THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



335 



for Dorsata; but probably much time and 

 money will yet be spent in the effort to 

 secure her — him — or it, for use in this 

 country. 



CRIMSON CLOVKR. 



It is a matter of congratulation when a 

 honey producint; plant is found that may 

 be very profitably raised by farmers, 

 aside from its value as a honey producer. 



In the October 5th American Bee-Jour- 

 nal (W. Z. please leave that hyphen in 

 there) the editor says that in a recent 

 bulletin issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington it has the fol - 

 lowing to say about Crimson Clover. 



The use of crimson clover [ TrifoliiiDi 

 iniantature) has increased to such an ex- 

 tent that it is now a standard crop in 

 many parts of the Southern and Middle 

 States. It is distinguished by its long 

 head of brilliant scarlet blossoms and b}- 

 the great depth to which its roots make 

 their way. Wherever the winters are not 

 too severe it thrives and is a valuable 

 plant for soiling or for hay. It is a win- 

 ter annual, the seed being sown any time 

 from the middle of July to late in the 

 fall in Southern States. It grows through- 

 out the milder weather in winter, and 

 quickly makes a dense cover to the ground 

 in the spring. This can be pastured, cut 

 for hay, or turned under for green manure, 

 or all three depending upon conditions. 

 * * * 



The fresh seed is of a bright reddish - 

 yellow color, and has a high polish. As 

 it becomes older the color changes 

 to a dark brown color. Such seed should 

 never be purchased, as it is too old to 

 grow well. 



In general the seed •■' "• * is less 

 liable to contain many weed seeds than 

 the seed of other clovers. It is harvested 

 before most of the weeds have matured 

 their seed, and being planted in late sum- 

 mer or fall it tends to choke out what 

 weeds may come up with the young 

 plants. 



From what I haye seen of crimson clo- 

 ver growing in this locality, I should 

 think the statement of the Agricultural 

 Department as to its value for soiling, 

 hay, or pasture is correct. I have made 

 no inquiries among farmers regarding it, 

 but where I have examined it it has been 

 of a dense growth and yielding fully as 

 well as red clover. 



Since writing the above this morning 

 I have been out on the street "interview- 

 ing" some of the many farmers as they 

 are on their way into the city with their 

 loads of potatoes, apples, pork, beef, 

 poultry, hay, and all sorts of country pro- 

 duce, and there was not a single one of 

 the many I asked about crimson clover 

 but either raised it or knew about it, and 

 with one exception spoke highly of it, 

 and some of them, knowing that I am a 

 bee-keeper, said "the bee like it too." 

 The exception referred to is one of the 

 "slip shod" kind of farmers, and he 

 said "it didn't amount to anything for the 

 ducks and geese had run all over it all 

 summer and kept it close to the ground, 

 and it didn't amount to anything, but 

 one of my boys had a nice crop of it, and 

 several of my neighbors had nice fields 

 of it, but mine didn't amount to any 

 thing." I asked him if the ducks and 

 geese seemed to get much from it ? He 

 said, "yes, but it didn't grow tall like 

 the neighbor's but it is still green." 



.A.LFAI,FA. 



About four weeks ago, while Mrs. Ma- 

 son and myself were on our way home 

 from the Philadelphia convention, I spent 

 nine days on the old farm, 25 miles from 

 BufTalo, N. v., where I was born and 

 lived for twenty-five years, visiting a 

 brother and his family, and during that 

 time I several tunes passed a field of 

 aoout two acres of alfalfa, and never 

 having seen any before, it was quite a 

 curiosity to me. It was then partially in 

 bloom, and I was told that either three or 

 five good crops of hay had been taken from 

 it this season, and this notwithstanding 

 the season was the driest in that region 

 for many years. It was on bottom land 

 right by the side of Buffalo creek. 



I told a man who was riding by while I 

 was looking at the field, that I had seen a 

 root of Alfalfa that was over four feet 

 long, and I was told that half of the root 

 was gone, had been broken off. He said 

 he believed the root would grow sixteen 

 feet or even more to find water. 



Sta. B., Toledo, O. Oct. 26, 1899. 



