296 



GLEAmNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Tlie eiiertiy of the workhorse and (lie yield 

 of milk from dairy cattle, increase whei) 

 liicse [lanls are used either as pasture or 

 hay. The growth of pork is greater when 

 these plants supplement the grain feeds. The 

 pioduclion of eggs is increased by their 

 proper use in the poullry-yard, and, in fact, 

 there is a report of a banquet of Western 

 growers in which one of these plants (alfal- 

 fa) furnished not only bread and vegetable 

 food, but also a food used as breakfast 

 cereal. 



To get the benefits of such plant growth 

 for the beekeepers it is necessary that they 

 bloom, and that the bees have opportunity 

 to visit the blossoms. This means they 

 should grow at least until the blossoms are 

 commencing to fade or wither. It is known 

 that the heaviest nectar secretion is just 

 at the time of the opening of the bloom. 

 After a flower has been visited by a bee. 

 and fertilized, the secretion of nectar stops 

 and the blossom fades and drops. Here 

 again, good agricul- 

 tural practice is in ac- 

 cordance with apicul- 

 tural profits. It so 

 happens that the best 

 results for hay 3r 

 stock food are obtain- 

 ed by cutting just be- 

 fore the seeds form, 

 which is just after the 

 blossoms have passed 

 tl'.eir stage of perfec- 

 tion and are withering: 

 also, when these crops 

 are to be turned down 

 for soiling crops the 

 best results are ob- 

 tained b y plowing 

 them down when they 

 reach this same stage 



of perfection of devel- 

 opment. To plow 

 (h)wn a great crop be- 

 fore blooming- means 

 to put into the ground 

 too much water in the 

 form of thin sap, and 

 it is supposed there is 

 special danger of 

 souring- the soil then. 

 The juice in a jdanl 

 commences to become 

 thick and sticky after 

 it has passed the im- 

 portant vital period 

 of full bloom. That is 

 when it can be turned 

 down with safety, and 

 is also the time when 

 it has done its greatest work in transform- 

 ing and fixing nitrogen; but let it be re- 

 membered that the fertility is not lost by 

 using the plant as stock food. If the 

 manure, liquid and solid, is saved and 

 returned to the field it will have as gieat 

 fertilizing- value as though it had been 

 ] lowed down, and the grower will have the 

 increased benefit of its feeding \alue for 

 his live stock. 



From the further standpoint of tlie 

 greatest fertility from the nitrogenous nod- 

 ules it must be remembered that their best 

 stage of perfection is reached when the 

 plant is at its highest point of development, 

 or just at the end of blossoming and the 

 beginning of the ripening of the seed. Thus 

 whether the plant be plowed down, or cut 

 for the silo, or dried as hay, the best results 

 for honey production, for soil fertility, and 

 for animal food, are to be obtained by let- 

 ting them reach a fair stage of development 

 or perfection rather than cutting, as is the 



Dadant, 

 British 



with Viscount Triaca, of L' Apicoltore ; Mr. Herrod, of the 

 Bie Journal, and I'lof. I'otini. of the Italian Federation 

 of Beekeepers, at the Piana apiary. 



