1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



407 



in Germany and Austria where it is constantly growing in 

 favor. It is grown as an annual in cold climates, but may in 

 our milder sections stand for several years. A warn], moist 

 climate is most favorable to its growth, but it stands drouth 

 well, and will succeed on light soils. Of the now forage crops 

 it Is safe to say this is one of the most promising for general 

 introduction into this country. Indeed, I need not have hesi- 

 tated about placing it in the list of clovers — Alsiko, wliiti', 

 crimson, Japanese, etc., recommended without reserve for one 

 portion or Linother of our great country. But since without 

 experiment we cannot say just what place this will best fill, it 

 may remain in this list for the present. Serradella is an im- 

 portant houey-plant, its yellowish-red blossoms, which appear 

 in June and last until August, yielding abundantly, and the 

 honey is light yellow in color and of good quality. 



This list of nectar-yieldine plants, much longer than I at 

 first intended it should be, still contains by no means allot 

 those which wo might raise for honey. I have only ventured 

 to mention some of the more important ones, and particularly 

 such as I think are not as widely known as they deserve to be. 

 My chief trouble has been to keep tbe list within bounds by 

 the omission of numerous plants, shrubs, and trees that are 

 well known as secreters of nectar, but which are not of great, 

 practical value otherwise, or which are difficult to raise, or 

 not available over great areas. Among these are some very 

 interesting plants, beautiful ones, some old friends that I 

 regretted not being able to place in this good and honorable 

 company. I have preferred, also, to omit the names of many 

 plants which I believe to be of value to our bees, but with 

 whose honey-producing qualities I am not familiar, or at least 

 not sufficiently so to enable me to speak with some degree of 

 certainty. I hope others will add to the list in this respect. 



Fkank Benton. 



A. I. Root — In regard to the Cleome pwirjens I have had 

 some experience with that. Sometimes I have been able to 

 gather the nectar or honey from the flower with a teaspoon. 

 I was told that there was a great deal of licorice in California. 

 I did not see it, but was told there was. I don't know any- 

 thing about ihe honey-yield from it, but I do know that bee- 

 keepers are moving bees in many localities near to where it 

 grows. Bee-keepers are also moving bees near where onions 

 are. They seem to get good yields from it. 



L. D. Stilson — Too many of ns bee-keepers do not know 

 whether our plants are honey-producing plants or not. Tbe 

 bee-keepers want to be more accurate in regard to keeping 

 track of the honey-plants in their localities, so as to know 

 what the bees are gathering from at any season of the year. 

 They ought to keep data of the honey-plants which grow in 

 their neighborhood, and in that way know what the bees are 

 gathering from. I have undertaken to study our honey-flora, 

 and the more I look into it the more I find out that I do not 

 know anything about it. It is the question at the bottom of 

 all successful bee-culture. I believe the time will come when 

 every bee-keeper will commence in the spring of the year and 

 keep a record of what blossoms first, and what next, and so 

 on. Each one must study it for himself, and by the time he 

 has practiced it for a year or two he will begin to find where 

 his honey is coming from, and then he will find that there are 

 gaps between these honey-producing plants which he will 

 learn how he can fill up. Whenever you do that you will be- 

 gin to do the rest of your work in better style. The produc- 

 tion of honey and the keeping of bees must be brought down 

 just as close in the matter of detail as any other branch of 

 business. You will have to study the honey-plants of your 

 own locality. The people of Missouri are not as much inter- 

 ested in what is raised in Michigan as about their own api- 

 aries. Every man must study for himself. 



Pres. Abbott — I want to suggest one thing. I know of 

 nothing that is any more pleasant than the study which is 

 necessary to understand thoroughly the honey-flora of any 

 locality — elementary botany. If you have any boys or girls 

 at your home that have never given any attention to botany 

 they can study it out for themselves. You do not have to 

 have a teacher, and if you want to know of some books that 

 will stir up an interest in botany I will tell you of two of them 

 that are very small but exceediugly valuable. "How Plants 

 Grow" and " How Plants Behave." Y'ou will find enough in 

 these books to stimulate the study. Any boy can take "Gray's 

 First Lessons in Botany " and analyze a plant. I think the 

 time is coming when every successful bee-keeper will have to 

 be posted in botany. 



