786 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Planting Sweet Clover. 



Dr. R. W. Keene, Versailles, Ky., 

 writes us as follows : 



I desire a sure way to get a good 

 stand of sweet clover V I have been 

 sowing it for three years, have tried 

 all seasons and every plan, and it does 

 not come up for me. I sowed about 

 ten acres last fall and spring, in dif- 

 ferent places, and I think U of an 

 acre would cover the whole of it now, 

 that is worth anything. How will it 

 do to sow it on rye this winter V I 

 thought I would sow four pounds of 

 alsike and two pounds of sweet clover 

 to the acre, on ten acres of rye that I 

 have. How will that do? It does not 

 grow worth a cent on poor clay land 

 for nie, and now, I will try it on good 

 land. Our honey crop was almost 

 nothing the past season. I obtained 

 1200 pounds from 43 colonies, spring 

 count, and increased to 80 colonies. 

 Bees in good condition for winter, and 

 I hope, from thepresentabundance of 

 white clover, to have a good harvest 

 for 1883. 



We are astonished at the statement 

 made by Dr. Keene. We have had no 

 experience in sowing it as a Held plant, 

 having a large amount of it growing 

 spontaneously over scores of acres 

 near our residence. We are able only 

 to give the experience of others. Sand 

 is said to be best for it. Prof. Cook 

 says that it grows luxuriently on sandy 

 soil, and it is generally reported to do 

 well on any kind of soil, and in every 

 climate. 



Prof. C. E. Thome, of the Ohio State 

 University, thus testifies regarding its 

 value as a field plant : " It will grow 

 luxuriantly in hard, poor clay, where 

 even white clover will scarcely live at 

 all, and grows much more rapidly than 

 red clover in any soil, while in the 

 soils that are, as is said, ' clover-sick,' 

 it thrives as well as anywhere. It is 

 a good forage plant for bees and for 

 cattle, and is well adapted for soiling, 

 as it makes a growth of four to six 

 feet during the season, and is said to 

 bear two or three cuttings. A German 

 analysis gives its h^y a feeding value 

 of fifteen dollars per ton as against 

 sixteen dollars and twenty-eight cents 

 for very good red clover hay. While 

 red clover, upon which our farming in 

 many sections, and especially in clay 

 lands, depends so essentially for crops 

 of grain, is becoming more and more 

 uncertain. It would seem to be worth 

 while to try this ' fast weed ' as a re- 

 source for recuperative green mauur- 

 ing, in heavy soils especially." 



But its greatest recommendation for 

 the general bee-keeper is the fact that 

 it requires no especial cultivation, 

 thus making it particularly desirable 



for roadsides and commons. Being a 

 biennial, the seeds possess great vital- 

 ity, and may be kept over for a long 

 time, and scattered, .a handful at a 

 time, as opportunity offers, or a bare 

 place develops itself. Where possible 

 to devote even a limited time to its 

 cultivation, the ground may be plowed 

 and the seed lightly harrowed under 

 in the fall with winter wheat, or 

 planted with barley ; or in early spring 

 it can be sown with wheat, oats or rye, 

 without detriment to the grain. If 

 wanted, however, in its greatest per- 

 fection, it should be planted in drills 

 four feet apart, and once hilled up 

 with the cultivator. Sweet clover 

 blooms and yields nectar continuously 

 in this latitude from about June 10th 

 till Aug. 1st, when the first seed crop 

 matures, which is succeeded with a 

 new foliage and profuse second bloom 

 about Aug. 1.5th, and this continues 

 til! winter sets in. If a part of the 

 field be mown about July 1st, it will 

 bloom and yield nectar, except when 

 rains are falling or during the preva- 

 lence of strong, adverse winds, from 

 the middle of June till past the middle 

 of October— certainly as long a period 

 as our impatient little workers can 

 utilize it; nor will it then cease to 

 " waste its sweetness on the desert 

 air," but, after the advent of winter, 

 when all else has passed into " the sere 

 and yellow leaf," its modest flowers 

 will waft a fragrant good-bye to the 

 bees on their last flight, and leave 

 pliasant memories for their long win- 

 ter dreams. 



H. S. Ilackman, of Peru, 111., com- 

 menced the season of 1881 with 10 

 colonies, which he increased to 70, and 

 obtained 1,'JOO pounds of surplus honey 

 —1,000 pounds of extracted and 200 of 

 comb honey— equal to 120 pounds per 

 colony, spring count, and an increase 

 to over seven colonies from one ! Mr. 

 Hackman, who is an experienced bee- 

 keeper, and whose veracity is unques- 

 tionable, writes : " Please find inclosed 

 flowers of the sweet clover, picked 

 from the roadside, on the prairie, yes- 

 terday, Nov. 14. I suppose I owe my 

 wonderful summer success largely to 

 the sweet clover. We had the hottest 

 and driest season we ever had— no rain 

 from June 1.5th until Sept. 1.5th. The 

 hotter and drier the more honey, 

 seemingly. Sweet clover, as a weed ! 

 Although it has been growing in our 

 roads, on waste land, along railroads, 

 and on our hillsides for twenty-five 

 years, it does not seem to get into the 

 fields, except where water has carried 

 the seeds into low places." 



Sagacity of Bees. 



An English Jmimal, in 1841, gave 

 the following item on this subject : 



A few pounds of honey were taken 

 from a hive (about six miles from Lon- 

 don) and placed in a closet, under lock 

 and key. The windows of the room 

 having been left open, the bees ob- 

 tained admission, and, entering the 

 closet under the door, removed the 

 whole of the honey. The cells of wax 

 were left entire and the honey was 

 conveyed to the central division of the 

 hive, where it was safely deposited 

 during the day. It is evident that 

 spies must have been employed to ob- 

 serve where the honey was placed, and 

 that as soon as the information was 

 communicated to the hive, they took 

 this vigorous measure for the recovery 

 of their stolen property. It is remark- 

 able that they should have succeeded 

 so completely, and in so short a time, 

 since the closet was entirely dark and 

 they could only enter by a crevice 

 under the door. 



This circumstance is by no means 

 proof that the bees had sent out spies, 

 who discovered the stolen honey and 

 informed their comrades of its where- 

 abouts. When there is no honey to 

 be obtained from the flowers, bees will 

 go in where any open door, crack, or 

 crevice large enough presents itself, 

 in search of sweets, and if there is any 

 honey to be found, their sense of smell 

 is strong enough to find it ; and when 

 one has found it others will follow, in 

 hope of obtaining some of the treasure. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Packing Bees in ChafT.— Mr. F. O. 



Addition, Dexter, Me., writes as fol- 

 lows, to the Home Farm : 



For the average bee-keeper I think 

 wintering on the summer stand with 

 proper protection the safest way. My 

 method is this : Take a box large 

 enough to give from four to six inches 

 space around the hive except on the 

 front, that should be two inches. 

 Make a spout from the entrance of the 

 hive through the box for the free pas- 

 sage of the bees at any time. Remove 

 the cap from the hive, spread a piece 

 of burlap or other porous material over 

 the frames, then pack the space around 

 the hive with dry sawdust or wheat 

 chaff, with a foot on top directly on 

 the cloth. Then put on a tight cover 

 and the bees are in a good place to 

 withstand the long, cold winters of 

 Maine. I have known two quarts of 

 bees to be wintered with success in 

 this way. The bees should first be 

 confined to as few frames as will give 

 them suflicient stores, using a chaff 

 division board. 



