September, 1908. 



American Hee Journal 



thors of some of these articles are not 

 sufficiently experienced on queen-rear- 

 ing to write about it. It is a fact that 

 there are some so-called breeders that 

 are unworthy of the name, and are a 

 hindrance to the better class of breed- 

 ers. It is not true, however, that all, 

 nor even the majority, are unreliable. 

 As a breeder I find that ignorance on 

 the part of many who buy queens is 

 the cause of much complaint against the 

 breeders. 



Mr. Jones buys a queen from Mr. 

 Smith. The queen arrives in good con- 

 dition. Mr. Jones makes his colony 

 queenless and puts in the cage contain- 

 ing the new queen. The queen is killed, 

 and a worthless hybrid reared in the 

 hive. Of course Mr. Jones is not satis- 

 fied with his queen. I have had letters 

 complaining that the queen and fully 

 half of the bees were mismated! 



There are about one-half of the men 

 who buy queens that don't know the 

 difference between an untested, a war- 

 ranted, and a tested queen. Then when 

 the word "select" is added, the con- 

 fusion is greater. 



When the breeder sells a select un- 

 tested queen he is supposed to use his 

 best judgment and select out of a num- 

 ber of queens one that he has reasons 

 to believe is better than the average 

 of the number selected from. So the 

 man who buys untested queens from a 

 breeder who sells select untested gets 

 what is left after the best has been 

 picked out. 



A warranted queen is an untested 

 queen warranted to be purely mated and 

 a good, prolific layer. If she does not 

 prove to be so the breeder is supposed 

 to replace her with a queen that fills 

 the bill. 



It is surprising how freely many bee- 

 men expose their ignorance of queen- 

 rearing by writing for publications and 

 speaking in bee-keepers' conventions. 



If these same men attempted to ex- 

 plain the workings of wireless teleg- 

 raphy and missed it so far as they do 

 queen-rearing, some one might say, 

 "What fools these mortals be." 



Many readers of the papers remember 

 that a certain bee-man told us through 

 one of the bee-papers that he was pre- 

 pared to explode the theory that the 

 mating of the queen does not affect her 

 drone progeny. Well, we have waited 

 quite a while for the "explosion," and 

 all we have heard so far was the ex- 

 plosion of his ignorance. Who is next? 



Sabinal, Tex., July 2. 



Alfalfa for Honey and Hay 



BY DR. G. BOHRER. 



Having had an experience in growing 

 alfalfa for hay, and watched with in- 

 terest its honey-yielding qualities up- 

 wards of 20 years, I feel warranted in 

 saying without hesitation that for both 

 purposes it outstrips by far any and 

 all other crops produced in Kansas. 

 Provided, however, that it is cut at the 

 proper stage of development, is prop- 

 erly cured, and properly stacked or put 

 away under shelter. The latter is the 

 best. Quite a number of farmers cut it 

 when about one-tenth of it is in bloom. 

 Experience has taught me that when 

 about ^ to Ji in bloom is a better time 



to cut it, as it is much more easily cured, 

 and by far less liable to heat in the 

 stack or mow and become musty. In a 

 musty condition it is not at all fit to 

 feed to horses, as it often causes heaves. 



The earlier it is cut after it begins 

 to bloom the more sap there is in the 

 stalk, hence the greater difficulty in cur- 

 ing it properly. I find that to cut it 

 during the forenoon after the dew has 

 gone off, and raking it up into windrows 

 after about 4 o'clock in the afternoon 

 of the same day, and the next day after 

 noon putting it up in rather small piles, 

 and then letting it stand another day or 

 two, owing, of course, to the favorable 

 or unfavorable conditions of the weath- 

 er for drying' hay — this seems to be the 

 best method of harvesting this crop. 

 For by this course it not only affords 

 the best hay, but it also furnishes more 

 forage for bees. 



