GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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friends, 



a 1 m o s t 

 ever since 

 Gleanings was 

 started nearly 

 50 years ago, 1 

 have had more 

 or less to say 

 about the value 

 of sweet clover; 

 and some of the 

 old veterans will 

 remember how 1 

 was persecuted 

 for recommend- 

 ing the cultiva- 

 tion of a " noxi- 

 ous weed," etc. 

 But I felt so 

 sure that I was 



right, I did not feel very much troubled or 

 won-ied. Well, just now not only the Ohio 

 Farmer (page 236, April issue of Glean- 

 ings) but later the Rural New-Yorker, and 

 later still the National Stockman and 

 Farmer, have taken up the subject, and all 

 seem to agree that the New Annual Sweet 

 Clover is going to produce a " revolution " 

 in agriculture. The Rural New-Yorker was 

 s(t enthusiastic tliat I was afraid they 

 overdid it; but in their issue for May 1, I 

 find the following: 



We take back nothing we have said about the 

 possibilities of this annual riover for fanners in the 

 North. We would rather add to it. 



Now, no periodical, and, so far as I 

 know, no ]^erson has suggested the great 

 tilings 1 exjjeet it to do for Florida. When 

 I first began to make Florida my winter 

 home I tried to grow the common sweet 

 clover, and 1 also discussed the matter 

 with the good people at the Experiment 

 vStation of Florida; but the general deci- 

 sion seemed to be that sweet clover, like 

 alfalfa and all the other clovers, could not 

 stand tlie hot and wet summers of Florida 

 — at least in the central and southern parts. 

 I shall now have to confess that, with all 

 my enthusiasm for the new Avhite annual, 

 it never came into my head until the first 

 of last March that this new annual would 

 make a tall growth, feed stock, produce 

 honey for the bees, and make seed, in Flor- 

 ida, all in one single winter. If it is going 

 to ])roduce a " revolution " here in the 

 Nortli, what will it do for Florida? When 

 T first thought of it, about the first of 

 March, T made haste to jilant some seeds; 

 and wlien 1 left my Florida home, April 

 27, we had plants eight or ten inches high. 

 Some of them made a growth of one incli 

 in 24 hours. 1 submit a picture; and we 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



1 



And God said, Behold, I have given you every 

 herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the 

 earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of 

 a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. — 

 Gen. 1:29. 



Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. — 

 Luke 6:35. 



The wilderness and the solitary place shall be 

 glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and 

 blossom as the rose. — Isa. 35:1. 



June, 1920 



plan to give 

 other pictures 

 taken every two 

 weeks. It is very 

 u n f ortunate 

 that I did not 

 think to sow 

 some of the 

 seeds in the fall. 

 I can not at 

 present hunt up 

 any report of 

 this new annual 

 in Florida ; but 

 I submit one be- 

 low from Mis- 

 sisippi : 



I planted 10 

 seeds in the. fall to 

 see if they would 

 stand our winters. 

 The plants came thru winter in fine order. By 

 May 15 they were large enough to plow under for 

 fertilizing. Spring sowing ripened the seed by July 

 10. I believe it will succeed on any well-drained 

 soil here, and can be sown in the fall, and plowed 

 under in time to grow a fall crop of cow peas or 

 Sudan hay, and also late corn. If this clover sue 

 ceeds here generally it will be the best soil-renewer. 

 It makes seed readily. .1. J. Clark. 



Jackson, Miss., Nov. 10, 1919. 



On page 413. July, 1919, you will see a 

 similar report from Bay City, Texas. See 

 report from Hawaii further on. 



Well, since this new plant is now getting 

 to be of such importance it may be of in- 

 terest to our readei's to read the letter be- 

 low, which came from our good friend 

 Prof. H. B. Hughes of the Iowa State Col- 

 lege, Ames, Iowa, just about two years ago. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — ^We are sending you $40.00 

 worth of seed — not by freight, but enclosed here- 

 with attached to an explanatory sheet and with our 

 compliments. You will be interested in the attach- 

 ed statements regarding this seed, which I am send- 



Tli. 



now annual sweet clover plants April 27. 1920, 

 at Bradentown, Fla. 



