1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



381 



rejected as worthless, except in some few favorable 

 localities, and recommends it highly. The inexperi- 

 enced again test it and reject it. Time and money 

 are lost in these experiments, and a poor opinion is 

 formed of those who recommend them. 



In the fall of 1874, our State was invaded by myri- 

 ads of grasshoppers. They deposited their eggs 

 and died. In the spring these eggs hatched, and de- 

 vastated the country until the 20th of June, when, 

 their wings having grown sufficiently to enable 

 them to fly, they left the country. To restock the 

 earth with something that would mature, upon 

 which the inhabitants of the country could subsist, 

 and upon which their cattle could be fed during the 

 winter, was the all-absorbing question of the day. 

 The North was searched for the earlier kinds of corn 

 and buckwheat, and California for lucerne. We 

 then had bees, and lucerne, the famed honey and 

 hay plant, was to be had by purchasing and sowing 

 the seed. This we did, and like us, many others pur- 

 chased seed and sowed it. Not only did we expect 

 big things of this plant the first season, but, as it is 

 a perennial, the roots of which penetrate the earth 

 to a great depth, wc expected it to survive the rav- 

 ages of the grasshopper, should they return and de- 

 stroy the crops again, and to remain a permanent 

 source of honey and hay supply. The seed sprouted 

 and grew, attaining a height of about 15 inches. It 

 blossomed, but not a bee was ever seen to alight on 

 it. The leaves dried up and dropped off, and a bare 

 stem, composed mostly of woody fiber, was all that 

 remained. We left it another year, with i he same 

 results. It was not worth cutting for hay, and was 

 worthless for honey. We plowed it under, and so 

 did the others. In our county to-day, we do not 

 know of a single plant. The name is not mentioned 

 among the forage plants of the country. 



Sweet clover is indigenous to Utah. It is the 

 plant known to freighters of the middle of the cen- 

 tury as Buffalo clover. Some cattle feed upon it in 

 the absence of anj' thing belter. For five years we 

 have pastured the same field. It is seeded to tim- 

 othy, and clover. Around this fioM of grass we 

 sowed a strip of sweet clo\'cr, six or eight feet in 

 width, close to the fence, which is Osage-orange 

 hedge. Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs feed upon 

 these grasses at pleasure during the growing sea- 

 son; and, though the timothy and red clover are 

 cropped close to the ground, the sweet clover blos- 

 soms and ripens its seed, making a growth of two 

 or three feet. Stock browse upon it about as they 

 do on the tender shoots of the hcilge, or on the 

 twigs of trees. Though valuable for honey, it is 

 worthless for hay. 



BUCKWHEAT AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Two varieties of buckwheat were shipped here 

 and sown broadcast over the country, at the rate of 

 16 to 20 quarts to the acre. First the land was har- 

 rowed, then the seed was sown, when it was again 

 harrowed and rolled. This process leaves the 

 ground in remarkably fine condition to use the mow- 

 ing-machine for cutting the crop, which is the prac- 

 tice here. Four men with forks lay the buckwheat 

 back in piles out of the way of the team. It is left 

 to cure for several days, and then run through the 

 thrashing-machine. Twenty bushels to the acre is 

 an average yield. The two varieties mentioned 

 above, and silverhull buckwheat, are all the kinds 

 known here. The larger variety, when sown early, 

 makes a growth of four to five feet; the other, three 



to four. Silverhull, 20 Inches to two feet growth, 

 however, is controlled by the degree of heat and 

 amount of moisture anil fertility of soil. The three 

 varieties rank as honey-plants about as they rank in 

 size; tor grain, the medium variety is the best. 

 Here silverhull buckwheat yields eight to ten bush- 

 els to the acre. It is not a desirable variety. When 

 the temperature is high and the growth rapid, and 

 there is moisture CTiough to make the juices of the 

 plant abundant, then it is that the flow of honey is 

 abundant, and buckwheat is a profitable plant for 

 honey. This rule holds with all honey-producing 

 plants, each varying as the conditions vary, and 

 buckwheat ranks second to none but basswood as a 

 honey-plant. Jeuome Wiltse. 



Falls City, Neb., July, 1S82. 



I bep: pardon, friend Wiltse, for using llie 

 term Italian where I only meant yellow. — I 

 remember the extract you give from the 

 magazine, and was aware that such state- 

 ments had been made. You do not give the 

 date or address of Jones's, but we presume 

 his statement is one recently made, and we 

 are very much obliged for "it. One of our 

 neighbors had a hive filled with solid honey, 

 by simply letting it stand by the side of a 

 powerful colony. They were crowded for 

 room, and, thinking this preferable to build- 

 ing combs on the outside of the hives, they 

 used it much as they use an upper story. I 

 presume this adjacent hollow tree was filled 

 in the same way. — We are very much obliged 

 for the valuable facts given on lucerne and 

 sweet clover. I know old things are being 

 re-discovered almost all the time, and it is 

 on this account that it behooves us to not 

 only read all the bee journals, but to keep 

 them on file, where we can look back when 

 these things come up again. It seems to me 

 the reports in regard to lucerne, or alfalfa, 

 as it 'is more commonly called, coming up 

 constantly in our agricultural papers, indi- 

 cate that there are a good many localities 

 where it is profitably grown. It is hard and 

 wiry, I know, if allowed to mature seed ; 

 but if cut constantly when it just commenc- 

 es to bloom, it gives an enormous amount of 

 fodder, even here on our Medina clay. All I 

 intended to say in favor of sweet clover as a 

 forage plant, was that horses and cattle eat 

 it when it is young and tender, as I have 

 proven. I shall still hold, until shown the 

 contrary, that it would be an excellent plant 

 to plow under, as it loosens a hard soil to 

 such a great depth.— I have long feared that 

 silverhull buckwheat is not in all localities 

 so much superior to the common ; but as we 

 have excellent reports from it, and a great 

 demand for the seed, we continue to furnish 

 it. 



A FEW CAIilFORNIA BEE-KEEPEUS 

 IIVTEKVIEWED, 



AND AFTERWARD REVIEWED, BY GALLUP. 



^ HAVE been visiting among the bee-keepers of 

 Jli the south part of Los Angeles Co., and I find a 

 ' large proportion of the bees in a deplorable 

 condition, with no care or attention from their own- 

 ers, except to rob them of their stores whenever 

 there is any thing to take. However, I have found 

 honorable exceptions to this rule. In my travels I 



