August, 190S. 



American Tine Journal 



before the bees have tilled what they al- 

 ready have. Generally it is best to add 

 another super when the lirst is half 

 tilled; perhaps sooner if the colony is 

 strong and tlie harvest heavy. 



Vou say, "I cut out onJy 4 frames." 

 1 don't exactly understand ; and perhaps 

 the whole question is not rightly under- 

 stood. If so, don't fail to ask again. 



2. It sometimes happens that one col- 

 ony works on a kind of flowers differ- 

 ent from another, hut that is not usual, 

 lo such an e.xlent as to have one colony 

 have light honey while another has dark. 

 Some colonies till honey close up to the 

 cappings, making it look much darker 

 tlian with the usual air-space between 

 tlie honey and the cappings. I don't 

 know just how to account for uneven 

 sections, unless there was some local 

 cause. A strong colony will fill out 

 sections more plump and regular than 

 a weak one. 



3. The first swarm ought to be of the 

 same character as the mother colony, 

 as it takes the old queen with it. 



4. Are you sure you can detect any 

 difference in different colonies? You 

 will find two sizes made by any colony — 

 worker-comb, measuring 5 to the icnh, 

 and drone-comb, measuring 4 cells to 

 the inch. Either kind may be used for 

 storing honey. 



5. Take off as soon as the whole super 

 is finished. Often it is well to take off a 

 super while the corner sections are still 

 unfinished. Then a super can be filled 

 with these unfinished sections and given 

 back to the bees to finish. 



6. A deeper puncture comes from the 

 sting remaining longer in the wound, 

 and when the sting is left the poison- 

 bag is left with it, and the poison keeps 

 being pumped in all the while, increas- 

 ing the pain and swelling. There is also 

 a difference as to what part of one's 

 anatomy gets the sting. Probably you 

 will not find a difference in the stings 

 of different bees, although it is said that 

 poison is worse at some seasons than 

 others. Some say stings are especially 

 bad when bees are working on buck- 

 wheat. 



7. It will pay to hive anything rather 

 than lo have it go off; but it is best, 

 if one can avoid it, never to have weak 

 swarms. Whether two small swarms 

 united will store enough to winter on 

 depends upon the pasturage and the 

 lateness of the season. Generally such 

 swarms come too late for success. 



8. Yes, if the combs are not too ir- 

 re.gular. It doesn't pay to fuss with any 

 lliat are very irregular. 



The Yellow Sweet Clover. 



Do you know that one of the chief 

 apostles of sweet clover — certainly the 

 chief apostle of yellow sweet clover — 

 is not a man, but a woman? When 

 you have seen the name A. L. Amos, 

 like as not you have thought the name 

 belonged to one of the brothers ; but 

 that name stands for one of the sisters, 

 Mrs. Amos, out in Nebraska. If the 

 value of sweet clover in general, and 

 yellow sweet clover in particular, is not 

 generally understood, it is not the fault 

 of Mrs. Amos. The following account 

 of some of the things Mrs. Amos has 



been doing is given by her in the CiTster 

 Co. (Neb.) Beacon : 



Editor Be.acon : — For the first time in 

 several years, I have been out of "Farm- 

 er's Institute" work, as a representative 

 of the honey-bee, but I have not been 

 idle entirely in regard to the honey in- 

 terests of the country. 



For a number of years, by means of 

 voice and pen, I ahve advocated the 

 merits of sweet clover, more particularly 

 "Melilotus officinalis" — the yellow blos- 

 somed variety, both as a forage plant 

 for stock and as a honey-plant of ster- 

 ling merit. 



I commenced this in a public spirited 

 way, without any intention of going into 

 the seed business, for we are not fixed 

 to take care of the seed in quantity. 



Inquiries for seed became so frequent, 

 however, that I cast about for a way to 

 supply tlie demand in part at least. 



For two seasons, now, the girls and I 

 have been trying to harvest what we 

 could to sell in small quantity to bee- 

 keepers. 



