44 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



to find a place in the columns of a bee-journal. 

 There are many apiarists in the alfalfa regions, 

 and nearly every one of them is familiar with 

 honey-plants and conditions outside of alfalfa; 

 but there are thousands who know little or 

 nothing of the alfalfa districts and the habits 

 of the plants. Within the last year or so the 

 bee-journals have reproduced cuts of alfalfa as 

 they appear in Mr. Frank Benton's recent 

 work. These illustrations are good, and I 

 doubt whether they can be much improved. I 

 will now speak of the plant in relation to honey 

 production. 



ALFALFA AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



I count alfalfa as an unquestionably good 

 honey-plant. I think it will probably not 

 yield as rapidly as many other plants do; but 

 for reasons that will appear later, it is perhaps 

 as much to be depended upon. I have now 

 spent seven seasons in Colorado in the alfalfa 

 districts. In that time I have taken two big 

 crops, one fair crop, and the others poor to very 

 poor. The best crop in the seven years gave a 

 gain per day of about 4 lbs., with the best days 

 only 6 to 8 lbs., and such days very few. The 

 average seasons the gain per day has been 

 from 1 to5, a gain of 4 and 5 lbs. limited to two or 

 three days. In the poorseasons we could hard- 

 ly get a gain of 4 lbs., the usual run being one 

 to two per day. Why it is that the yield is so 

 slow ] do not know; but my observatiou so far 

 shows that to be a characteristic of the plant. 

 I have never known pollen to be gathered from 

 alfalfa; and when the yield will give a pound 

 and a half per day there is no pollen to speak of 

 carried in from any source. 



As explained in the former article, there is 

 but little rainfall in Colorado except in raoun- 

 tions. This naturally gives much clear sunny 

 weather, so that the bees can work almost 

 every day. The nights are cool, as a rule, and 

 possibly this is one reason why the daily gain 

 is light, for the bees do not get out as early as 

 when the nights are warm. There are some 

 conditions under which the plantwill not yield, 

 though the bloom be full and apparently healthy 

 and vigorous. The two seasons just passed I 

 thought I should have a good flow, for the bloom 

 was abundant, apparently the best for several 

 years; yet this year (1896) the crop was the light- 

 est in seven years, being almost a complete fail- 

 ure so far as surplus was concerned. 



I have noted that some who have patches of 

 alfalfa in the East report that the bees do not 

 work on it. Mr. Hagan, of Rocky Ford, Colo., 

 says his experience is that, on dry ground 

 —that is, unirrigated, and of course suffering 

 for moisture— there is very little nectar gather- 

 ed. Some others also report no nectar upon 

 non-irrigated land. I can not believe that 

 these adverse reports are at all conclusive. The 

 reports from the East are very limited, and 

 possibly there was other bloom in greater 



quantity at the time which would naturally 

 take the force. The fact that the non- irrigated 

 fields in the West do not yield would be per- 

 fectly natural. We can not and do not expect 

 any plant to yield when not in prime condition. 



Irrigation, it seems to me, to some extent 

 overcomes some weather conditions. The nat- 

 tural condition of weather in Colorado would 

 be clear and dry, which would soon result iu a 

 complete stoppage of nectar secretion; but to 

 turn on a refreshing stream of water until the 

 moisture permeaies the ground and all about 

 the roots, it seems to me ought to produce nec- 

 tar secretion. Clear, warm, and sunshiny 

 above, and plenty of moisture beneath, is a 

 condition we find present in some degree at all 

 times here. Some water is being applied every 

 day in the honey season, so that some fields 

 ought to yield, even though a neighboring field 

 be too dry. So far as I know, irrigated districts 

 never have a complete failure of necta»- there 

 being sufficient to give winter stores if no more. 

 I believe that alfalfa would yield in the East, 

 and would be worked by the bees, if it were ex- 

 tensively cultivated. However, it does not seem 

 to be a special favorite with the bees so as to at- 

 tract them regardless of presence of other bloom. 

 Sweet clover yields both honey and pollen, and 

 is for some reason an especial favorite with the 

 bees. It will be visited when in bloom, no 

 matter what else is open; but alfalfa yields no 

 pollen, and is not particularly attractive to the 

 bees, and conseouently does not make a show- 

 ing when other bloom is more abundant. 



As I have previously shown, there is a very 

 large territory in Colorado that does not grow 

 alfalfa. More than this, where it is grown, but 

 a small per cent only gives pasturage. The 

 first hay crop (I speak of the territory north of 

 Denver, more southern latitudes come in earli- 

 er) is cut in June, just as the crop begins to 

 bloom. This hay is generally counted on for 

 horse feed, being rather coarse. The second 

 growth is cut just before blooming, or at the 

 very beginning of the bloom, is not quite so 

 coarse as the first growth, and makes good cow 

 hay. The third growth does not usually reach 

 bloom, but is cut at the close of the season, 

 making the finest and most watery or washy 

 hay of the three crops, and is by many counted 

 the best of the three for milk, but entirely too 

 " soft" for work-horses. 



In the rotation of crops, alfalfa meadows are 

 broken and planted to wheat. Wheat and 

 alfalfa are the main crops. The thick, tough 

 tap roots that go straight down into the earth 

 are very hard to cut off; hence in plowing up 

 these meadows so many of the roots slip by the 

 plow, or for some reason grow again, that often 

 a wheat-field will have in it a fair stand of 

 alfalfa. Wheat harvest does not come for a 

 month or more after the alfalfa begins to 

 bloom, thus there is quite a little pasturage 



