1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



235 



A REPORT FROM ONE WHO USES AN AUTOMOBILE IN 

 OUT-APIARY WORK. 



I was pleased to read and note what you have said 

 in Gleanings on automobiles. I have been impressed 

 with the idea that the automobile is what the outyard 

 man wants, so that I could not rest until I succeeded 

 in finding one that I could buy, about the beginning of 

 September last, and which has fully demonstrated the 

 advantages looked for. When I have taken a team to 

 a yard 20 miles away it has taken all day; but when I 

 took the Runabout I had eight hours to work, "or 

 more if wanted." I took my exhibit to and from our 

 county fair, including a new demonstration cage. 



We simply run the machine under a large apple-tree, 

 jump off, and go to work. Well. I thought that that 

 machine ought to be credited with my extra three or 

 four hours' time that morning, and also with half the 

 expense of a team. I value it at $200. I have carried 

 five hives of bees as well as other things, and I consid- 

 er there is nothing their equal for carrying bees. Ease 

 and quickness are what are required for that. I think 

 I can do about double the amount of peddling honey 

 in a given time with it over the old way. 



My machine is only seven-horse power. I want one 

 about sixteen-horse power, and more room for carry- 

 ing supplies or bees. 



I shall look forward with much interest to what you 

 will have to say about them from time to time. Per- 

 haps you could get up such a machine. I should think 

 you could sell any number of them, as they would be 

 just what the farmer as well as the bee-keeper needs, 

 for it looks to me as if it would practically bring the 

 farmer 40 per cent nearer market. 



Manistee, Mich., Feb. 20. Walter Harmer. 



SWEET CLOVER COMING TO BE RECOGNIZED BY THE 

 AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 



I am making considerable headway with sweet clo- 

 ver in my State. One year ago no farm journal would 

 tolerate the idea of advocating the sowing of Melilotus 

 alba; but now, if you read Wallace's Farmer you will 

 notice that they advise farmers to sow it under certain 

 conditions, saying it should be taken on trial by all 

 farmers. It begins to look now as though Af. alba were 

 to play a prominent part on every farm in the United 

 States, both where alfalfa is grown and where red 

 and alsike are depended on. 



Much good has come from Henry A. Wallace's visit 

 to my field last fall, and that is why he recommends 

 its use as a pasture-plant, and the coming summer I 

 hope to demonstrate its value as a superior hay crop, 

 just as I have done as a superior pasture legume. 



THE YELLOW VARIETY PROMISES WELL. 



I am harboring a strong hope that the yellow varie- 

 ty may prove to be of great value to sow in the corn at 

 the last plowing, and then to be pastured the follow- 

 ing season or be plowed under the last half of May. 

 If this proves to be good it will mean more to the corn- 

 belt farmer than any thing of the kind that was ever 

 brought to light. That is why I want this yellow seed. 

 Yellow sweet clover grows two feet high here by the 

 16th of May, and could be turned under ; and what a 

 fertilizer it would make, and all in time to plant to 

 corn! or if sown with timothy it would make a splen- 

 did pasture ; or knock down the stalks, and with a 

 binder cut it for seed. It is a proven fact that sweet 

 clover is the best to feed to stock, and that it contains 

 more of the essentials than any other clover. Doesn't 

 the future look bright for sweet clover? 



Maquoketa, la., Feb. 7. Frank Coverdale. 



IS IT TRUE THAT WINTERING AND BREEDING UP IN 



THE SPRING ARE WEAK POINTS IN SECTIONAL 



HIVES ? 



I am glad I read Bro. Holtermann's report of the 

 Chicago Northwestern convention, p. 45. Here I've 

 been keeping bees in sectional hives right by the side 

 of other kinds of hives for a quarter of a century, and 

 do not know yet that wintering and breeding up in the 

 spring aie weak points in these hives. 



