my, 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



they did in either of the three previous years since I came here 

 in the fall of 1893. My class in botany is pursuinR this sub- 

 ject from April to June, inclusive. As I saw the April flowers 

 out In March, and even February, this year, I felt a regret 

 that my students would fail to study many of our most beauti- 

 ful blossoms. I find now that my regrets were wholly unnec- 

 essary, for while many of the blossoms came out several weeks 

 earlier than in previous years, yet I find nearly all of them in 

 blossom now. In fact, I doubt if we shall miss a single one. 

 It would seem that some of tlie flowers are slower to develop, 

 and thus not all feel the effects of the early seasons. This' 

 adds another glory to Southern California ; for It adds to the 

 profusion of flowers which always greets the lover of nature 

 as he strolls forth over the fields in the spring-time. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif., April !!•. 



Report of the Illinois Bee-Keepers' Convention 



BY JAS. A. STONE, SEC. 



LContlnutd from page 262.] 

 Mr. Geo. P. RDbbins^then read the followiog paper : 



THE bee-keepers' PROBLEM OF THE FUTDRE. 



In announcing this subject I don't aim to give you an im- 

 pression that the object of this paper is to furnish a solution 

 of the question — the future itself must solve this problem. My 

 intention is only to state the question and suggest a possible 

 solution. 



The problem in brief is this: Are there any means by 

 which bee keepers can be made sure of a regular annual honey 

 crop? If so, what are those means? If I could be sure of 

 crop of 50 pounds per colony every year, at the low price of 

 10 cents per pound, I could safely invest all my small re- 

 sources in bee-culture — could make a fair living, and lay up a 

 little money, perhaps. The uncertainties of bee-culture are 

 its greatest drawback. And under the conditions of climate, 

 etc., we have been having, and are likely still to have, the un- 

 certainties are almost certain to be in even a greater degree 

 than heretofore, if we must continue to depend upon the same 

 flowers to furnish the nectar. 



The linden groves are being cut away, never to be re- 

 newed. The swamps and bottom lands that used to grow such 

 quantities of autumn-yielding honey-plants are becoming 

 drained and tilled, while the constantly recurring drouths 

 kill out the prince of honey-plants — while clover. And the 

 drouths themselves are likely to continue. 



Cutting off the timber and draining waste lands make 

 evaporation much more rapid, and hence irregular ; give a 

 cleaner sweep to the winds, by which and other means the 

 annual rainfall is diminisht, and drouths become more fre- 

 quent, and of longer continuance. Indeed, our long summer 

 drouths have become almost a fixture of our Illinois climate, 

 with every prospect of their continuance. For a strong testi- 

 mony to these things read the able paper of Dr. Daniel Berry, 

 in the Report of the State Farmers' Institute for 1896, page 

 12-1:. That the causes I have mentioned do produce drouths 

 1 believe scientific men generally agree. Hence, I say, the 

 prospects of obtaining good annual crops of honey are far 

 from bright, if we must still depend upon the same old sources. 



Must we conclude, then, that bee-culture is a dying indus- 

 try, so far as our State is concerned ? That would seem to be 

 the case from what I have said. So far, indeed, the conclu- 

 sion is unavoidable. I have said, however, if we continue to 

 depend upon the old sources of honey. If, then, we are to be 

 more sure of honey crops we must look to cultivated plants, in 

 the main. I say in the main, because, while sweet clover is 

 booming into prominence as a honey-plant, if sown by the 

 wayside and in pastures where alone it seems to be profitable, 

 it can hardly be clast with cultivated plants. But red clover, 

 crimson or Alsike, are properly cultivated plants. Alfalfa 

 may or may not prove a staple crop in Illinois. 



I don't know what to say about crimson clover. It may 



prove a success in some parts of the State, and become some- 

 thing of a staple crop. Red clover will probably never prove 

 to be a boney-plant. But one known honey clover, at least, 

 may and should become a leading crop on Illinois farms. That 

 is Alsike. 



It is no digression from the subject to devote a paragraph 

 or two here to the value of clover in general as a farm crop. 

