1036 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



cucumbers perfectly. Most of the cucumber- ' 

 houses here in the North have one or more 

 hives of bees inside of the building to do the 

 fertilizing. It is true it can be done by hand 

 with a camel's-hair pencil; but the bees do 

 it so much better and cheaper that I think 

 bees are now almost universally einployed 

 by all growers of cucumbers. See page 509 

 of our issue for April 15, 1900, where this 

 matter is fully described and illustrated. 



SWEET CLOVER FOR PIGS AND LAMBS. 



The evidences of the value of sweet clover 

 for many purposes continue to accumulate. 

 The latest pronouncement in its favor is by 

 the editor of The Farm Press who has re- 

 cently paid a visit to the celebrated San Luis 

 Valley in Coloi'ado where are raised the 

 finest hogs and lambs in the United States. 

 What he saw is calculated to cause the peo- 

 ple who class sweet clover as a "weed" to 

 sit up and take notice. Please note careful- 

 ly what he says. 



_ Alfalfa has an altitude limit which interferes with 

 Its cultivation in some iilaces, as it does not succeed 

 well above 6000 feet; but alfalfa has a first cousin 

 known all over the United States by the name of 

 sweet clover, and these hish-altitude farmers have 

 found out that sweet clover doesn't discriminate be- 

 tween different altitudes. One man declared that 

 sweet clover will grow way up to the timber-line and 

 It will make good feed too, if properly managed 



Sweet clover gets very woody when it gets old, but 

 these men pasture it down, and when it gets the start 

 on the hogs they put the mowing-machine on with 

 the finger-board tilted up and cut it back to three or 

 four inches high. This gives it a fresh start, and the 

 pigs fatten on the young and tender growth. The 

 San Luis Valley seems to have taken the lead in lamb 

 feeding. Seven years ago an experiment was tried in 

 feeding 600; the experiment was successful, and the 

 next year about 1200 were fed. These were increased 

 the third year to 12,000, and every year thereafter un- 

 til 1905, when the number was estimated at 540,000- but 

 this proved too many, at least the market at that time 

 was not suflicient to absorb such a great quantity at 

 paying prices and some of the feeders who didn't un- 

 derstand the business made a failure of it. The past 

 season about 320,000 were fed and marketed with suc- 

 cess. 



The combination of alfalfa or sweet clover with 

 peas works well with breeding hogs, because the little 

 pigs, as soon as they are able to eat, get the kind of 

 feed that is best for them. 



It may be explained these hogs and lambs 

 are raised entirely on peas, alfalfa, and sweet 

 clover, though in some cases beet pulp is add- 

 ed. Evidently the sunny San Luis Valley 

 farmers know the true value of sweet clover 

 .and how to use it. There is a great deal in 

 knowing how. 



SWEET CLOVER ; WHAT IT HAS DONE FOR 

 KING ISLAND. 



We take the following from a newspaper 

 clipping furnished us by Mr. Herbert J 

 Rurnsey, of Boronia, New South Wales, Aus- 

 tralia. If there are any farmers or ' other 

 people left who insist that sweet clover is a 

 noxious weed they had better read and pon- 

 der. 



Many years ago, it appears, a Dutch ship was 

 wrecked off the island coast, and some of the sailors' 

 mattresses were washed ashore. These mattresses 

 were stuffed with what is locally.known now as meli- 

 grass, and this grass contained a fair amount of 

 seed which, falling on the sandy beaches, threw up a 

 lew tufts, and in the course of years gradually spread 



until it now covers nearly the whole of the coastal 

 sandy areas. 



Strictly speaking, it is not a grass at all. It is a 

 yellow-flowered clover, known botanieallv as Jfelilo- 

 t'ls (Kthcinalis. and a half-brother of Metilotus ulha 

 commonly called Bokhara clover. Furthermore be- 

 ing a leguminous plant it absorbs a certain amount of 

 nitrogen from the atmosphere and transfers it to the 

 sou. This remark may appear slightly superfluous to 

 many readers, but it strikes the keynote of Mr. Mac- 

 dougall's remarks on the subject. He said in effect: 



