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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



head (I am over six feet high). I found some 

 growing in his vinej'ard and in a corn-patch. 

 I asked this neighbor why he had not fed it 

 to his stock, or pastured it. He said he had 

 cut it for his horses, and gave it to them green 

 and as dry hay; that he had turned his cows 

 upon it, but stock would not eat it. I noticed 

 on the road, in front of him, that cattle had 

 been running at large on the road, and had 

 eaten the grass down close to the ground, but 

 the clover was almost untouched. I proposed 

 to this friend that he save the seed and try to 

 make something out of it- — that I wanted 

 some seed myself, and that I thought I could 

 find a market for all he could save; he could 

 cut it with his mower, and run it through the 

 wheat-thrasher. He made an attempt to save 

 some seed by cutt.ng it with a sc\the, and 

 thrashing by hand, but this, of course, he 

 found hard and slow work, and he quit and 

 brought me only half a bushel of seed, for 

 which I paid him $1.50. 



At another neighbor's, only half a mile 

 distant, I saw that sweet clover was spread- 

 ing into his front dooryard; and last .spring I 

 interviewed him, just in the act of mowing it. 

 He said that he was feeding it to his horses in 

 the stable; and as they had been confined all 

 spring without any thing green they ate it 

 quite readily. It was then in itsjoung and 

 tender stage. He had tied his cows out on 

 the roadside in front of him, where they had 

 kept the clover pretty well trimmed down, 

 but he said it would be worth S50 to him if 

 the stuff had never got on his place. This 

 was rather discouraging to one who had been 

 sowing the "stuff" on his place; but I knew 

 that these neighbors had not made any thor- 

 ough attempt to keep the clover down. My 

 neighbors laugh at me, and say that I can 

 never get rid of it; but I am not alarmed, and 

 intend to experiment a little. 



Just after the frost was out of the ground I 

 gathered some of the roots of the three kinds 

 of clover to compare their root systems. I was 

 surprised at the immense roots of the sweet 

 clover, both as to their size and length; for, 

 although I knew before that it had big roots, 

 I had never tried to get the whole root. Were 

 I to sa}- that one root of the sweet clover 

 would weigh from 20 to 25 times as much as 

 one of the crimson, I think I should be in 

 bounds. I estimated that, on an average, the 

 red clover had about twice the weight of roots 

 of the crimson, though I had no means of 

 weighing them accurately. I found the so- 

 called nitrogen-bearing nodules on all the 

 roots, but apparently less upon the sweet than 

 upon the others. I have .sent specimens to 

 our Ontario Agricultural College for examina- 

 tion and report of the specialist professor. 



I have an idea that this sweet clover, with 

 its tremendous roots and large and early grow- 

 ing tops, may prove to be a very valuable 

 thing to plow under, to furnish humus, nitro- 

 gen, and other fertilizers to the soil. We 

 shall see. I expect to plow mine under before 

 it seeds, even before it blooms for the benefit 

 of the bees, and I don't think that I shall have 

 any trouble keeping it within bounds. 



Pelee Island, Ont. 



[Friend S., I am ver3- glad indeed to get 

 your fair and honest opinion in regard to the 

 clovers; but I think you are a little severe on 

 crimson clover, and on those who have sold 

 the seed. I read over twice all you have to 

 say, to see if you did not somewhere suggest 

 that your failure, and the failure of others you 

 mention, might be because you were too far 

 north. If I am correct, several parties have 

 tried sowing red clover among corn, or where 

 early potatoes came off, exactly as we do the 

 crimson ; and, if I am correct, the crimson 

 was not only earlier, but it stood freezing and 

 thawing better. Many of oiir agricultural 

 editors have cautioned their readers not to 

 expect crimson clover to be a profitable crop 

 further north than, say, the southern part of 

 Ohio This may be true; yet there are a great 

 many who are succeeding as we are, year after 

 year. Having the ground thoroughly under- 

 drained, and rich in fertility, has much to do 

 with it, no doubt. I can hardly iinderstand 

 why horses and cows should refuse to eat 

 sweet clover. I find cows, wherever I go, 

 eating it greedily whenever thev have access 

 to it. 



Now, your friend who gave the green clover 

 to his horses before they had had a chance at 

 any other green feed, will find, I think, that 

 these horses ever afterward will take sweet 

 clover before any other kind, and, in fact, 

 almost before any thing else. It is possible 

 the cows you mention would have to be taught 

 something in the same way; but when they 

 once get a liking for it, it will last them for 

 ever. I wish some of you would try keeping 

 cows away from green feed in the spring, 

 until they are hungry for it, and in this man- 

 ner get them started on sweet clover. 



I confess I feel a little impatient with the 

 farmer who saj-s he would give fifty dollars to 

 have the sweet clover off his land, or makes 

 such expressions. Let me say to all such, 

 sweet clover is not a weed, but a clover, and 

 one of the most valuable clovers to plow 

 under. What farmer would complain to see a 

 rank growth of red clover on his soil, even if 

 his cows or horses would wc/eatit? Every 

 one who grows crops knows that a heavy 

 growth of clover is worth as much as a good 

 coating of manure, and sometimes more. If 

 it is on the roadsides, then plow up the road- 

 sides, and raise crops of any thing you want. 

 If it is in your fields, plow it under and grow 

 a crop. It surely is not at all difficult to get 

 rid of. It grows on the railroad grounds, 

 close to my potato-patch, year after 5 ear. It 

 makes a great rank green growth earlier in 

 the spring than any other crop; and it bears 

 great quantities of seeds that drop right down 

 in my cultivated ground, where I grow pota- 

 toes and other things. Lots of weeds of dif- 

 ferent kinds come up among our potatoes; but 

 sweet clover, never. It is a kind of plant 

 that will not grow where the land is cultivated 

 and stirred as it ought to be for good farming. 

 In this respect it is entirely unlike the most 

 of weeds that trouble farmers. I am glad to 

 know, friend S., that you are getting faith in 

 sweet clover, even if you are not getting it in 

 crimson clover. — A. I. R.] 



