516 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1917 



cut it ard kill it out. All were united, and 

 they did cut it. Many cut it too early, so 

 that it came up again and gave me a good 

 yield of honey. A petition was sent to the 

 legislature asking for a law making it a nui- 

 sance, and a noxious weed classed with bur- 

 dock and snapdragon, and got it passed. A 

 fine of $5.00 was imposed on any man al- 

 lowing it to grow on roadsides adjoining his 

 land. They fought it hard, and I was oblig- 

 ed to keep silence and see acres of clover in 

 full bloom cut down just when my bees were 

 storing immense quantities of honey from it. 



Had it been known who sowed it a mob 

 would have started after me. Still, 1 

 gathered the seed and always had my pock- 

 ets full, scattering it wherever I went, even 

 going out dark nights to sow it. The rich- 

 ness of the soil and the vitality of the plant 

 made it impossible to exterminate it. 



In 1910, I think it was, our State Agri- 

 cultural Station at Brookins, S. D., discov- 

 ered that sweet clover is a wonderful build- 

 er of soil. Sown on poor clay land wliich 

 would not grow gTass in three yeare it grew 

 heavy crops of whea,t. Then it was discov- 

 ered that stock would eat it. Word went 

 round the farmers' institutes, and on Jan. 3, 

 1912, one professor gave a lecture here, say- 

 ing sweet clover was the best friend the 

 farmer had. Several farmers said if he had 

 made that statement five years sooner they 

 would have taken him out and hung him. 



Today farmers are all sowing big fields 

 of it, feeding it, filling silos wth it, and are 

 as anxious to raise it as they were at first to 

 destroy it. Our honey yields have increased 

 from a few pounds of surplus per colony to 



300 lbs., or near it, every year. It is the 

 mammoth white variety we have here, often 

 growing six and eight feet tall; and, if not 

 crowded, will throw out branches like a tree. 

 It begins blossoming July 1, and continues 

 in blossom three months. If cut in June, 

 before it blossoms, it stools out and blos- 

 soms till Oct. 25, or until frozen. It yields 

 honey as soon as it comes in blossom, and 

 continues to yield, let the weather be wet or 

 dry, all seasons. One can see ripe seed and 

 fresh blossoms on the same stalk until hard 

 freezing weather comes on. 



We have also the yellow variety which 

 blossoms May 15, 1^/2 months ahead of the 

 white, and is a great help in putting bees 

 in shape for the big surplus. This variety, 

 however, is a smaller clover, and there is 

 not so much of it grown. 



We have fruit-bloom, dandelions, and a 

 little white clover — not much. These do not 

 give a surplus. Then we have a species of 

 mint that gives a surplus right along with 

 sweet clover for about three weeks. There 

 is never any dark honey in Dakota. All our 

 honey is snow-white and of exquisite flavor. 

 The most of the honey is from white sweet 

 clover. One farmer less than a mile from 

 me sowed 400 acres of white sweet clover 

 one year ago, and is going to raise a seed 

 crop this year, so I am making calculations 

 for a big surplus this season. Last season 

 many farmers made big money raising and 

 selling the seed. One field of 40 acres I vis- 

 ited when in blossom stood evenly six feet 

 tall, and so thick that a rabbit could not get 

 into it to hide. Dr. E. A. Morgan. 



Vermilion, S. D., Feb. 20. 



THE MAXIMUM CROP OF HONEY 



Can Best be Secured if Preparations 



are ^egun the Season Before, ana 



all Colonies Given Young ^eens 



By Harold Horner 



TO produce a 

 max imum 

 crop of 

 honey in 1918 it 

 is necessary to 

 commence get- 

 ting the colonies 

 in condition this 

 tvimmeir. The 



beginning must be made just after the 

 honey crop has been taken ; or, if one 

 raises his own queens, even earlier, say 

 during the honey-flow, as the best queens 

 can be bred at this time and with the 

 least labor and expense, the queens being 

 mated and laying at the time the honey 

 is taken off. 



At this time of the season the hives 

 may be four, five, or six stories high with 

 the queen confined to the lower story by 



means of a 

 queen - excluder. 

 Some say one 

 story is not 

 enough for a 

 queen ; but I 

 have not been 

 able to find 

 many queens 

 that will keep an eight-fi-ame bady full of 

 eggs and brood (I use eight-frame bodies 

 only) after the main flow is well on, pro- 

 vided these queens have been doing what 

 they should before that time. 



After the supers have been taken off, the 

 old queen should be hunted up and killed. 

 This should be done in the morning and a 

 young laying queen introduced just before 

 dark, when the bees will be in the best 

 mood to accept her. The new queen must 