F. H. Richardson— There are a great many of us that 

 cannot study botany at the present time. I am in the bee- 

 businesss for the dollars and cents, and I think we ought to 

 talk about some bee-plant that would do us good at the pres- 



ent time. I believe to get honey you get your bees strong at 

 this time of the year and they will winter well, and then 

 plenty of honey will be brought in. I have always had some. 

 1 have got my hives full of honey now, and they are all 

 right for the spring. Mr. Benton's essay has a good deal of 

 value in it, but I cannot begin to remember it, and I would 

 like to ask where it will be printed. I would like to have a 

 copy to refer to. 



George W. York — It will be publisht in full in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. 



R. V. Holtermann — I want to ask how many of you have 

 got sweet clover that your bees work on ? [About 25 members 

 raised their hands.] How many of you know whether it is 

 good for forage? [Five.] 



Pres. Abbott— Sweet clover here is all right for forage 

 when animals learn to eat it, but after it produces flowers it 

 is of no value as a forage plant. If it is to be used as a for- 

 age plant it will have to be cut before it blooms. 



J. H. Milne — Alfalfa is worth more than sweet clover for 

 forage and honey, but we can't raise it here. 



li. D. Stilson — I beg to differ from this gentleman who 

 says that we can't raise alfalfa in this country. 



Pres. Abbott — You can't raise it where there is a clay be- 

 tween the upper soil and the water. 



Mr. Whitcomb— As I left home they were harvesting the 

 fourth crop of alfalfa with a clay subsoil, and the water is 

 100 feet below the surface. My bees will not work on alfalfa 

 when they can get anything else. Sweet clover will grow 

 where anything else will grow. If it is cut in season it makes 

 as good a forage as alfalfa. It is a good dry-weather grower, 

 and it makes good hay, and it is a fine fertilizer. 



Pres. Abbott — I have understood that the roots of the 

 alfalfa will go down 12 or 15 feet. There is a plant of the 

 ordinary red clover that goes down 10 feet. The roots of the 

 Alsike clover also go down to great depths where it has a 

 sandy subsoil. I would like to know it it can go through a 

 clay subsoil ? 



Mr. Whitcomb — In Kansas and Nebraska the alfalfa roots 

 work down through what might be called the "joints" be- 

 tween the layers of the soil. Roots have been found 30 feet 

 below the surface. It is very hard to raise, and it must be 

 put in with a press drill. 



Mr. Milne— I spoke with reference to our northwest Mis- 

 souri soil. It succeeds admirably after it gets started, but it 

 is difficult to get caught, mainly because the land is so weedy. 

 If the weeds are cut and kept down it will grow well. I have 

 had some growing for from two to ten years, and where it can 

 get caught it makes the best yielder I ever tried.- I think 

 Alsike and alfalfa are the best for bees. 



Pres. Abbott— Do drouths kill it? 



H. J. Newberry — No. We have had this season the worst 

 drouth that has occurred for years, and I have cut four crops. 



Mr. Whitcomb — The present drouth has not affected the 

 crop of alfalfa. There is one thing about sweet clover — it 

 must not be left too long before it is cut. 



Pres. Abbott — Yes, if it is left until the sugar is out of it 

 — out of the stalk — it will not be eaten. 



Dr. Miller — There is a place that I know of, and that I 

 pass when going down to my out-apiaries^ where for half a 

 mile the sweet clover grows along the rcjadside and the cattle 

 are turned in the road and tramp it down going back and 

 forth to pasture. It is uot more than a foot high, and is 

 always in bloom. 



John Wier — There are five acres of sweet clover just close 

 to me, and in the early spring the cattle on the road eat it off, 

 and it comes up again and blooms later than ever — it blooms 

 later than where it has not been eaten off, and there it grows 

 big and then dies. 



G. V. Hagaman — I have been watching sweet clover for a 

 good many years, and 1 have come to the conclusion that it is 

 the only thing that I ever heard of that we can control. If 

 you have sweet clover you will be sure to get honey. As Dr. 

 Miller says, it makes a nice growth In the spring, and the 

 cattle eat it. If the first crop is cut close to the ground, the 

 second crop will come up and bloom right after the white 

 clover and basswood. 



W. L. Porter — In some districts where it is very dry we 

 get but little benefit from alfalfa as a honey-plant. 

 [Concluded ne.Tt week.] 



Xhe McEvoy Foul Brood Treatment Is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for SI. 10. 



