920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to be found, I think, in every State in the 

 Union. Our experiment stations from first 

 to last have called sweet clover a valuable 

 legume. It is valuable for stock, and it 

 enriches the land like other clovers, no mat- 

 ter where it grows. The demand for seed 

 has been so great that the price has gone 

 up until we cannot sell it now for less than 

 22 cts. per lb. in lots of 100 lbs. 



SWEET CLOVER AS A PREPARATION FOR GROW- 

 ING SUGAR BEETS. 



Mr. ¥. S. Hardy, of Fruitland, Wyo., 

 is making us a visit. When be first went on 

 to his land in Wyoming the agent told him 

 he was very sorry to be obliged to admit 

 that sweet clover was making considerable 

 headway on some parts of the piece of land. 

 Out there they grow alfalfa largely. Well, 

 our friend bought some alfalfa seed that 

 turned out afterward to contain quite a per 

 cent of sweet-clover seed. At first he was a 

 good deal worried ; but he soon discovered 

 that the sweet clover was gTeedily eaten by 

 his stock, and seemed to be worth fully as 

 much as alfalfa. Another thing: The sweet 

 clover on that peculiar alkali soil not only 

 grows away up in the air higher than you 

 can reach, but it makes roots almost as 

 large as a man's wrist at the surface of the 

 ground; and these gi'eat roots he has found 

 down at a depth of 4 feet or more. Well, 

 their soil lacks humus more than almost any 

 thing else. These tremendous sweet-clover 

 roots furnish humus. Now, that is not all. 

 As some of the political speakers say (espe- 

 cially of late), I want to say to you, "Now, 

 just listen." Fruitland, Wyoming, is in the 

 region of the sugar-beet industry. Since 

 the present war broke out, inducements to 

 Ijroduce our own sugar are greater than 

 ever before. Well, Mr. Hardy not only had 

 a great crop of sugar beets where the sweet 

 clover had been growing — a crop that took 

 the first jDremium at the State Fair — but the 

 sugar content of these beets was about 19 

 per cent, or almost one-fifth of the raw 

 beets was real sugar itself. In fact, I have 

 tasted sugar beets that seemed to be pretty 

 near up to the above mark ; and it Ijegins 

 to transpire that this high per cent of 

 sugar is found only where there has been a 

 rank growth of sweet clover to turn under. 

 1 wonder what the enemies of sweet clover 

 (if there are any now) have got to say 

 when they come to face the above facts. 



sri-ow oil stalks above ground. The larger one, to 

 me, resembles a toad. They are such a curiosity I 

 want you to see them. 



South Euclid, Ohio. Mrs. Welch. 



My good friend, the Department of Agri- 

 culture has recently put out a bulletin de- 

 scribing what you mention. They give it 

 the name of Aerial potato, and I think they 

 call it a disease. I have noticed it more or 

 less for years past, but supposed it was 

 only a sort of freak such as we often see 

 among vegetables. Down in Florida I had 

 one hill that produced as much as a dozen 

 of these i^otatoes above ground with few or 

 none below. As I had i^ut some very heavy 

 fertilizer on one of the papayas near by I 

 supposed it was the effect of the fertilizer, 

 but I may have been mistaken. At first I 

 thought I would plant these potatoes that 

 grew up in the air; but when the Depart- 

 ment suggested it was a disease I changed 

 my mind. I have at times seen similar 

 IDotatoes growing on the outside of old 

 potatoes that happened to be neglected in 

 the cellar where there was a little light. 



THE " AERIAL " POTATOES. 



I see in reading Gleanings that you are quite 



a gardener. I am sending you a few potatoes that 



are of a very queer growth. When digging, there 



are no potatoes under ground, but about a dozen 



LIQUOR ADVERTISEMENTS; MAGAZINES AND 



OTHER PERIODICALS THAT DO NOT ACCEPT 



THEM. 



Some time ago we gave a brief list of 

 lieriodicals rejecting liquor advertisements: 

 and now a friend has submitted a page of 

 the Amethyst, giving a list of the papers 

 and magazines of this sort. Lack of space 

 prevents our giving the complete list ; but 

 let me say that in round numbers it com- 

 prises toward 500 papers and about 50 mag- 

 azines. I scarcely need tell you that this 

 list includes the most prominent and re- 

 spectable periodicals of our nation ; and it 

 begins to look very much as if the periodicals 

 that accept these pernicious and damaging 

 advertisements will soon begin to be asham- 

 ed of themselves if they are not already. 



By the way, let me mention a little inci- 

 dent. Last winter, in discussing this matter 

 with my good neighbor Rood (down in 

 Florida) he said his boy was great on base- 

 ball, and had subscribed to the Chicago 

 Record-Herald especially on account of its 

 baseball news. His father made some ob- 

 jection, saying he did not like to see a 

 paper in his home containing such glaring- 

 whisky advertisements ; but the boy main- 

 tained there was no other daily that could 

 take the place of the Record-Herald. Just 

 a few daj's later the boy came in, swinging 

 his hat, saying the Herald had announced 

 that it would print no more whisky adver- 

 tisements, etc. So you see that even our 

 great dailies are groining in grace and wis- 



