PubUsbt Weekly at IIS Alicbigan Street, 



SI-OO a Year—Sample Copy Free. 



CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 14, 1897. No. 41. 



37th Year. 



Figwort or Simpson Hoaey- Plant— How to 

 Grow It. 



BY GEO. W. WILLIAMS. 



As it has been requested of me to write an article on the 

 cultivation of figwort (carpenter's square or Simpson honey- 

 plant), I will say that I have been experimentinK with this 

 plant for a number of years as a honey-producing plant, and 

 ai* far as my experience extends it has no equal. I have been 

 growing it side by side with the much-lauded sweet clover, 

 and the Simpson plant is so far ahead of the sweet clover that 

 there is no comparison between the two. I consider one acre 

 of the plant worth at least ten of sweet clover. 



In this latitude (Missouri) it begins to bloom about the 

 middle of June, and blooms until a late, hard frost — a light 

 frost that kills other vegetation does not affect it. The bees 

 work on it from daylight until dark, often being heard on it 

 in the evening until so dark that they cannot be seen. 



The method of its cultivation is easy enough when vou 

 know how. I will give my manner of cultivation in this part 

 of the country ; of course, as you go north or south the time 

 of sowing must vary with the climate : 



To raise one-half acre : In the latter part of February or 

 first of March, make and burn a very lieavy brush-pile, say 

 16x20 feet. As soon as the ground is cool, dig or spade it up 

 and hand-rake down level. Sow about two ounces of seed 

 and lightly rake again (just as you would tobacco seed). Pro- 

 tect it from stock tramping oyer the bed. Let the plants 

 grow until they get three to five inches high, and then having 

 the ground well prepared, set the plants in rows four feet 

 apart and three feet in the row. Cultivate the same as any 

 other crop. 



Or the easiest method is to leave the plants grow in the 

 sccd-bed one year, and early the next spring transplant in the 

 field, where they will give a big yield of honey the first season. 



After they have grown one or two years the bunches can 

 be divided the same as pie-plant, as it stools out and spreads 

 like that plant. 



The after cultivation is light, needing only to be run 

 through with a light plow or cultivator a few times to keep 

 down weeds. It does best Id rich bottom land, not too wet, but 



it will grow where any weed will grow. I consider it the only 

 plant that can be cultivated profitably for honey alone. 



If every bee-keeper will try a "patch" of this plant, he 

 will be surprised at the nectar it affords, and will be made to 

 wonder why it is not more universally grown by apiarists. 



Polk Co., Mo. 



P. S. — I should have remarkt that It can be grown by pre- 

 paring the ground where it is to remain, and sow in the fall ; 

 but as it is of slow growth while young, it is liable to be 

 choked out by weeds the next season, but for best results it 

 should be sown and cultivated as set forth above. 



G. W. W. 



[Very soon now we expect to have from five to ten pounds 

 of the seed of the Simpson honey-plant. We will first fill the 



Figwort, Simpson Honey-Plant, Carpenter's Square, etc. 



orders already on hand, and the balance will be used to fill 

 others as they are received. The price postpaid ^is 20 cents 

 per ounce, or two ounces for 35 cents; or we will mail two 

 ounces free as a premium for sending us one new subscriber 

 to the American Bee Journal for a year at SI. 00. — Editor.] 



