. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. PubUsbt Weekly at IIS Alicbigan Street, SI-OO a Year—Sample Copy Free. CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 14, 1897. No. 41. 37th Figwort or Simpson Hoaey-Plant—How to Grow It. BY GEO. W. WILLIAMS. As it has been requested of me to write an article on the cultivation of figwort (carpenter's square or Simpson honey- plant), I will say that I have been experimentinK with this plant for a number of years as a honey-producing plant, and ai* far as my experience extends it has no equal. I have been growing it side by side with the much-lauded sweet clover, and t
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. PubUsbt Weekly at IIS Alicbigan Street, SI-OO a Year—Sample Copy Free. CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 14, 1897. No. 41. 37th Figwort or Simpson Hoaey-Plant—How to Grow It. BY GEO. W. WILLIAMS. As it has been requested of me to write an article on the cultivation of figwort (carpenter's square or Simpson honey- plant), I will say that I have been experimentinK with this plant for a number of years as a honey-producing plant, and ai* far as my experience extends it has no equal. I have been growing it side by side with the much-lauded sweet clover, and the Simpson plant is so far ahead of the sweet clover that there is no comparison between the two. I consider one acre of the plant worth at least ten of sweet clover. In this latitude (Missouri) it begins to bloom about the middle of June, and blooms until a late, hard frost—a light frost that kills other vegetation does not affect it. The bees work on it from daylight until dark, often being heard on it in the evening until so dark that they cannot be seen. The method of its cultivation is easy enough when vou know how. I will give my manner of cultivation in this part of the country ; of course, as you go north or south the time of sowing must vary with the climate : To raise one-half acre : In the latter part of February or first of March, make and burn a very lieavy brush-pile, say 16x20 feet. As soon as the ground is cool, dig or spade it up and hand-rake down level. Sow about two ounces of seed and lightly rake again (just as you would tobacco seed). Pro- tect it from stock tramping oyer the bed. Let the plants grow until they get three to five inches high, and then having the ground well prepared, set the plants in rows four feet apart and three feet in the row. Cultivate the same as any other crop. Or the easiest method is to leave the plants grow in the sccd-bed one year, and early the next spring transplant in the field, where they will give a big yield of honey
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
