1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1025 



ward frequently in former years, both in 

 American and foreign journals of apiculture 

 as well as in treatises on bee-keeping. 



As has been the case in Mr. Morrison's 

 articles on foreign races of bees, where he 

 has attempted to give authoritative informa- 

 tion, there is much of interest in what he 

 has to say. but yet not wholly unmixed with 

 error. It is to correct some of these points 

 that I will proceed to mention one or two of 

 the plants which he advises bee-keepers to 

 introduce. 



SAINFOIN, OR ESPARCET (ONOBRYCHIS SATI- 

 VA). 



Mr. Morrison states that sainfoin corre- 

 sponds very closely to the alfalfa of the 

 West. It is true that it is in the Pulse fam- 

 ily, but the genus is an entirely different 

 one from that of alfalfa, nor in the classifi- 

 cation is it placed next to the genus of al- 

 falfa. While a most excellent forage crop, 

 and particularly nutritious as a fodder for 

 milch cows and working horses and oxen, it 

 is not as great a yielder as alfalfa, nor as 

 lasting a perennial. The growth is not so 

 luxuriant as alfalfa, and somewhat diffei-ent 

 conditions are necessary to its success. Be- 

 sides the usual soil inoculation which most 

 leguminous plants require, it must have for 

 its best development a gravelly, limestone 

 soil, or something like this. In the absence of 

 lime in the soil, a heavy dressing of this ma- 

 terial in some form is advisable— in fact, 

 quite necessary— to insure a catch of the 

 seed. It is just here that many have be- 

 come discouraged in attempting to establish 

 this plant. The limits of the chapter on 

 bee-pasturage in my manual of apiculture 

 ("The Honey-bee," Bulletin No. 1, n. s., 

 Division of Entomology) did not permit my 

 enlarging upon methods of cultivating the 

 various crops, although on p. 61 in the first 

 edition, as well as in the later editions, is to 

 be found the following sentence: " Sainfoin 

 {Onobrychis sativa) and serradella {Orni- 

 thopus sativus), both most excellent honey- 

 plants, have not received the attention they 

 merit, either north or south. Japan clover 

 (Lespedeza striata) is grown profitably in 

 the South, and even more might be expect- 

 ed from the introduction of sulla clover {He- 

 dysarum coronarUnn) there, the latter a 

 great honey-producer. " Plate 4 in the same 

 publication gives an illustration of sainfoin. 

 Again, in an essay before the North Ameri- 

 can Bee-keepers' Association in St. Joseph, 

 Mo., in 1894, I mentioned this plant in the 

 following words, as reported on p. 357 of the 

 American Bee Journal for June 10, ls97: 



Sainfoin, or esparcette (Onobrychis sativa), is a legu- 

 minous plant largely cultivated in Europe for forage 

 and hay. It is raised to a limited extent in our South- 

 ern States, but it is worthy, I believe, of a much more 

 extended cultivation, although it is not altogether hardy ■ 

 at the North. It has yielded a light crop as far north as 

 Massachusetts, but it is liable to winter-kill considera- 

 bly there. In the milder portions of the United States, 

 and south of the Ohio, westward to the Pacific, it surely 

 ought to succeed on light dry soils which contain lime. 

 It is a most excellent honey-producer, and the honey is 

 of fine quality— clear, thick, and pleasant-flavored. 



The honey from sainfoin is most transpar- 

 ent, very thick, and of fine flavor. It blos- 



soms in June, hence late enough for colonies 

 to be populous, so that, wherever it can be 

 made to grow, I believe it would be a most 

 valuable addition to honey-producing crops; 

 but I would warn those located in the far 

 North not to expect too much of it, especial- 

 ly in those sections where the snowfall is not 

 great, since the liability to winter-kill is 

 greater with this plant than with alfalfa; 

 nor should it be expected that the plant will 

 exceed or equal alfalfa in any respect. 



SULLA CLOVER (HEDYSARUM CORONARIUM). 



It will be observed that the generic name 

 of this plant is not the same as that of sain- 

 foin. It is, however, a plant much more 

 nearly related to sainfoin than the latter is 

 to alfalfa. Mr. Morrison is quite in error in 

 treating it under the head of sainfoin, and 

 calhng it " the Spanish kind known as ' sul- 

 la,' " for, as just indicated, it is not at pres- 

 ent classified as a kind of sainfoin. The 

 quotation from " The Honey-bee " given 

 above indicates that it was my behef that 

 sulla clover might be profitably grown in the 

 South. I should, perhaps, have emphasized 

 at that time the fact that this clover is re- 

 stricted to the extreme south of Europe, 

 principally to Italy, being quite sensitive to 

 the cold of more northern countries, so that 

 it can not be expected to succeed north of 

 South Carolina; but surely if introduced into 

 the Southern States, and grown under con- 

 ditions similar to those which I have pointed 

 out as being favorable to the growth of 

 sainfoin, it would prove a great boon to 

 stock-raisers and bee-keepers in that por- 

 tion of our country. While something of a 

 drouth-resister, it is by no means a semi- 

 arid plant, but requires frequent rains or 

 free irrigation. In those portions of Italy 

 bordering on the Adriatic Sea, sulla clover 

 is a very important crop— in fact, the chief 

 dependence of the bee-keepers there, and 

 this is the region where it is grown more 

 than in any other country. It would, there- 

 fore, be somewhat of a misnomer to call it 

 Spanish sainfoin. 



In the course of our work during the fiscal 

 year just begun we hope to secui-e a quanti- 

 ty of the seed of both of these plants for 

 distribution among bee-keepers favorably 

 situated to give the matter a test. It is not 

 to be expected that a large quantity will be 

 sent to any one person, but still enough to 

 test whether the plant can be grown or not. 

 This work was determined upon some time 

 ago, and it is, therefore, gratifying to see 

 that Mr. Morrison writes appreciatively of 

 these plants. 



ARTICHOKES. 



I hardly share Mr. Morrison's opinion that 

 artichokes would be any particular addition 

 to our honey-producers. While they may 

 yield some honey, and also pollen, I do not 

 believe the quality of the former particular- 

 ly good, nor that the yield would be abun- 

 dant. Merely as an incidental source to 

 keep bees busy, their value would be some- 

 thing, but, like sunflowers, unimportant as 

 a real crop. 



