Rocks, and also owns ten colonies of bees, from the 

 ^ork of whicli lie recently sold 500 pounds of honey. 

 Other property owners in the valley keep bees that 

 imd the rich bloom on the canal banks and in the ad- 

 jacent territory. Quite recently the drainage board 

 had its attention called to the increase in the clover 

 acreage within the sanitary district, which by this 

 time embraces 260 square miles of territory, and no 

 one at this time was able to say that the great cor- 

 poration may not turn to producing honey within a 

 bauiwick in which by this time it has expended $53,- 

 000,000. J, L. Graff. 



Ravenswood, 111., August 1, 1908. 



On my return from California in the fall of 1903, 

 I was greatly impressed with the piece of engineering 

 as planned and carried out for that great canal. 

 \vell, there are places where the soil, stones, and 

 gravel are piled up, to get it out of the way, in heaps 

 that almost rival in size the mountains of California 

 At the time of my trip, railroads were constructed 

 for the purpose of carrying this refuse material 

 wherever it was wanted for filling in for railroading 

 and other work. But I suppose it will be many years 

 before these "hills and mountains" are entirely re- 

 moved out of the way. The fact that sweet clover 

 will take root and grow, and get sustenance from the 

 air on such miscellaneous soils as those taken out at 

 a great depth in the ground, is an additional proof 

 of the great worth that it may have in making the 

 most unpi*omising soil productive. This reminds me 

 that the gtowth of sweet clover in the suburbs of To- 

 ledo is this year just wonderful. 1?7hen the farming 

 community all get to understand the way in which 

 this plant does "missionary work" in restoring poor 

 soils, we shall recognize what a wonderful gift to 

 agriculture is this luxuriant sweet clover that has 

 been so many times called by thoughtless people a 

 "noxious weed." A. I. Root. 



August 1, 1908. 



