246 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apr. 22, 



sending out of return postal cards to members of the Associa- 

 tion for their reports of honey, as there were probably enough 

 cards on hand for the year. 



He thought while it was very nice to have full reports of 

 our meetings in the Hee Journal, still this was a drawback to 

 our meetings being attended, as many would thinif they could 

 stay at home and still have the report of the proceedings. 

 This is all well enough if they are willing to have no part in 

 shaping that which may result in the greatest good. 



A motion prevailed that we proceed to the election of 

 officers for the ensuing year, which resulted as follows: 



President— Dr. C. C. Miller; Vice-Presidents— 1st, J. Q. 

 Smith; 2nd, S. N. Black; 3rd, Chas. Becker; ■ith, Geo. F. 

 Robbins; and 5th, Jas. A. Green. Secretary — Jas. A. Stone, 

 of Bradfordton ; Treasurer — Chas. Becker. 



Dr. timer's paper was the next in order, and he accused 

 the Secretary of getting him into that scrape, and the only 

 way the Secretary could get out safely was to fir^t give the 

 law on noxious weeds in Illinois, which he did as follows : 



NOXIOUS WEEDS TO BE DESTROVKD IN ILLINOIS. 



"The Commissioners of Highways in their respective 

 towns, and the County Cbmmissioners in counties not under 

 township organization, shall annually at the proper season to 

 prevent the spread of the same, destroy or cause to be de- 

 stroyed all cockle-burrs, Canada thistles, Russian thistles, and 

 all other kinds of thistles, or other noxious weeds, growing 

 brush or plants growing on or upon their respective highways 

 within their jurisdiction." 



Dr. Miller then gave the following on 



SHOULD SWEET CLOVER BE CLAST AS A NOXIOUS WEED ? 



The State of Illinois has laws against Canada thistles 

 along with certain other plants particularly named, and "other 

 noxious weeds." As sweet clover is not specially named, the 

 question arises whether it may fall under the category of 

 " other noxious weeds." What is a noxious weed ? Failing of 

 any statutory definition, we must fall back on the dictionary. 

 Referring to the Standard dictionary, a wted is de6ned : "Any 

 unsightly or troublesome herbaceous plant that is at the same 

 time useless or comparatively so, as a burdock or a dandelion ; 

 especially, such a plant that is positively noxious or injurious 

 to crops ; also, any herbaceous plant out of place, as a poppy 

 fn a wheat-field, or a stalk of wheat in a flower-garden." A'o.j:- 

 ious is defined ; " Causing, or tending to cause injury, espec- 

 ially to health or morals ; hurtful ; pernicious." 



The term " noxious weed" is evidently somewhat elastic, 

 any plant under certain circumstances being a weed, and capa- 

 ble of being more or le5S noxious. 0;ie of the most useful 

 plants — A'hite clover — may be a weed in a strawberry-bed, 

 and decidedly noxious. But that fact would hardly justify a 

 law forbidding a farmer to allow white clover ou his farm. 

 Any assemblage of intelligent farmers would pronounce such 

 a law absurd, while a law forbidding him to suffer Canada 

 thistles nn his farm under pain of severe penalty would be pro- 

 nounced a righteous thing. If wo can get at the reason for 

 coming down so severely on the thistle, while the white clover 

 goes scot free, perhaps we may be in position to decide as to 

 the proper status of sweet clover. 



The indictjient upon which the death sentence of Canada 

 thistle is based, may come under three counts : 



1. Its uselessness. Domestic stock find white clover a 

 useful food, but not Canada thistle. 



'2. The difficulty of eradication where once establisht. 

 The effort sullicient for the utter extinction of white clover, 

 will find Canada thistle flourishing luxuriantly the following 

 season. 



3. Undoubtedly the most serious count against Canada 

 thistle is the rapidity and certainly with which it spreads to 

 adjoining and even somewhat distant territory by means of 

 seed. A very small patch on one's land can speedily seed acres 

 or miles around him. 



Tried by these three tests, how does sweet clo'ver stand ? 

