovers, see page 124. — EdJ 



Sweet Clover — Is It a Noxious Weed ? 



Bv c. r. dadant. 



I have just-noticed the discussion in regard to this plant 

 in the Report of the proceedings of the Illinois State Conven- 

 tion at Chicago. I am somewhat interested in the discussion 



that may follow, because I have always taken the part of this 

 plant, and have strongly recommended it, lately, in an article 

 which I wrote for the Prairie Farmer, and yet, when I wrote 

 the article, I did not know that there was some public mention 

 of the matter. 



Is melilotus alba a noxious weed ? If it is, we have been 

 guilty — my father and myself — of introducing a nuisance in 

 our neighborhood. Melilot was brought to our country years 

 before we came here, in the '50"s. It was sowed near the 

 Mississippi river, close to a mill-dam built on the rapids by the 

 Mormons. Perhaps it had even been brought there by them. 

 My father, who is somewhat of a botanist, recognized the 

 plant at once from the descriptions given in French works, 

 and knowing that it was a good honey-plant, set to work to 

 gather its seeds. After sowing a small patch on our own farm, 

 and finding that it was a valuable acquisition for the bee-keep- 

 er, he began sowing it in waste-places, in old quarries, along 

 the creeks and along the river's edge. Mind, this was in the 

 'fiO's, when land was cheap, farms were far apart, and cattle 

 ranged at large over the commons. The result was that the 

 melilot did not spread, but was kept down by the stock and 

 never made much headway except on farms that were fenced 

 up, in places where nothing was grown. There are patches of 

 it yet, on two or three neighbors' land, in spots unfit for any- 

 thing but pasture, but which find themselves, owing to the 

 cultivation of crops within enclosure so as to be safe from the 

 cattle's reach. 



We have a friend in the city of Keokuk, four miles from 

 here, who undertook bee-keeping on a small scale, I believe in 

 1868. He lives on the bluff, in a curve of the river, and in 

 a spot that was totally devoid of pasture, except the few fruit 

 trees and patches of lawn common in a city. The only great 

 pasture in reach was on the bottom lands across the river, a 

 mile wide. My father then urged him to sow sweet clover 

 about the bluff on which he lives, which is about 200 feet high 

 and so steep that no house may be built on its slope. The mel- 

 ilot grew there in abundance and spread far and wide, for 

 there was no stock in reach of it. It has now spread about 

 and grows along the railroad tracks, and in deserted street 

 corners, so much so that it makes quite an item for a honey 

 crop. 



Now, if this is a noxious weed, and our friend, in follow- 

 ing our advice, has committed a nuisance, let those who say it 

 is a nuisance rise and tell us what constitutes a nuisance. Do 

 they mean to say that in those waste-places where this plant 

 grows, nothing else would grow ? About the railroad tracks 

 for instance, where it is probably most objectionable, will you 

 say that if it was not for the sweet clover, the railroad compan- 

 ies would not have to mow and clear up the side of the track ? I 

 have traveled in many directions and have always seen many 

 tall weeds, in all productive soil, along the railroad tracks, 

 even where there was not and had never been any sweet clover. 

 If it is a necessity for the railroad companies to cut down 

 weeds, what does It matter to them whether it is melilot or 

 rag-weeds ? The melilot is neither larger nor tougher than the 

 rag-weed, and it is of some use to somebody, while the rag- 

 weed is good only, as far as man knows, to cause hay-fever in 

 people who have a tendency to asthma, by the profuse, rank 

 pollen that it produces, and which is so plentiful that it covers 

 the water of ponds with a yellow veil, and covers your clothes 

 with a powdered, mustard-loolnng dust, during hay-fever time, 

 from July to September. 



Then, if some weed viust grow, on our rich Illinois soil, 

 {and thank Nature that it is so, for if it would not grow weeds, 

 it would not grow corn and wheat) — if we must have some 

 weed, I say, why not have a weed that is good for somebody, 

 instead of a weed that is injurious to some and good for no 

 one ? 



What harm does the melilot do to you, Mr. Lawmaker? 

 Did it ever grow up in your corn-field, or in your potato-patch, 

 and take away a shade of a shadow of nutriment that properly 

 belonged to your tilled crop ? No, for it is a biennial, and if 

 you failed to turn it over last year, you surely must have 

 plowed it up this spring when you put in your crop. And in 

 the place where you had found it, you may notice that the 

 corn is stronger, just as if you had had a crop of red clover in 

 that spot, for the roots of melilot sink deep in the soil and 

 bring more from the atmosphere than they take from the 

 land. 



Whore, thou, does the melilot hurt you ? In the pasture ? 

 If you have had any in your pasture, you know that the first 

 year's growth cannot stand the close grazing of the cows, and 

 that it Is only if it has stood one season sheltered from stock 

 that it may withstand the teeth of the stock and live a stunted 

 life, covered with bloom, however. In your pasture, until It 

 dies the following winter. Sweet clover cannot stand regular 