 Clover is pre-eminently valuable for two purposes, viz.: 1st, 

 As a food for stock ; 2nd, As a fertilizer. Its merits in these 

 respects are beginning to be recognized, but still they are not 

 known as they should be. All Illinois farmers ought to have 

 heard the talk of Prof. Carter, on clovers, at the State Farm- 

 ers' Institute last Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 23, 1897). I want 

 to call attention here to some of the leading points of his 

 address. 



He shows that clover hay possesses in the largest measure 

 the protein chiefly necessary to make bone, muscle and fat, of 

 all stock foods. Both analysis of the foods and actual experience 

 prove this. But of even greater importance than that are its 

 merits as a fertilizing crop. Mr. Carter shows from the re- 

 ports of the experiment station, and his own experiments, 

 that a clover sod turned under in the fall or late summer has 

 produced better results than ground well manured with barn- 

 yard manure. In one case a clover field of 12 acres thus 

 plowed up had been divided into 12 lots. Ten of these lots 

 had had that many varieties of artificial fertilizers added, and 

 the whole planted to corn. The two which had not received 

 the extra treatment, actually yielded better results than those 

 which had. Mr. Carter's address will, I presume, be printed 

 in full in the forthcoming Report, and it must certainly prove 

 one of the most valuable papers of this session of the State 

 Farmers' Institute. 



The points already given show that clover culture should 

 become one of the leading enterprises of the Illinois farmer. 

 But in addition I want to suggest another. Illinois farmers 

 would find it would pay to practice a system of rotation of 

 crops, covering a period of about three years, but varied per- 

 haps as circumstances might suggest, in the following order : 

 Corn or other tilled crop, small grain of some kind, and clover, 

 allowing the latter to stand one year after seeding, and thus 

 return to tilled crops again. While the prime object of this 

 system is renovating the soil, the value of clover as a feed 

 chimes in well with the system. 



The merits of clover in general being thus seen, I may 

 now pass to those of Alsike in particular. We are not with- 

 out testimonies to the effect that Alsike is worth more than 

 the generally-grown red clover, at least for certain purposes. 

 Mr. Stone can tell you of a man near Elgin, engaged in dairy- 

 ing, who claims that actual tests prove that this clover fed to 

 cows produces more milk of a better quality than the red, 

 while one farmer at least, whom we personally know, says 

 that Alsike clover as a hay or forage plant is the best milk 

 and butter food he knows. That is Mr. Cooper, of Sherman^ 

 not a noted man, but a pretty intelligent kind of a man, none 

 the less. 



Mr. Carter observed that a liveryman would say, "Red 

 clover hay is not a healthy food for horses," and simply com- 

 mented that the liveryman "don't know that." The great 

 trouble in this case is, that the liveryman is too near correct. 

 One very superior quality of Alsike clover is that it lacks the 

 fuzzy, or hairy, bloom which is the unhealthy ingredient of 

 red clover. 



The conclusion of all this is, that when the merits of 

 Alsike clover as a farm crop become known, and it shall be 

 generally grown, we may be much more certain of honey 

 crops, as the properties of this clover as a honey-plant are 

 admitted. 



I want to add another thing : If the system of rotation 

 1 have described should be practiced, I think we would have 

 more regular crops of white clover bloom than we now have. 

 Where clover has grown for many years there are always 

 countless seeds in the ground only awaiting favorable condi- 

 tions to germinate. As a consequence, I have seen a crop of 

 white clover bloom in a field seeded the second year to small 

 grain. I have known, also, where wheat and red clover have 

 been alternated for some years, the clover would seed itself. 

 Hence, I think if this system of rotation were practiced, 

 growing tilled crops only one or two years in succession, there 

 might generally be a white clover bloom every year the Alsike 

 should be grown. Certainly if it should germinate, a drouth 

 would not kill it out, as it does in a blue-grass sod. 



Some reports seem to indicate that Alsike does not reseed 

 and perpetuate itself very well — that red clover is much better 

 in that respect. This is no great factor if the ground is to be 

 plowed up and tilled af'-er growing one crop. 



I want to add here what I forgot to say in Its proper 

 place, that I don't claim the idea of rotation of crops with 