Tlie fertilizhif,' power of thi.s grass is simply wonderful. It 

 lias truMsforiiifd king Island from an island of useless sand- 

 dunes into one of tlie best grazing distriets of the i-onimon- 

 w ealtli 1 Ins wonderful grass, sown on raw white beacli sand 

 has in tlie course of Ave years changed the character of it un- 

 til at the end of that tune it has become a dark-brown color in 

 sonie places almost black; and Its value as soil has increased 

 ICW per cent. Every year it is improving the value of the land 

 and gives increasing quantities of feed. Now the export trade 

 ot King Island consists of fat cattle, dairy produce horses etc 

 and by far the most extensively used grass is melilot ' The 

 King Island fat cattle always realize the best prices in the Tas- 

 manian markets, to which the first shipments are made in \u- 

 Po'in ,' ^^'} ^■•J."ti°"e till February and March in each year over 

 1^00 head ot fat cattle being sent away this last season. The 

 King Island Co-operative Butter Factory turns out butter of 

 the highest standard, a good quantity of which lis exjiortcd to 

 l-.uglaud, and is always among those brands that realize the 

 highest iirices. And this butter is made from cows whose 

 principal food is melilot. Sheep and horses also do remark- 

 ably well on It. Sheep have been killed weighing up to 120 

 lbs. ; and the two-year-old horses of King Island are as big as 

 the three-year-olds of Tasmania. *' 



Melilot is very similar to lucerne in appearance, arid grows 

 to an average height of 3 ft. It has often grown to 8 ft high 

 on heavy ash, in the better class of soil in the interior of the 

 island. The average crop of hay is two tons to the acre often 

 running as high as three tons when Algerian oats are sown 

 with It. Cattle, horses, and. in fact, all kinds of stock, are 

 very fond of the hay, which has a beautiful aroma. When cut 

 green for ensilage it yields about five tons per acre. 



I do not wish to boom this, as the best grass there is because 

 1 know well enough it is not so. For instance, I certainly 

 would not advise one to discard clover, etc., for melilot; but 

 What 1 do claim is that for any one who has poor sandy coun- 

 try lying Idle, this is the grass; for it not only gives^ vou a 

 large quantity of good feed, but is each year improving tlie 

 quality of the soil until it is sufficiently rich to allow It to 

 grow something better. For instance, there are paddocks of 

 ucerne growing on King Island which would not be there now 

 It the melilot had not improved the ground sufficiently to al- 

 low It to do well. "^ 



Another good point is the ease with which this grass is 

 grown. The best way is to burn ofl;- the paddock. If scrub it 

 Should be fallen about six weeks or two months before, and 

 immediately after the fire sow the seed at the rate of about 10 

 ■to 15 lbs. per acre. The sooner after the fire the better. It 

 likes to be sown in hot ashes. The fire germinates the seed 

 more quickly than when unburnt. Melilot starts to spriii'^r 

 from March to May, and keeps green right through to Februa- 

 ry, wlien It dies off, and is burned off again. It shouhl be 

 burned oil every year until well established. It is an abun- 

 dant .seeder, and cattle and horses rapidly spread the seed in 

 nianure. It requires seeding only once, of course. The graz- 

 ing capacity of melilot from September to January (five 

 iiionths) is a beast to the acre. It is somewhat of an acquired 

 taste; but when cattle get used to it they become very fond of 

 it-especially so when made into hay. This melilot grass is 

 indeed a wonderful plant; and if given a decent show it would 

 make a lot of what is at present useless sand become useful 

 grazing country; and the seed, not being expensive might 

 easily be given a trial. Dr. Cherry, of the Victorian Agricul 

 tural Department, speaks very highly of this grass and it is 

 also strongly recommended by the Tasmanian agricultural ex- 

 perts tor green manuring. 



King Island is this year earlier witli grass than any of the 

 districts I saw when traveling through Gippsland and the 

 western districts of Victoria; also South Australia as far as 

 Adelaide, and also New South VVales. At the end of March we 

 had 4 in. of young grass, and at present it is about 10 Inches. 

 Drouths are unknown. and seasons fairly regular. I feel quite 

 sure that, if given a show, a lot of raw sandy patches on the 

 coast of New South Wales could be made far more profitable 

 than at present. 



DANDELIONS FOR GREENS. ETC. 



Mr. noot:-ln regard to dandelions, here in New 

 England they are sold in all our towns and villages 

 during the spring season at good prices, probably 

 averaging 25 cents a peck (of 3 to 4 lbs.) for the sea- 

 son. Large quantities are sold— mostly the cultivated 

 varieties ia their natural state. The growing is ex- 

 ceeding- profitable— $.500 to $600 per acre, so I am told. 

 In our family, to have them the whole year we salt, 

 them down in a keg. First prepare them for cooking, 

 then put then;i in the keg with plenty of rock salt. 

 They will keep all right that way. When wanted for 

 use they are freshened in water and then boiled We 

 find them exceedingly healthful, and, when served 

 with other vegetables in winter, very "tasty." We 

 have no trouble in "exterminating" a ten-gallon keg 

 of them during our seven months of winter. 



Canaan, N. H., June 22. John S. Hyde. 



