GLEANINGS IN BEE CUE T U K E 



November, 1920 



THE NEW ANNUAL SWEET CLOVER UP TO 

 DATE. 

 As I dictate, Oct. 22^ we have been having 

 a long severe drouth. In fact, we have had 

 scarcely any rain since first of the month. 

 As a consequence, the pastures are dried up, 

 and pretty much everything except the an- 

 nual sweet clover. Well, this new clover is a 

 pleasant surprise. We have something like 

 200 plants in our garden, of different ages. 

 Those planted out in May do not seem to 

 mind the drouth a particle. They are cov- 

 ered with bees from morning till night, and 

 putting out new blossoms continually, if we 

 had acres instead of one or two hundred 

 plants it would furnish the biggest amount 

 of feed (and, mind you, the very host of feed) 

 of any plant I ever knew or heard of. And 

 now here is another point: 



Our good friend Fields, of the Henry 

 Fields Seed Co., sent me a picture that I 

 hold in my liand. A single plant of the new 

 sweet clover stands away up above his head, 

 and that is not all. It is spread out from 

 right to left and all around like a great 

 bushy apple tree, so that I judge from the 

 picture of this single plant that it has 

 spread out so as to be seven or eight feet 

 across. The reason of this enormous growth 

 is probably because it has had the right soil 

 (with plenty of lime) that just suited it, and 

 extra cultivation and plenty of room. From 

 this I judge the plants might be located as 

 far apart as hills of corn. Witli such soil and 

 such cultivation as Mr. Fields gives it, it 

 would cover the ground. The picture will be 

 given in our next issue. 



Below are some suggestions from friend 

 Fields in regard to the new clover, especially 

 the matter of scarifying the seed. The re- 

 ports indicate, without question, that the 

 seed comes up not only more quickly, but 

 every seed is more sure to grow where it is 

 well scarified. 



SCARIFYING THE SEED. 

 Friend Root: 



Wp arc thre.shiny: our annual sweet cIumt (o(hi\ , 

 iuul liopc to have 4,000 lbs. Half of il lias l.een sold 

 to a man in Ohio. 



Wc are jicltinu; an excellent .viekl of seed and it is 

 of ver.v line (|ualit.\'. We are elcaninj; it ui) in beauti- 

 ful sliape and then scarifying it on top of that. The 

 scarifying entails quite a little bit of shrinkage and 

 loss, but I believe it ought to be done anyway. 



What yon have yourself, however, you can scarify 

 1).\- a little hand work, if you care to take the troiible. 

 All >()u need to do is to cover a blo<-k of wood with 

 sandpaper and then jxiur the seed out on a cement 

 floor, or other smooth, hard surface, and roll it 

 around and rub it with this block" of wood. You will 

 soon have a good .iob of .scarifying, without a great 

 deal of work. Of course it is a little bother, but 

 worth the while. 



I would suggest that .\ou publish something to this 

 effect in Gleanings, for tliere will be lots of pe(>i>U' 

 with small amounts of sweet clover seed who will 

 Hiiuder how they can hull il and scarify il. 



If the seed is dry .\(iu can hull and scarif.x il sur 

 ))rsingly easy this way, but of lourse only in small 

 HUiounts. 



HK.NKY FIELD SEED CO., 



By Henry Field, Pres. 

 Shenandoah. I<j\va, Oct. 18, 1920, 



We sliall continue right along to furnish 

 little packets of the seed free of charge, but 

 we have no seed to sell. If you wish to pur- 

 chase seed, go to Fields. Their advertisement 

 is in this issue. 



REPORTS ox THE ANNUAL SWEKT CLOVER. 



Friend Root : 



The seed wa.s i)lanted on May 20, 1920. On Sept. 

 5, 1920, the plant stood 9 feet above ground line, 

 108 inches of growth (from time seed was planted) 

 in 108 days. The plant was dug up Oct. 7, 1920; it 

 was then 9 feet 1 inch above ground, and the root 

 system was 2 feet below ground, making total length 

 of plant 11 feet 1 inch, or 133 inches. The diameter 

 of i)lant at ground line was IVi inches, and it weighed 

 4% pounds. The amount of seed was 3 oz {esti- 

 iiiatcd). This plant was grown from a fr«e sample of 

 seed from Prof. Hughes, Ames, Iowa. 



O. T. ROWLAND. 



Elsmere, N. Y., Oct. 11, 1920. 



'OFF TO FLORIDA." 

 Once more I am planning to start for my 

 Florida home after election day; and once 

 more, dear friends, remember I am ready to 

 give a prompt answer to any questioia you 

 may ask if you will inclose in your letter an 

 addressed postal card. As I have no stenog- 

 rapher down in my Florida home I can not 

 write very much; but I think I e:in promise 

 as much as I can get comfortably on a pos- 

 tal card. Now, mind you, I do not care any 

 thing about the expense of postal cards nor 

 of postage stamps; but I do want you to 

 address the postal card or envelojie yourself. 

 You can probably write your name and resi- 

 dence so that the postal clerk will be able 

 to read it; and if you do this for me I can 

 write my answer without even looking to 

 see who you are or wliere you are. Several 

 friends in winters past have sent me postal 

 cards without «»// address. 



•NOTES OR TRAVEL." 

 Today is Oct. 22, and Ernest and 1 are 

 planniug an overland trip by automobile 

 from Medina, O., to Bradentown, Fla.; and 

 1 am |iro]>osing to resume, at least for ;i 

 time, my "Notes of Travel" of years ago. 

 Ovir route will be furnished by the great 

 manufacturers of rubber tires, of Akron, O. 

 As we are being continually questioned about 

 the possibilities, sttitc of the roads, expense 

 compared with travel by rail, etc., no doubt 

 great numbers who arc eontemplating an au- 

 tomobile trip from diffeient parts of the 

 North in order to spend the winter in Flor- 

 ida, will be interested in these notes. 



lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllillllllllllMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillMlilllllllllllll^ 

 TIIK LEAliUE OK NATIO.NS. 



The prospect tlial some nieasure is pvuxiblv. be- 

 fore the great wide world, to stoj) humanity from 

 lUtting ea<'h other to pieces as a means of settling 

 difTiculties or misunderstandings, is, in my opinion, 

 Ihc u-reatest and most imiiorianl movement since 

 humanity was born. I'rof. Irving Fisher, of Yale 

 University, says: "It is, in short, reducing fighting 

 of man against man, and substituting the fighting 

 of man against disease and hunger." The flood Book 

 lells us of the glad time when men shall "beat their 

 swords into plowshares, and their si)ears into prun- 

 iuii-hooks." May (Jod hasten the da\ . 



