696 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



TONS OF HONEY FROM HUBAM 



How Farmers IVere Induced to 



'T'lant 438 Acres Near This Man's 



cApiaries 



By Edw. A. Winkler 



ALONG i 11 

 the year 1920 

 I received a 

 free sample of 

 Hubam clover 

 seed from the 

 Iowa station, 

 and, after har- 

 vesting several 

 pounds of it that 

 year, T decided I would plant quite an acre- 

 age in 1921; so I bought some more seed 

 from Henry Fields and after I was through 

 planting I found I had 43 acres in rows 21 

 inches apart. I had limed the ground well, 

 and, although I was late in planting it, I 

 harvested a fine lot of seed. 



I paid $30 an acre rent for the land I 

 grew my Hubam on and $10 per pound for 

 the seed I bought, and hired nearly all the 

 work done, as I am not a farmer but a 

 beekeeper with about 500 colonies. 



When I planted my clover I thought I 

 was going to grow it as a side line with m.y 

 bees; but when cultivation time came, and 



NoVKMBKR, 1922 



would yield hon- 

 ey and lots of it, 

 for I had read of 

 others har- 

 vesting Hubam 

 honey. 



Made Contracts 



with Fanners to 



Grow Hubam. 



I drew up contracts and advertised ouce 

 in the local paper that I would furnish the 

 seed, one-half the limestone, test the soil 

 (in which I used the potassium cyanide test) 

 and furnish bees to pollinate the bloom. Un- 

 der my instructions the farmer was to pre- 

 l^are the soil, plant the seed broadcast, 10 

 pounds to the acre, and hull the seed crop, 

 the seed to be divided equally between the 

 two of us. I also planted some in all kinds 

 of grain. Inside of three weeks my seed was 

 all spoken for. In this way I had 438 acres 

 planted by farmers, from 10 acres up to 70 

 acres each. 



Nearly all the fields planted in grain early 



Broad acres of Hubam furnished an abundance of nectar duriiii^ August and September. 



then hand-weeding became necessary with 

 the managing of many boys, I soon found 

 that my bees were the side line, and that 

 I was working overtime to prevent a total 

 loss in both lines. 



When I had my seed all in bags and all 

 expenses added up I found that my total 

 investment was over $3000, not figuring my 

 own time. I was not discouraged, for I had 

 over 2700 gallons of honey and I believe the 

 finest lot of Hubam seed in the state. 



I sold about 1000 pounds of my seed, but 

 not many farmers were Ijuying seed at $2 

 I)er pound; so, long before the seed-selling 

 season opened, I decided I was througli sell- 

 ing Hubam seed. I had decided on a plan 

 where I could invest my seed better tlian 

 the money it would bring. 



I had harvested not a pound of honey 

 from my 43 acres, but was sure that if the 

 ntiii(is])lieric conditions were right, Hubam 



in the spring had the Hubam just as high as 

 the grain when the grain was cut. Those 

 straw piles make mighty good feeding, for 

 the stock eat it readily, while the grain 

 yields were just as high as fields having no 

 Hubam in. You know the chinch bug does 

 not bother sweet clover. It's hard to find a 

 chinch bug in a field of sweet clover, and I 

 believe that Hubam in grain fields will, to a' 

 very great extent, eliminate this pest. 



We are now cutting Hubam here that was 

 seeded in winter wheat, oats, spring wheat 

 and winter rye. 



All of those stands in grain wore planted 

 5 pounds ])or acre and will yield from five 

 to six bnsliels of seed per acre, wliile the 

 fields of Hubam planted .ilone will run from 

 eight to ten busliels of seed per acre. One 

 field planted in oats will average at least 

 six bushels per acre. 



The spring started in so wef that farmers 



