424 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ing flowers are blootQing in abund- 

 ance, but iisuallv the reason wliy the 

 time is so short in which bees are able 

 to store surplus honey is the lack of 

 abundant pasturage. I have not had 

 the time or the means to devote to 

 bee-forage that the importance of the 

 subject demands, but I have made a 

 beginning in this department of ex- 

 perimental work which 1 hope to 

 continue. 



Among all the trees and shrubs 

 which are cultivated generally 

 throughout the United States by 

 fruit-growers, the raspberry is com- 

 monly conceded to possess more value 

 to bee-keepers than any other. A 

 quarter of a mile from this station a 

 market-gardener has four acres of 

 raspberries. These bushes continued 

 to bloom for ten days, and during 

 that time, with the exception of two 

 or three rainy days, a continuous pro- 

 cession of bees could be observed 

 going and returning to and from the 

 apiary, and a fine showing of honey 

 was made in the hives, and the honey 

 was of superior quality. 



On account of the superior quality 

 of Its nectar, the ease with which the 

 plant is propagated, its adaptation to 

 all kinds of soil, and its value as a 

 forage plant for grazing, white clover 

 has. until of late years, stood without 

 a rival in the estimation of honey- 

 prodncers. About twenty years ago 

 Alsike, or Swedish clover, was intro- 

 duced into this country, and since 

 then has been thoroughly tested both 

 as a honey-plant and also for hay and 

 pasture for all kinds of stock. 



Mr. J. M. Ilicks, of Indiana, says : 

 " Alsike clover has no superior as a 

 honey-producing plant, yielding the 

 best and richest honey known, and as 

 a hay crop it is not surpassed, often 

 producing three tons of good hay per 

 acre. The stems and stalks are much 

 finer than those of common red clover, 

 and cattle, horses, and sheep feast on 

 it, eating it clean without waste. As 

 a pasture for all kinds of stock it has 

 no equal. It will grow on all kinds of 

 land, clay or sandy, and does not 

 freeze out as easily as red clover. It 

 is quite similar to red clover in ap- 

 pearance. The tirst crop each season 

 is the seed crop. The seed is about 

 one-third the size of red clover, and 4 

 pounds is suHicient to sow an acre. 

 The bloom is a beautiful pale, pink 

 color. I have no hesitancy in saying 

 that Alsike clover will produce 500 

 pounds of the richest and best honey 

 per acre in a good season. I would 

 recommend every bee-keeper to sow 

 at least a few acres of Alsike clover." 



Mr. \V. Z. Hutchinson.of Michigan, 

 says that it will pay to raise Alsike 

 clover for honey alone upon land 

 worth $.50 per acre. 



Mr. C. M. Goodspeed says : " I 

 have grown Alsike clover on my farm 

 and watched its habits closely. It is 

 very hardy, of extra quality of hay, 

 and a heavy seeder, reaching in rare 

 cases 10 bushels per acre. In this 

 locality the second growth seldom 

 yields much honey, but the first 

 growth just ' swarms with bees' for 

 about three weeks, or from the time 

 the rich blossoms open until the seed 

 is ripe. In my locality it begins to 



yield honey shortly after white clover, 

 and continues well into the basswood 

 season. It yields twice as much honey 

 as white or red clover." 



Mr. D. A. Jones, of Canada, says : 

 " I think too much can scarcely be 

 said of Alsike clover as a hay and 

 honey crop, and many of our farmers 

 are waking up to the fact that it is to 

 their interest to cultivate it largely 

 in preference to almost any other 

 crop. Red clover will soon be a 

 thing of the past, as Alsike clover 

 seed is now in great demand, not 

 for seeding purposes, but also for use 

 in dyeing. I am informed that large 

 quantities are being shipped to Eu- 

 rope for that use." 



Mr. A. I. Root, of Ohio, and Mr. L. 

 C. Root, of New York, both speak of 

 Alsike clover as the most valuable 

 variety of clover for hay and pas- 

 turage, and recommend its cultiva- 

 tion as being of the first importance 

 to bee-keepers. Statements testify- 

 ing to the unequaled value of Alsike 

 clover, both for hay and grazing pur- 

 poses, and as a most valuable honey- 

 plant, might be indefinitely multi- 

 plied. I cannot too strongly urge the 

 bee-keepers of the United States to 

 provide abundance of this forage for 

 their bees, both by sowing the seed 

 on their own premises, and also by 

 inducing their neighbors to cultivate 

 this variety of clover as the best for 

 all purposes. 



