1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



197 



rather lose an occasional swarm than to have 

 the returning bees of a swarm from a hive 

 with a cHp' ed queen scatter, as they often 

 do, into other hives, so that, if these other 

 colonies are strong, they too are hkely to get 

 the swarming impulse Mr. Alspaugh siid 

 further that he had marked quite a number 

 of hives into which bees from returning 

 swarms had enered, and these colonies soon 

 wanted to swarm. The only way in which I 

 can explain the action of the bees of a normal 

 swarm, when returning on account of having 

 a clipped queen, and entering other hives, 

 is that there is a stronger attraction than 

 that at the old home. In such cases the bees 

 seem to be determined not to go back to the 

 old location. 

 Brantford, Can. 



WHITE-CLOVER PROSPECTS. 



A Bumper Crop Predicts for 1910; if the 

 Clover Is in Good Condition Nov. 1, of 

 any Year, Prospects for a Honey Crop 

 are Favorable for the Following Season. 



BY VIRGIL WEAVER. 



[Mr. Weaver is the man who predicted a scant white- 

 clover honey-flow in 1909. and who, in spite of the 

 opinions of nearly all of the writers to the contrary, 

 held to his prediction until the season proved that he 

 was right. He believes now that, in most localities at 

 least, there will be a record white-clover yield in 1910. 

 In view of his past record, the following article de- 

 serves careful attention. — ED.] 



1 began bee-kpeping in 1893. I had read 

 Root's ABC, Doolittle on queen-rearing, 

 the bee journals two years, and had studied 

 bees nearly all my life. I ordered 25 hives 

 from the Root Co , and purchased ten colo- 

 nies of black bees in box hives; transferred 

 them to eight frame hives and patiently 

 waited for the honey-flow. Very little clover 

 showed up; no honey was harvested; so by 

 studying the bee periodicals closely I came 

 to the conclusion that the clover had winter- 

 killed. When 1894 came I had 17 good colo- 

 nies. We had a very mild winter, so felt 

 pretty sure that the honey-flow would be 

 good. The conditions in the spring being 

 very favorable for the growth of white clo- 

 ver I could not see why the honey failed. 

 Then 1895 and 1896 gave the same results. 

 Four failures in succession reduced my bee 

 fever to the 80's, and I was just about ready 

 to give up. One thing I had noticed was 

 that, preceding each of the years mentioned, 

 it had run from very dry to moderately dry, 

 especially in July and August. The year 

 189B changed the program exactly. We had 

 a dry spring; July gave a rainfaU of 8 inches; 

 August more than 6, and September was very 

 little better, giving about 5 in. The winter 

 following was about normal; the spring of 

 1897 was very favorable, and the honey se- 

 cured from white clover averaged 150 lbs. 

 per colony. The year 1898 gave 100 lbs. per 

 colony, and 1899 gave 30i) lbs.; the winter of 

 1^98 was the coldest on record in my locality, 

 zero weather extending into March, freezing 

 and thawing continually. This 300 pound 

 yield after so severe a winter was a little 



contrary to the teaching of most of the old 

 bee-keepers, and right here I began watch- 

 ing for the combination that it took to make 

 a honey flow from white clover. Prior to 

 this time I shared the opinion of other bee- 

 keepers, that conditions are nearly always 

 normal for a yield from white clover on Nov. 

 1, and that the winter months virtually con- 

 trol the honej -flow. But by watching very 

 closely, and also studying Weather Bureau 

 statistics, I have learned that, if white clover 

 is in a normal condition Nov. 1, it is also in 

 a normal condition April 1, and that the win- 

 ter months have no more to do with the 

 white clover honey- flow than Adam's off ox. 



On May 9, 1907, I wrote an article for this 

 journal, telling the bee-keepers of the north- 

 ern part of the white-clover belt 'hat there 

 would be nothing doing in the white-clover 

 line that year, but that in my locality, and 

 the southern part of the white-clover belt, 

 our prospects were good for a flow. That 

 year I sold 22,000 lbs. of honey from 180 col- 

 onies of bees. To bear my former statement 

 out, N. E Franre said that he could count 

 on his fingers all the parties who had a hon- 

 ev-fl »w that year. In the spring of 19081 

 made no honey forecast, because, being lo- 

 cated on the southern side of the white-clo- 

 ver belt, I was hopeful of getting some of 

 my honey off at the high price before the 

 deluge came from the North — something I 

 was mistaken in. In February 1st Glean- 

 ings, 1909, I had another article, telling the 

 bee-ki-epers that east of the Mississippi Riv- 

 er there would not be a tenth of a white-clo- 

 ver crop that year; but didn 't Miller, Root, 

 Doolittle, Hand & Co. do me up! What was 

 the result? The editor, after bringing in Can- 

 ada, which gave a yield from alsike clover, 

 and in eluding all the alsike and sweet clovers 

 and basswood honey, said that there was 

 from 25 to 50 per cent of a white-honey flow. 

 Now, if you will except the above-named 

 sources it is a serious question in my mind 

 whether there was a single carload of sur- 

 plus white clover honey gathered from the 

 Mississippi to the Hudson River. 



Now I have a different story. Instead of 

 no honey, I want to say that there will be a 

 bumper crop this time in most of the clover 

 belt east of the Mississippi River. When I 

 say "white-clover belt" I mean those locali- 

 ties where white clover grows spontaneous- 

 ly. The best of these localities are the Blue 

 Grass sections of Kentucky; Ohio, Indiana, 

 Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Southern Minnesota, 

 Southern Michigan, and Southern Wisconsin 

 — Iowa and Northern Illinois being the heart 

 of this belt. Draw a line from Dubuque, la., 

 to Springfield, 111., thence to Indianapolis, 

 Ind., thence to Louisville, Ky., thence south; 

 in nearly all the white-clover belt east of this 

 line the white clover is in a normal condi- 

 tion; i. e., a crop of white clover started from 

 the seed in the spring of 1909 which grew 

 continually, caused by a surplus of rainfall, 

 and, under favorable conditions, will pro- 

 duce one of the largest honey-flows on rec- 

 ord in 1910. The honey crop for 1910 now 

 depends on normal rainfall and sunshint^ 



