December, igo^. 



American Tiee Joarnal j^ 



fire you receive the alarm when in the 

 full use of your mind in open day, or 

 whether you arc suddenly roused from 

 sleep in midnight. There are multitudes 

 of influences that have their effect on 

 us "human animals," and so in like 

 manner the bee is affected by condi- 

 tions, a slight turn of the kaleidoscope 

 will show a very different picture. Heat, 

 cold, sunshine, cloud, dry, damp, pollen, 

 nectar, dearth, old queen, young one, 

 ventilation, stores and their quality, 

 quantity, and position, etc. ; the size and 

 shape of the hive, and a multitude of 

 other things all have their influence. 

 Not only do they have their influence as 

 mere factors in the problem, but as in a 

 mathematical problem it makes a vast 

 difference whether the 8 is in the first or 

 last column in its combination with the 

 ciphers or other numerals making up the 

 whole number. Just as when we know 

 the characters used in the problem in 

 arithmetic and their relation to each 

 other, we quickly decide results and 

 give the answer, so with the problem 

 of the bee. Could we master tlieir na- 

 ture and know the value of each and 

 every factor, and what it loses or gains 

 by a change of position, relation, or in- 

 tensity, we could decide results accu- 

 rately. 



I have not mastered these things, nor 

 has any one. I come before the reader 

 with a humiliating sense of my little- 

 ness before this great problem among 

 the multitude of problems before the 

 human race in their effort to subdue 

 and overcome the earth. Our time is 

 short, and we but make a beginning 

 and think we soon will walk upright 

 when we receive the full penalty im- 

 posed on man — death — and our work 

 must cease. Did I say cease? Not so, 

 for another takes it up and it goes 

 on, and may I not hope that when 

 I again return from the grave I may 

 find that I have laid a foundation, and 

 others have built thereon until I behold 

 a perfect structure. Brethren, let us 

 try to fit a few stones for this great 

 apicultural structure that is to bless 

 future generations. Let us build with 

 both hope and assurance that we too 

 will in the future enjoy the fruits of 

 our labor. 



Now Colorado differs from other 

 communities in many things, and when 

 you leave your Eastern homes and en- 

 ter this you find the factors very ma- 

 terially changed, but the nature of the 

 bee remains unchanged. I shall there- 

 fore dwell much on the question of cli- 

 matic and other factors, and their in- 

 fluence on management and results. 



First, let us consider climate. To one 

 who has always lived in the Missouri, 

 Mississippi or Ohio valleys, and similar 

 cliiTiate, it gives no adequate concep- 

 tion to say that Colorado climate is 

 dry; you know, it is almost impossi- 

 ble to convey anywhere near a true 

 conception without something to com- 

 pare with, and if your climate is a wet 

 one, and you have never known a dry 

 one, you are without comparison. 



We do not have 36s sunshiny days 

 in a year, but we come so dose to it 

 that the days in a year that the sun 

 does not shine for at least a few min- 



utes are rare, perhaps not over a dozen. 

 Three days without seeing the sun 

 would be a matter of remark, and 

 considered a gloomy spell of weather. 

 Ten 3-day storm and cloudy spells in 

 a year would make but one month, and 

 we think we do well to have half that 

 many, with enough rain from each to 

 wet the ground to a depth of 6 to 10 

 inches. In May, June and July we 

 have some thunder showers, and some- 

 times quite heavy ones, but these are 

 very limited in area, usually, in most 

 cases from one to 4 or 5 miles wide, 

 and if there were 2 or 3 such show- 

 ers a day, and continued over a period 

 of 2 or 3 weeks, would not in that 

 time precipitate as much water as of- 

 ten falls in one night over vast areas 

 in an Eastern thunder-storm. 



Furniture made in the East will 

 shrink and open cracks when brought 

 out here. Farm implements must be 

 well-painted on well-seasoned material 

 or they will soon be loose and rickety 

 when sent here. Bee-hives made as 

 for Eastern trade when shipped to 

 Colorado soon get so very shallow that 

 the frames stand on the bottom- 

 boards. Our climate is so dry that 

 white and red clovers, blue-grass, tim- 

 othy, and all similar shallow-rooting 

 plants cannot survive. Buffalo grass 

 lives all right, and is a shallow grower, 

 but it has the peculiarity that it will 

 become thoroughly dry, root and branch, 

 and yet grow again when moisture 

 comes again. This grass is usually dry, 

 root and top, all winter, but comes on 

 again with spring rains or moisture 

 from winter snows. Should there be 

 rains on the buffalo grass range in 

 late summer and fall, so as to keep 

 the grass growing and still be green 

 when frost comes, it is spoiled for win- 

 ter pasture; it is then but frosted 

 grass, and stock do not thrive on it at 

 all; but it is generally expected (and 

 usually is so) that by August and Sep- 

 tember, the ground becomes so dry 

 that this grass just dries up right where 

 it grew attached to the root, and when 

 so it is hay right out on the prairie ; 

