1807 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



537 



I can not soo why it sliould be called a noxious 

 weed any more than eoninion red clover, unless 

 It is that horses and cattle must learn to eat it 

 before they take to it as readily as they do to 

 red clover. But this is not at all strange, for 

 cattle in Florida will not eat com until they 

 have been taught. Sweet clover is in our 

 neighborhood, along the roaas, as high as the 

 fences, hut nowhere else. It grows on the dry 

 hard clay banks by the sides of the railroads, 

 whtre no other weed can find a foothold: hut 

 my richly cultivated ground is also right along 

 by the railroad, just ov*'r the fence, and yet our 

 boys will tell you they never tind sweet clover 

 as a weed anywhere. If you and your friends 

 will cut your clover when it is knee-high, or a 

 little more, you will find it will make excellent 

 hay; and if it were really desirable to banish it 

 from the roadsides, the matter is easily accom- 

 plished by cutting it off before it goes to seed. 

 Teach your neighbors to use this valuable clo- 

 ver, and all prejudice will soon disappear. Put 

 a fence around ii and turn the cattle right in — 

 that Is, if cattle are not permitted on the road- 

 side—and see how quickly it will disappear. If 

 you want the ground for other crops, turn it 

 under with a chain as you would ordinary red 

 clover, and you will find it worth as much as or 

 more than any other clover known, as a fertilizer. 

 Pass this journal around to your neiehhors 

 and I will send you more, or I will have some 

 slips printed, to b(^ handed out free of charge, if 

 nothing else will cure this prejudice. I am 

 surprised that you say nothing in regard to its 

 value as feed, for I am convinced that some of 

 your horses and cattle have already acquired a 

 taste for it and a liking for it; and their " opin- 

 ion " in the matter is certainly unbiased. I do 

 not know why in the world you should go to the 

 trouble of trying to cut off the thick old stalks 

 with a hoe. If you really want to get rid of it, 

 wait till next spring, when the old stalks will 

 all be dead and gone; then plow under. p«3Sture 

 off, or cut the young shoots before they get too 

 far along to be tough and hard. I can not be- 

 lieve the sped will lie in the ground for years; 

 for if it did it would surely trouble us among 

 our crops. We have between l."i and 30 acres 

 under cultivation, and sweet clover is crowing 

 high and rampant all nround mv cultivated 

 fields. Yes. it is at this writing. July 6. six feet 

 or more, and has been growing so for years 

 past, though we n^ver find it in our strawber- 

 ries at all, while other weeds are a terrible nui- 

 sance ju^t about fruiting time. In traveling I 

 have talked with others, and asked question's in 

 regard to the habits of the plant; but I have 

 nowhere seen it behave any differently from 

 what it does here in Medina. 



PDDDLINO SWEET-POTATO (AND OTHKK) PLANT.S. 



Friend Root:—! wa'^ in another part of the county 

 a few days ajro, and saw people there planting (of, 

 rather, setting'i swer-t-potato slips. They do not 

 use any water af all, and f)latil at any time during- 

 the day. Instead of wateritifr thej' make a bucket 

 of very thin mud and dip the roots of the plants in 

 It when plantiiiff. Tliey claim that the method is as 

 sure as waierinfr. and much cheaper. The only con- 

 dition is that the plants should be raised in an open 

 bed so that they may be rather tough. Those rais- 

 ed under glass would not do. 



KILLING WEED SEEDS BY FERMENTATION. 



You undoubtedly have had considerable trouble 

 with weeds coming from the seeds in the manure 

 you buy from the livery stables. Ynu may avoid 

 the trouble by having the manure thoroughly fer- 

 mented before using it. Have it put in heaps as 

 as large as possible, in a hollow cemented or well- 

 paved tioor. You may mix dead leaves, stmw, rich 

 dirt, or any thing you wish. Have it thoroughly 

 watered twice a week, enough to prevent it from 

 burning, and make it rot thoroughly. The surplus 

 water that will seep through must be received in a 



hole or cistern, and pumped over the heap again 

 unless you prefer to »ise It for irrigating purposes. 



