1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



479 



FIG. 1.— A PA.STURE OF SWEET CLOVER NEAR THE HOME OF DR. C. C. MILLER, MARENGO, 



ILLINOIS. 



than shown is a good thing, for each plant is 

 bushy, throwing out fresh growth on all sides 

 as fast as eaten off, thus furnishing a constant 

 supply of tender growth until freezing weath- 

 er. It also makes it of greater value for the 

 bees, for the fresh growth is always blossom 

 growth, and if you had been present at the 

 time the picture was taken it would have re- 

 minded you of bees working on buckwheat. 



Some one will say: " But I thought you 

 told us the honey crop of lt)06 was an entire 

 failure with you; and if the bees were so busy 

 on sweet clover why the failure?" My dear 

 sir, a pasture-field for a single cow is not a 

 very large field of operation for a yard full 

 of bees. To be sure, that was not the only 

 sweet clover within reach, but the road com- 

 missioners took care that not much of it 

 should be allowed to blossom on the high- 

 ways. Yet some credit should be given to 

 sweet clover and cucumljers, for, besides 

 having the hives heavy with honey for win- 

 ter, I had some combs tilled that I have stored 

 away for next spring. Just wait till I go 

 down cellar, and I'll tell you how many there 

 are. . . There are 248, most of them 



full, and from that down to half full. 



I count those combs much the same as so 

 much white-clover honey in sections. I'll 

 tell you how. The hives are, I think, heavy 

 enough so that the bees would go through 

 till clover harvest without any feeding. But 

 at the opening of the harvest there would be 

 a good deal of empty space in the brood- 

 chamber, and that space would have to be 

 filled before the bees would devote much at- 

 tention to the supers. Now if I take away 

 combs that are empty, or nearly so, replac- 

 ing them with these reserve combs, don't you 

 see that every pound of such honey thus giv- 

 en means another pound of white-clover hon- 

 ey in the sections? Besides, it's a "dread- 

 ful" comfortable feeling to know that you 

 are fully provided against any contingency if 



any colony in spring should be short of 

 stores. 



I have always thought I didn't care for 

 yellow sweet clover, because it comes two to 

 four weeks in advance of the white, right 

 when white clover is doing its best. But last 

 season made me change my mind; for white 



FIG. 



-LLXL'lilANT GliOWTH OF 

 CLOVER AT DR. MILLER'S. 



SWEET 