But just here I am told that as I 

 have bees, I have an ax to grind. In 



Alfalfa in Bloom. 



reply I will say that I have also the 

 usual different kinds of domestic ani- 

 mals on my farm, and while I want 

 the best results possible to be obtained 

 from my bees, my other stock is by far 

 the greater source of income. Hence 

 my ax-grinding, if I have one to grind, 

 would, under the circumstances, very 

 naturally lead me to look most after my 

 greatest source of income. 



Like all other nectar-yielding plants, 

 alfalfa does not invariably yield honey. 

 Some days very few or no bees visit it, 

 while on other days they work on it 

 from one to 3 hours. And sometimes 

 I have seen them very busy from day- 

 light until dim twilight, the bees com- 

 ing in and dropping down on the hive 

 on the ground, or on the alighting- 

 board, about exhausted from being 

 heavily loaded with honey. 



I am now relating my experience with 

 this plant in Kansas. What it will do 

 in some other States, I don't know. I 

 have seen it growing in Ohio. But as 

 to its nectar-yielding qualities there, I 

 know nothing. But I am disposed to 

 think that some seasons, and in some 



localities, it will produce nectar in that 

 State. 



It may be, and is, sowed in either the 

 spring season after frost, say about the 

 first of May, or in August if grass- 

 hoppers are not very numerous. If they 

 are they will destroy it. It has a root 

 that will grow down as deep as 25 or 

 more feet, if not prevented by hard-pan 

 or rock. After passing successfully 

 through one winter it will not be pushed 

 out of the ground by frost, as its roots 

 go far below freezing. In Ohio and 

 other Eastern States the soil heaves to 

 such an extent as to push red clover 

 out of the ground so far as to destroy 

 it. Alfalfa I think will not perish 

 through such a cause. 



Alfalfa here in Kansas is cut from 

 2 to 4 times each year, and I have 

 known it to yield as high as 11 tons 

 in one season from 4 cuttings, per acre. 

 But the average is probably from 5 to 6 

 tons. 



Seed-Bed for Alfalfa. 



For August sowing I find that to disc 

 oat-stubble immediately after the oat- 

 crop has been harvested, so as to keep 

 it free from weeds and crab grass, etc., 

 until the time arrives to sow the seed 

 (which should be from the loth to the 

 i2th of August) is about the most satis- 

 factory method of preparing the seed- 

 bed. The soil must in all cases be self- 

 draining, so that water will not stand on 

 it, for alfalfa will perish under water in 

 2 or 3 days. 



For spring sowing, corn-stalks ground 

 that was well cultivated and kept free 

 from weeds will be found as good as, 

 or better than, any other ground. The 

 stalks should be cut with a stalk-cutter 

 and the ground should be stirred up 

 with a disc. Deep plowing has not giv- 

 en as good satisfaction as thorough 

 surface stirring of the soil with the 

 disc. 



Different quantities of seed per acre 

 have been sowed, ranging from 10 to 

 60 pounds per acre. If the seed is good 

 and free from weed and grass seed, 15 

 pounds per acre will be sufficient. As 

 good a stand as I ever had I got from 

 II pounds per acre. I had aimed to 

 sow IS pounds, but after I had sowed 

 the seed I stepped the ground and 

 found that I had sowed only about 11 

 pounds per acre. 



The surface should be well leveled 

 by the use of a common harrow, so that 

 the seed will be planted about the same 

 depth, for if part is dropped into low 

 places it is often covered so deep that 

 it never comes up. To cover the seed 

 when sowed broadcast by hand, I find 

 a brush drag, a tooth harrow with the 

 teeth as slanting as possible, or a drag 

 made of i x 10 lumber, to answer the 

 best purpose. Harrow teeth set perpen- 

 dicular put much of the seed so deep 

 in the ground that it can never sprout 

 and reach the surface. Hence, it is lost. 



On page 205, Mr. Dadant says that he 

 has about 4 acres of alfalfa that is 

 disappointing to him, it being nearly 

 ready to bloom, and at the same time 

 weak and unadapted to the locality. In 

 case the stand is good, the ground self- 

 draining, and not underlaid with a solid 

 bed of rock or hard-pan near the sur- 

 face, I rather suspect that the soil is not 