 First as to uselessness. In some places, at least, it is consid- 

 ered a valuable forage crop, and its use is on the increase as 

 green or dry forage. Its long and deep roots, after rotting, 

 leave the soil in good condition for drainage, and for turning 

 under as green manure it has undisputed value. 



2. Is sweet clover dillicult of eradication ? While the 

 thistle continues in perennial vigor year after year, the sweet 

 clover is a biennial, every plant dying root and branch at the 

 close of its second season. To exterminate it utterly it is not 

 necessary to uproot a single plant. >Simply cut down the stalks 

 after they have made as full a growth as possible, but before 

 any chance for maturity of seed, and there is no possible 

 chance of its continuance. As the plant Is l)iennial, this will 

 be necessary for two successive years, where it has been grow 



ing uninterruptedly. It is just as difficult to kill out as red 

 clover, and no more so. 



3. Does sweet clover spread rapidly by means of seed? 

 and does it thus readily get a foothold upon cultivated ground 

 at some distance ? No burrs or wings are attacht to the seed 

 as with some other plants, and the ripened seed falls directly 

 to the ground, carried, if carried at all, after its fall to the 

 ground. Its chief means of spreading is by means of sticking 

 to the wheels of vehicles when the ground is in a muddy con- 

 dition, and in this way it may slowly be spread to some dis- 

 tance. And that's perhaps the only way in which it can 

 spread more than five feet in a season. Not far from my home 

 I can find where sweet clover has been growing for 40 years 

 on the roadside without crossing the fence to encroach on cul- 

 tivated land. Let a patch of sweet clover be growing on one 

 side of the road and it may not cross to the other side for 10 

 years, altho it will gradually travel farther along the one side. 

 Scarcely a weed that grows will do less at spreading upon cul- 

 tivated land. 



A charge that may with some propriety be brought against 

 sweet clover is, that it grows so tall and strong as to obstruct 

 travel on the highway. Left to itself throughout the entire 

 season it is decidedly bad in this respect, but an intelligent 

 roadmaster will have no difficulty. Cut it down just before it 

 commences to bloom, and it will not again make so strong a 

 stalk as to be a serious obstruction. Where cattle are allowed 

 free range on the road year after year, they never allow sweet 

 clover to get to any great height. I know a place where for 

 many years sweet clover has been growing on the roadside. 

 Throughout the summer, cows are driven along this road near- 

 ly a mile to and from pasture. Where the cows travel the 

 sweet clover never attains a height of more than one of two 

 feet. Immediately beyond, with no cattle to browse it down, 

 it grows to a height of six or eight feet. 



Will an intelligent jury decide that sweet clover is a nox- 

 ious weed ? C. C. Miller. 



Mr. Smith — If sweet clover is cut at the proper time, it 

 can be killed as easily as any other plant that is biennial. 

 There was some cut in my neighborhood that was in bloom, 

 but not seeded, cut very low, and it killed it so successfully 

 that not a particle of it came afterward. 



Dr. Miller — If it is cut at the proper time, and in the 

 manner for feed, the growth after is not bad, nor in the way 

 in the highways. 



(concluded next week) 



CONDUCTED BY 



»K. O. C. -VfliLBR, laAKKTiGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Tlic Alley Trap for Caloliiiig Queens. 



Please tell me whether the Alley queen-trap is a success 

 or not in catching queens in swarming-time ? or do you know 

 of any contrivance that is ? A. E. A. 



Answer. — Yes, if you put an Alley trap in front of a hive, 

 you may count on finding the queen in it if the colony swarms. 



m I ^ 



Bcc-Spaec Between Tiered Up Supers. 



In tiering up sections, must there be a bee-space between 

 each tier ? Subscriber. 



Answer. — Probably there are very few nowadays who 

 tier up supers (or storify supers, as the British perhaps more 

 properly say) without having between each two supers a space 

 of '4 to 'V of an inch. Years ago % was the space used, but 

 nowadays U is considered better. Practically there's little 

 difference in the two, between supers, altho there may be a 

 distinct difference between top-bars and supers. At one time 

 there was advanced the idea that bees would do better work 

 If they had no space to cross, and "continuous passage-ways " 

 were advocated. That is, sections wore placed plump down 