 since there is seldom much snow in 

 winter cattle browse this hay right from 

 the stump and thrive well. Do you ask 

 why not mow it? Well it is so short 

 and kinky — just as well expect to cut 

 a crop of hair from a darkey's head. 

 We have our peculiar plant life that 

 belongs to dry climates. 



We have dust, too ; these dry climates 

 are dusty ones, sure ; you could scarcely 

 touch anything with a black suit with- 

 out leaving dust marks on it. Where 

 water can be had, of course we grow 

 things similar to those grown in the 

 East ; but even *hen the watered tracts 

 are by all odds the lesser part of the 

 ground, and the snows on the moun- 

 tains usually are about all gone by Aug- 

 ust, and plant life requiring moisture 

 throughout the year dies in winter from 

 simple drouth. Alfalfa and sweet clover 

 are drouth-resisting simply because they 

 root so very deeply that they find enough 

 moisture to keep them alive till rain 

 comes in the spring. We usually have 

 some spring rains. The past year we 

 had very little rain from July to the 

 next July, and the result was that some 



alfalfa died, and about half of the 

 sweet clover. 



Now all this has to do with our flora, 

 and in other ways influences our honey 

 crops. Our State, as a rule, and the 

 same may be said, I think, of all this 

 Western arid and semi-arid country be- 

 tween the Missouri River and the Pacific 

 Ocean, depends almost exclusively upon 

 the two plants for honey, that is, alfalfa 

 and sweet clover. California has its 

 sage, and in the fruit districts orange 

 and other fruits; but while I can not 

 speak authoritatively, my understanding 

 is that as a whole, the whole arid West 

 with very few exceptions depends upon 

 these two main sources for the surplus 

 crop. 



When it comes to building bees up in 

 the spring, there are a variety of con- 

 ditions, and I must confine myself to a 

 comparatively limited area when I de- 

 scribe spring-blooming plants, but I feel 

 confident that while there is a great 

 variety of minor blooms, as one goes 

 into these Western States, and to dif- 

 ferent places in the same State, when 

 I have described the "Eastern Slope"— 

 that is, the country east of the range 

 or main line of the mountains — I have 

 given a very good index of general 

 Western conditions. 



Loveland, Denver, and similar dis- 

 tricts along near the mountains, are in 

 round numbers 5000 feet altitude. Alti- 

 tude makes a very considerable differ- 

 ence in temperature, and in time of 

 blooming of the early flora. Close up 

 to the mountains and in the foothills 

 there are several kinds of bloom in 

 April; but the main dependence for 

 early bloom to start breeding and put 

 the colonies in good trim is the cotton- 

 wood trees, which at this altitude open 

 from April 10 to 20, and last about 

 10 days to 2 weeks. Where fruit is 

 grown, that comes a few days later, but 

 many localities have very little of this. 



Loveland, Colo. 



(Continued next month.) 



The Best Sweet for Children 



BY REV. R. B. MCCAIN. 



Many parents find the candy prob- 

 lem a very real and difficult one when 

 their children come to the age when 

 they know how to spend their pennies. 

 Some try to solve the problems by de- 

 nying the child indulgence in sweets; 

 others, and perhaps the majority, make 

 the fatal mistake of allowing the child 

 to choose for himself the kind and the 

 amount of candy that he will take. 



It should be remembered that the 

 craving for something sweet is a natu- 

 ral one. It is the natural and legitimate 

 demand of the system of the growing 

 child for sugar. No greater wrong 

 could be done than to deprive the child 

 of wholesome sweets. The wrong clos- 

 est akin to this is to give him money 

 and allow him to choose the gaudy, 

 adulterated stuff whose color and shape 

 happens to tickle his fancy. 



The candy problem has been easily 

 and successfully solved by those who 

 have rediscovered nature's own pro- 

 vision for this demand of the human 

 system for something sweet. Honey, 



