VOL. LXI-\0. 2 



HAMILTON, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1921 



MONTilLY, SI.Si) A YFAR 



THE HONEY REGIONS OF INDIANA 



BY EDWIN G. BALDWIN 



The honey-producing possibilities 

 of any State were judged, a quarter 

 century ago, largelj' by its white clo- 

 ver, and no wonder. Then the main 

 crops of the major portions of the 

 United States, apiculturally, were 

 gathered from the inconspicuous 

 white clover. But few other honeys 

 ever saw the larger marts of the 

 country. That is speaking broadly, of 

 course. It was probably for that rea- 

 son Indiana has been much misunder- 

 stood as a honey State, certainly un- 

 derestimated. For her white clover 

 honey has not (nor probably ever can 

 do so) placed her in the class with 

 Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne- 

 sota and New York; but albeit this is 

 all true, few States can boast a more 

 varied honey-flora than the Hoosier 

 State. It is hoped that the following 

 outline and map of the honey regions 

 of Indiana may help to show just 

 what the State has to offer to pros- 

 pective beekeepers. 



Her Geology 



The State lies well inside the lim- 

 its of the limestone glaciation, and 

 therefore, logically, she should afford 

 excellent soil for the white clover, al- 

 sike and sweet clovers. But later gla- 

 ciers carried a lot of debris, in the 

 form largely of clay, gravel and sand, 

 down over the limestone deposits, 

 burying the northern part of the 

 State under a layer of surface soil not 

 so favorable to the clovers. As a con- 

 sequence, the soil cannot endure 

 drought, and leaches badly, easily be- 

 comes acid and lacks the ideal ele- 

 ments and conditions for best clover 

 development, and hence for best clo- 

 ver honey secretion. That is the 

 main reason, no doubt, why Indiana 

 does not make the same showing in 

 honey from clover as does northern 

 Iowa, for example, and northern Illi- 

 nois. From a temperature standpoint, 

 and from the point of view of rain- 

 fall, the northern part of the State 



should be ideal for clover; it is the 

 Miami soils that forbid this. 



The limestone, that is one essential 

 of the clovers, is buried too deeply 

 for best sweetening effects on the 

 crops grown there; in the northeast- 

 ern part, for example, in Steuben and 

 DeKalb counties, the limestone is 23 

 or 30 feet below the surface, while on 

 the northwestern boundary, in Jasper 

 and Benton counties, the terminal 

 moraine shows the limestone close to 

 the surface, huge boulders marking 

 the edge of the later glaciations. As 

 a result of the soil deposits, their na- 

 ture and extent, the best region for 

 the white clover is about a hundred 

 miles south of the Michigan line. In 

 the first two tiers of northern coun- 

 ties, the clovers are not to be relied 

 on for surplus honey, and for the rea- 



£. G. Baldwiii 



sons given. Moreover, the extreme 

 northwestern part is given up to the 

 Kankakee marsh, not primarily a clo- 

 ver soil. 



Region 2; the Best Clover 



It is the lands along the Wabash 

 river, from Cass county in the west, 

 to Adams and Wells counties in the 

 east, that form the region pri- 

 marily a clover belt, the best, in fact, 

 in the whole State. It extends from 

 about the southern line of Pulaski 

 county on the north, and as far 

 southward as Tipton and Randolph 

 counties, the latter on the Ohio line. 

 It just also happens that this is the 

 only region in which the. basswood 

 remains in a degree sufficient to make 

 a showing worth while in the supers. 

 Crops of 150 and 200 pounds are not 

 unknown from a single colony in this 

 region, and an average of 100 per col- 

 ony is not uncommon. The average 

 of the seasons for clover honey seems 

 to be about as follows: One good 

 ieason, one fair season, and then a 

 poor season. (See map.) Sweet clo- 

 ver is on the increase in the region 

 just named. So also is alsike. 

 Region 3; Fair Clover 



The area bounded by, say Tippeca- 

 noe on its northwest and by Ran- 

 dolph county, on the Ohio line ; by 

 -about Fayette county on the south- 

 east and by Parke county on the 

 southwest, may be called the region 

 of fairly good clovers. Indianapolis 

 lies about central of this area. Here 

 the lighter soils, the more southern 

 latitude, and the lessened rainfall, as 

 compared with the parts along the 

 lake country, are, collectively, respon- 

 sible for the lessened output of clover 

 honey from this second region. White 

 clover in this section is uncertain to 

 a greater degree than in the region 

 just north of it, and the level surface 

 of the ground renders tilling easy and 

 general; as a result, therefore, the 

 extensive areas planted to the cereal 

 crops have driven out much of the 



