1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



837 



rior of any other clover known, here frequent- 

 ly obtaining a height of from 30 to 36 inches, 

 and so thick that a cat has a hard time to make 

 her way through it, and it is practically frost- 

 proof. 



It usually takes well when sown with oats, 

 and is sometimes sown as follows with most 

 excellent results : Plow oat stubble as soon as 

 the crop is removed, and harrow lightly once 

 a week from Aug. 20 to Sept. 1, when sow to 

 alsike, red, and timothy, in the proportions 

 given, giving frequently crops of hay the fol- 

 lowing June as heavy as 2^4 to 3 tons per acre. 

 Such sown grass should, however, have ap- 

 plied, at time of seeding, 300 lbs. per acre of 

 the following plant foods : Nitrate of soda, 50 

 lbs. ; tankage, 150 ; acid phosphate, 700 lbs. ; 

 muriate of potash, 100 lbs. 



In 1888 The New Jersey State Fair awarded 

 first prtniium on mixed hay to J. H. Denise, 

 Freehi Id : yield from 65 acres, 185 tons at one 

 cutting ; timothy, alsike, and red clover ; aft- 

 ermath was left on the field. 



Baptisttown, N. J., Aug. 20. 



GROWING CLOVER. 



Third Prize Article. 



BV HARRY h- SMITH. 



Of all the forage-plants which we produce 

 here in the East, there are none that equal the 

 clovers in value. For feeding they furnish a 

 food rich in protein (the most costly part of 

 the ration), and easily digested ; as a crop for 

 green manuring they add to the supply of ni- 

 trogen in the soil, being able to gather it 

 from the air ; and for pasture they can not be 

 excelled as long as we can keep a stand of 

 plants. The common practice in this section 

 has been to use about one-third red clovisr in 

 seeding to grass ; but experiments upon our 

 farm have proved to us that we get more hay, 

 and a much greater feeding value, by using 

 more clover ; about one-third red and one- 

 third alsike clovers, the rest timothy and red 

 top. 



The first year we get two crops of clover in 

 which but little else will show ; but during 

 the following winter, fully half of the clover- 

 plants die, and the timothy and red top take 

 possession and feed upon the decaying roots, 

 giving us a good crop of hay for two or three 

 years. On our heavy clay soils we sow enough 

 alsike to take the place of the red clover, as 

 the latter will rarely make a stand. On moist 

 fertile soil we can produce alsike three feet 

 tall, and it will stool out so thick that it will 

 form a perfect tangle ; and how the bees revel 

 in it ! It seems as though all the bees in the 

 neighborhood were there. If it is cut when it 

 first begins to bloom we may expect a second 

 crop, but not otherwise, for alsike is a biennial; 

 and if it is not cut before it comes into full 

 bloom the most of the plants will flie. If the 

 summer is moist, red clover will produce a 

 second crop even if the first is not cut until the 

 heads begin to turn brown. By seeding with 

 both alsike and red clovers, and not cutting 

 the first crop until it is in the height of bloom, 



we get a larger first crop ; then the red clover 

 will take possession and give us as large a sec- 

 ond crop as though it had been used alone in 

 seeding. Clover likes a mellow soil, so we 

 plan to have it follow some crop which leaves 

 the ground light and friable. 



White clover is far the best for use in pas- 

 tures, as its habit of creeping along the ground 

 and rooting at every joint enables it to form a 

 sod which will stand the tramping and feeding 

 of cattle. In many old pastures it may be in- 

 troduced by simply sowing the seed on the 

 surface of the ground during a moist season. 



East Dixfield, Me. 



[When Ernest told me he had offered ten 

 dollars for the best article on growing clover, 

 and that he had limited the writer to so many 

 words, I replied that the subject could hardly 

 be touched in such space. The subject of 

 growing clovers alone would make a good- 

 sized book, and, in fact, we have one such 

 book, but I fear it has not had a very extend- 

 ed sale. Growing clover is almost the found- 

 ation of successful farming — if not the world 

 over, at least over a great part of the United 

 States. I am pleased to know that our friend 

 from New Jersey says they get a successful 

 stand of the clovers when the seed is put in 

 during the latter part of August. This agrees 

 with what I have so fully written up about 

 growing clover in the Traverse region, in 

 Michigan. In answer to the query, "Does 

 red clover always contain honey? " it may al- 

 ways contain some ; but in some seasons, and 

 at certain times, the amount is so small it can 

 scarcely be discovered. I am glad to note 

 that all three writers take so strong a stand in 

 favor of mixing alsike with the other clovers. 

 Many farmers nowadays grow clover only to 

 enrich the land ; in fact, that is oz^r custom. 

 We do not cut it at all, and do not pasture it 

 at all. When grown for this purpose alone, is 

 there an equal need of putting in some alsike? 

 and is a mixture of red clover, alsike, and 

 timothy worth more to plow under to enrich 

 the land ? Where it is grown for no other 

 purpose, the mammoth is unquestionably 

 worth more than any of the others. This 

 year our ground is seeded to mammoth, and 

 no other, and the growth is certainly stronger 

 and more luxuriant for the time of year than 

 I have ever had with red or alsike. 



Clover grown as we grow it, solely for im- 

 proving the soil, is all right for honey, for we 

 seldom plow it under until it is in ftill bloom, 

 and some of the heads begin to turn brown. 

 The largest crop of buckwheat we ever grew 

 was where we turned under mammoth clover 

 so late it was already full of seed. A neigh- 

 bor told us the clover seed on the land was 

 worth more than we would get for our buck- 

 wheat ; but he was mistaken ; and from this 

 experiment I am inclined to think that clover 

 is worth more to plow under when it contains 

 some seed nearly or quite mature than at any 

 other period. An allusion is made in one of 

 the articles to " clover sickness." Some of 

 our best authorities, however, Terry among 

 them, think this is only a notion. They say 

 that, after having grown clover on their 