It is dKlicult to explain how it is. I)nt the fact re- 

 mains t hat the manure thus t reali'd improves con- 

 siderably in IViiilizing value— it is e.stimated 1(1(1 

 per cent, or about; and, f uitheriiiore, tlie heat 

 therein developed kills all the weed seeds and an 

 immense quaiuity of no.\ious insects and other 

 platit-disease germs. 



In Swil/.eil.ind. nelgiuni. and most parts of otlier 

 well-(ulti\ aied eounlrii s of lOui'ope. no manure is 

 used wiihoul liavlii- gone through this i)roi'ess, 

 which takes about three niontlis. .SnotluT advan- 

 tage is that tlie manure tlius thoroughly rotted 

 does not burn the vegetation in dry weailier as the 

 fresh manure invariably does. Adrian Getaz. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



Your suggestions are both good, friend G. In- 

 stead of using mud, however, for puddling the 

 roots of the plants, a good many use a mixture 

 of cow manure and dirt. In regard to ferment- 

 ing manure to kill weed seeds, we have prac- 

 ticed this for years; in fact, we had a cisteru 

 made to catch the liquid manure, and a pump 

 to pump it on the heap. The process is given 

 in a little book sold by the O. Judd Co., entitled 

 " Baumer's Method of Making Manure." It 

 works all right, and the manure is all that is 

 claimed for it, but it is an awful sight of work. 

 We could not afford to ferment manure in this 

 way for farm crops, nor even for garden crops, 

 at ordinary prices. For making potting soil for 

 florists, or for beds in intensive gardening, it is 

 all right. If worked properly, the compost, 

 when finished, is very much like the manure we 

 find under old stables. Whenever I find where 

 an old barn has been moved away, or where a 

 manure-heap has remained for years, so as to 

 be thoroughly rotted, I am willing to pay a 

 good price for the fine compost. Another thing, 

 the average American gardener does not take 

 kindly to this working over manure-heaps. We 

 have to get an old gardener from some of the 

 old countries to work at it. For high-pressure 

 gardening there is no question but it will pay. 

 But we get into a fashion of rushing things so 

 much that it is hard to take the time and trou- 

 ble to prepare plenty of good old rich compost; 

 and for many crops and purposes, manure just 

 as it is taken from the stables answers very 

 well. For spinach, lettuce, or any other crop 

 where strong foliage is needed, fresh manure, 

 just as it is drooped iu the stables, seems to be 

 even better. There has been some dispute as 

 to whether all kinds of weed seeds are killed by 

 the fermenting process; and I believe there has 

 been a government bulletin issued on the whole 

 subject. 



ONIONS 



IN TOE OPEN 



The Whittakfir onion did not stand tlie climate 

 here, as they were all dead this spring. The Pearl, 

 that I experimented with here, winter-killed also, 

 but the Egyptian did nicely, and I shall want 3 or 3 

 bushels this fall. I wish you would give me your 

 mode of culture of the White Multipliers: they do 

 the bcst^ with me. A. P. Jones. 



Brandon, Vt. 



We manage the White Multipliers exactly as 

 we do the potato onions. Plant them at about 

 the time that farmers are sowing their wheat. 

 They make quite a little growth by fall, and, as 

 a rule, winter without any loss. This spring 

 we have had our first trouble by their showing 

 seed-stalks. We never had a seed-stalk on a 

 White Multiplier before, and did not know it 

 was possible. The only reason I can give is 

 that we put them out earlier than usual last 

 fall, and they made an exceedingly strong 

 growth; but why this sho'ild put it into their 

 heads to 'Seu '. up seed-stalks when they never 

 grow seed at all (at least I did not know they 

 did) is more than I can tell. We hoe and culti- 