This season I have sent seed of yel- 

 low sweet clover into 22 States and 

 Washington, D. C. Of these Texas got 

 the most, making 3 calls, one of which 

 was for 20 pounds. Other States that 

 got 3 lots each were Illinois, Kansas, 

 Indiana, Colorado, Missouri and Cali- 

 fornia, while Neraska got 5 lots and 

 Michigan 4. I could have sold much 

 more seed if I had had it, for when I 

 began to suspect that I would run out 

 I limited orders to 2 pounds. I did run 

 out after all, and for the last month or 

 so I have been returning money'' for an 

 occasional order. 



The last order came to hand todav 



from Hakodate, in far-away Japan, 

 which is to be sent next fall, if present 

 supply is gone. I feel that I have been 

 cng.iged in a good work, and the satis- 

 faction I feel is more to me than the 

 "shekels" raked in. A. L. Amos. 



Quite a piece of yellow sweet clover 

 was sown on our place last year, and 

 although it did not make a good stand, 

 enougli of it has bloomed this year to 

 give us some knowledge of it, especially 

 in comparison with while clover. It does 

 not grow so tall as the white variety, 

 but the most important point of differ- 

 ence relates to the time of blooming. 

 This year, in this neighborhood, the first 

 bloom on sweet clover was seen June 

 I ; on the white it was June 24; a differ- 

 ence of 23 days. We have been in the 

 habit of thinking that that difference 

 was against the yellow variety. Dr. Mil- 

 ler saying, "The yellow comes right in 

 the time of white clover," — only a week 

 later than white clover this year — "and 

 so it is of less value than the white 

 sweet clover, which continues the flow 

 after the white clover is gone." But last 

 year, when white clover refused to yield 

 any nectar, he changed his mind, saying, 

 "In a year like this it would be a big 

 thing for us if we had a good acreage 

 of yellow sweet clover, for it would give 

 us 3 weeks of flow before the begin- 

 ning of the white variety." 



What few stalks we had this year 

 were busily visited by the bees right in 

 the thick of the white clover bloom — ■ 

 a good test as to yielding qualities. If 

 there is any difference, the horses seem 

 to prefer it just a little to the white as 

 green food. 



irra y^fffrngmfsr"^^ 



^anadia 

 'Bci^oiii 



^*'^=^^''*^*^^" 



Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mount Joy, Ont. 



Crop Light, but Quality Good. 



It is a little too early to say just what 

 the crop of honey will be in Ontario 

 this year. However, from a number of 

 reports received to date (July 21), it 

 looks like another very light crop. The 

 average of these reports indicates about 

 35 pounds per colony. All my inform- 

 ants say the honey is of e.xcellent qual- 

 ity. 



Wherever buckwheat is grown pros- 

 pects are good for a jield from that 

 source, as the abundant rains of the 

 past few days have been general over 

 the count rv. 



^Vllite (lover and Ba^swood. 



"White-clover honey'' is a misnomer 

 as far as the product of the hive is 

 concerned, in our immediate locality. 

 .'Mthough our soil is of the very best, 

 vet for some reason verv little white 



clover shows up, and I venture the guess 

 that, one year with another, not 5 per- 

 cent of our honey is gathered from that 

 source. Ordinarily, its absence makes 

 but little difference to us, as we arc in 

 alsike district, and the white clover is 

 generally through blooming as soon as 

 the alsike. This year, however, alsike 

 lasted but a short time owing lo drouth, 

 and I notice that where white clover is 

 abundant the bees are storing a little, 

 whereas our bees are doing nothing. 



Basswood has done as usual with us — 

 yielded nothing. Queer how uncertain 

 that source of nectar is here as com- 

 pared with Mr. Doolitlle's locality. True, 

 we have comparatively few trees, yet 

 when they did yield a few years ago, 

 a good crop was assured. 



As may be surmised by the forego- 

 ing, our crop of honey is light, but as it 

 is double that of last season, and very 

 fine in quality, wc rlo not feel like com- 