Sweet clover ( Melilotus alba) abounds 

 in this locality. This is a hardy 

 plant of wondrous persistence, con- 

 tinuing in bloom from about Julyl, 

 until killed by frost. It is adapted to 

 almost any kind of soil. In this part 

 of Illinois it grows in rich soil by the 

 wayside, or in deserted stone-quar- 

 ries with equal luxuriance. As the 

 plant will grow without any cultiva- 

 tion in by-ways and waste places, 

 wherever the seed can obtain a foot- 

 hold, and is a perennial, it is rightly 

 reckoned among the number of ex- 

 cellent and cheap bee-forage plants. 



Sweet clover will endure drouth 

 well. During the long drouth of last 

 season, bees in this neighborhood 

 would have been entirely without re- 

 sources for many weeks together had 

 it not been for sweet clover. The 

 quality of the honey is excellent, and 

 under ordinary conditions the yield 

 is altogether satisfactory. Much ap- 

 prehension has been felt among 

 farmers lest it become a noxious 

 weed. Observing how readily the 

 seed is carried in the mud on wagon- 

 wheels and horses' feet in the spring, 

 when the roads are bad, and the en- 

 tire space in the highways is used for 

 travel, belief has obtained that the 

 fields would soon be invaded. Care- 

 ful and continuous observation of the 

 facts for five years past has convinced 

 me that fears of trouble from this 

 source are groundless. In but one 

 instance have I seen sweet clover 

 invade a plowed field, and that was 

 for a distance of 3 rods on both sides 

 of an old road leading into the Geld, 

 and the seed had been carried in on 

 wagon-wheels. This plant, being a 

 biennial, is easily exterminated when 

 desirable. I would recommend bee- 

 beepers to provide an abundance of 



this forage, by scattering the seed in 

 waste places, and by the roadside. 

 Sweet clover is much more sightly 

 and useful, and less objectionable, in 

 every way, than the weeds which or- 

 dinarily cover the roadsides. 



Pleurisy-root {Asclepias tuherosa) is 

 a honey-bearing plant indigenous to 

 nearly all parts of the United States, 

 but its growth has not been encour- 

 aged for the reason that its value to 

 the honey-producer has not been gen- 

 erally known. The plant is a peren- 

 nial ; the top dies and rots, a new 

 growth springing up each year. It is 

 commonly regarded as a harmless 

 prairie-weed. The deep, red blos- 

 soms hang in clusters. The plant is 

 very hardy, and of a rugged growth, 

 growing luxuriantly in all kinds of 

 soil. The honey is of the finest qual- 

 ity both as to color and flavor. Mr. 

 James Heddon, of Michigan, speak- 

 ins of pleurisy-root, says : 



" If there is anv plant, to the grow- 

 ing of which good land may be ex- 

 clusively devoted for the sole purpose 

 of honey-production, I think it is this; 

 I would rather have one acre of it 

 than three of sweet clover. It blooms 

 through July and the first half of 

 August, and bees never desert pleu- 

 risy for basswood or anything else. 

 The blossoms always look bright and 

 fresh, and yield honey continuously 

 in wet and dry weather. Bees work 

 on it in the rain, and during the ex- 

 cessive drouth of the past season it 

 did not cease to secrete nectar in 

 abundance." 1 have had some ob- 

 servation and experience with the 

 plant, and, having secured seed, I ex- 

 pect to test it in different kinds of 

 soil next season. 



For two years past I have cultivated 

 a plot of motherwort (Leonurus car- 

 diaca) and I prize ithighly as a honey- 

 plant. Bees work on it continually 

 all day, and every dav, unless it is 

 raining quite hard. The summer of 

 1885 it continued in bloom six weeks. 

 Last summer it bloomed, but was 

 soon ruined by drouth. 



At the annual meeting of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society held 

 at Detroit, in December, 1885, a com- 

 mittee, of which I was a member, was 

 appointed by the association to inves- 

 tigate the merits of a new plant being 

 cultivated by Mr. Chapman, of Jsew 

 York, who was present, and repre- 

 sented that the plant was of unusual 

 value to honey-producers. Being in- 

 structed by- you so to do, I met with 

 other members of that committee on 

 July 28, and our report was published. 



Bee-Ranclies in California. 



By favor of Messrs. Forth, Easley 

 & Reppy, of San Buenaventura,Calif., 

 we have a copy of the Ventura Free 

 Press, from which we copy the follow- 

 ing article on the honey-resources of 

 that county, and the engraving show- 

 ing the bee-ranch of Mr. R. Wilkin, 

 a well-known writer on apiculture : 



When California was admitted into 

 the Union of States, the honey-bee 



