O LR A N T X G S I K 11 K K (' 



ArtinsT, l!)'Jn 



eveiy law. They do not, as we understand 

 it, prohibit interstate shipment of bees, 

 provided they bear a certificate from an 

 authorized inspector whence they came, 

 showing that the bees are healthy. 



OUE ISSUE for April, page 202, told of the 

 wonderful progress that sweet clover is 

 making thruout the 

 The Onward West. As marvelous 

 March of as that is, alsike is 



Alsike Clover, making far greater 

 headway thruout the 

 East, and wherever alsike grows, beekeep- 

 ing flourishes. In the numerous trips the 

 editor has been making he finds that alsike 

 has practically supplanted the former old 

 standby, red clover. The latter requires a 

 considerable amount of lime, and, moreover, 

 the soil must be good and not too wet. 



There are several things that have in- 

 fluenced the farmers to drop red clover. A 

 bushel of alsike-clover seed is cheaper than 

 a bushel of the seed of red clover, and it 

 will go twice as far in seeding, according to 

 J. Sidney Gates in the Country Gentleman. 

 The lime, likewise, is expensive — so expen- 

 sive, in fact, that the farmer wonders 

 whether he will ever get his money back if 

 he puts it on his land. The county farm 

 agents and experiment stations are telling 

 him that alsike will grow on poorer land — 

 on land having less lime, and on land too 

 wet or too anything, in fact, to support red 

 clover. The net result of this propaganda 

 is that alsike is fast crowding out red 

 clover. 

 Most 



that alsike grows 

 A mixture of the 

 hay, especially for 



farmers know 

 splendidly with timothy, 

 two makes a far better 

 milk stock. The timothy also holds up the 

 alsike where the latter grows up rank. 



Mr. Earnier is also learning from high 

 authority that alsike winters better than 

 red clover. It will grow in colder and hotter 

 climates; and, according to the authority 

 already cited above, there are plenty of 

 fields of it in the northern part of the 

 southern States. It grows thruout all the 

 cotton belt. It is a splendid crop to rotate 

 with the cotton. 



In a like manner alsike is being used to 

 rotate with corn in the corn-belt States. 



The only objection to alsike is its smaller 

 growth compared with red or pea-vine 

 clover; but its quality is superior. Nor is 

 it quite as good for pasturage after the 

 hay is cut. 



This year, of all years, is the banner year 

 for all the clovers on account of the fre- 

 quent rains. The editor has been connected 

 with this journal for 35 years; and never in 

 all his experience does he remember a year 

 when there was so much alsike and such a 

 splendid growth. One good farmer told us 

 yesterday, June 29, that he saw no reason 

 why clover (alsike and white) should not 

 continue to yield honey until August, and 



we have had two weeks of a good flow al- 

 ready. So long a flow, if it lasts till Au- 

 gust, is something we have never known be- 

 fore around these parts. 



The onward march of sweet clover thru- 

 out the western States, and the tremendous 

 increase in the amount of alsike clover 

 thruout the eastern and northern States, 

 make a very bright outlook for the honey 

 business — not necessarily for this year only, 

 but for the years to come. We well remem- 

 ber how, some 30 or 40 years ago, A. I. Root, 

 almost single-handed, extolled the merits of 

 sweet and alsike clover. The local farmers 

 made fun of him; but a glance today over 

 the country regions of the United States, 

 east as well as west, proves that his vision 

 of what was to come has more than been 

 rea]ize<l. 



Alsike in the East has come to be a staple 

 crop, and it is going to stay year in and 

 year out. Unlike red clover, it is a peren- 

 nial. When it once gets into a locality it 

 is bound to stay in the meadows, the fence- 

 corners, and come up spontaneously in the 

 fields of timothy and red clover. It thrives 

 like a noxious weed on good and poor land, 

 and yet there is no better forage plant for 

 bees or stock. 



There is one more factor that is develop- 

 ing beekeeping in the East; and that is, the 

 farmers have finally discovered the value of 

 lime, and so lands that have always been 

 sour are now being sweetened with lime. 

 Clover of all kinds will then grow. This 

 will mean that clover honey will be pro- 

 duced where formerlv no clover gi'ew. 



WE WISH to urge with all the emphasis 

 that lies at our command that it is utter 

 folly for extracted- 

 Waming to honey producers, af- 



Extracted-Honey ter securing a nice 

 Producers. crop of honey, to 



put it up in poor 

 containers, poor second-hand or light-weight 

 tin, and then lose several cents a pound on 

 the entire shipment because the honey was 

 not put up right. The principal causes of 

 loss are: Square cans that leak because they 

 are improperly boxed; square cans that are 

 too light in the first place, or second-hand 

 scpiare cans of too light tin, and therefore 

 too weak to serve in a second shipment. It 

 should also be borne in mind that tin cans 

 of honey in less than carload shipments suf- 

 fer more damage than in full cars. 



Even if the producer sells his honey f. o. b. 

 at his station, he should use good containers. 

 He may think it makes but little difference 

 how the honey goes thru to its destination, 

 provided he gets the cash for his honey be- 

 fore it leaves his station. But he should 

 remember this fact, that the buyer, if he 

 has bad luck with that shipment, will buy 

 e'seuiiere next year; and if he buys again it 

 will be at a considerable reduction. It is 

 not Kiily a question for this year but for all 