Regarding the decision by voters of the convention 

 as to what constitutes an eight-frame or a twelve- 

 frame hive, I feel sure that, upon a more mature delib- 

 eration, the decision would be reversed by the same 

 jury, for no one can deny that when a super is tempora- 

 rily used as a brood-chamber over an eight-frame hive 

 it becomes for the time being a sectional hive of 12- 

 Langstroth-frame capacity with all the advantages of 

 a sectional hive, which advantages should be appar- 

 ent to every thinking bee-keeper. 



Where is the economy in having a fixed twelve- 

 frame brood-chamber for the bees to shiver in all win- 



ter and spring when they would be so snug and com- 

 fortable in an eight-frame body? Why not make them 

 of twelve-frame capacity when that capacity is needed 

 (during the breeding season), by adding a super? 

 Birmingham, O. J. E. HAND. 



NUMBER OF COLONIES NEEDED TO SECURE CROSS- 

 POLLINATION OF FRUIT. 



We should like to know if you have any data giving 

 the number of stands of bees necessary to insure pol- 

 lination of fruit-trees in orchards. We should like 

 this estimate based on acreage. We know this is a 

 subject that is very hard to arrive at any definite con- 

 clusion on; but we should be interested in having any 

 report you could make us. 



PORTLAND Seed Company. 



Portland, Oregon, March 9. 



[There is no absolutely accurate data giving the 

 number of stands of bees necessary to insure pollina- 

 tion of fruit-trees in orchards. Progressive fruit- 

 growers, however, are asking to have bee-keepers put 

 in their orchards somewhere about ten or a dozen 

 colonies each. If the orchards are very large, such 

 as are in California, Colorado, or possibly in Oregon, 

 a much larger number would be required. We would 

 rather err on the side of having too many than too 

 few bees. No trouble has been experienced where 

 there are as many as 100 colonies to one small or- 

 chard, that is to say, that number does not seem to 

 overdo it. Whether a dozen colonies in the same or- 

 chard would do the work just as well, we can not say. 

 —Ed.] 



swarming out after shaking on foundation. 



On page 81, Feb. 1, Mr. Percy Orton says, "Don't 

 shake bees on to foundation alone, as over half will 

 swarm out." I shook fifteen colonies on to founda- 

 tion and but one swarmed out, that one having less 

 than a quart of bees. I could hardly blame them. 

 This is not "ancient history" but modern, having oc- 

 curred last season. I shook them in the evening after 

 dark, giving them all night to think it over. Perhaps 

 that makes a difference; who knows? 



Canon City, Col., Feb. 9. W. G. Wright. 



[If bees are shaken off on to foundation during the 

 middle of the day, say from 10 to 2 o'clock, there is 

 some danger, especially during the swarming seaf on, 

 that they will swarm out. If they are shaken out at or 

 toward night, they will cool off by morning, and prob- 

 ably by that time be ready to start housekeeping anew. 



Years ago, when we shook on to foundation to cure 

 foul brood in our yard, we always shook toward night, 

 or just as it was getting dark. We treated in this way 

 in all something like 80 colonies. There was not one 

 of them that swarmed out, so far as we now remember; 

 and the bees went to work the next morning building 

 the foundation into comb.— ED.] 



DO FIELD peas YIELD HONEY? 



I write to know if bees gather honey from the com- 

 mon varieties of field peas. Last spring was very un- 

 favorable. It rained three to four times a week, and 

 the bees did not gather any honey; but in August we 

 had several fields of peas in bloom, and the bees 

 worked on them all day. Whether they were gather- 

 ing pollen or honey I don't know. 



Calhoun, Ga. BOYLE Dillard. 



[Our impression is that common field peas do under 

 some conditions yield honey. They belong 19 the 

 same general family as the locusts ; and there is no 

 reason, when conditions are right, why they should 

 not yield some nectar. If any one has any evidence 

 to offer we shall be pleased to hear from him.— ED.] 



A HONEY-BANQUET. 



A year ago at the State fair we organized the Shaw- 

 nee Co. Bee-keepers' Association, and now we have 30 

 members. This winter we met with the Kansas State 

 Bee-keepers' Association, and we had a good time. I 

 think if every county could have a county association 

 for home encouragement, and then send a delegate to 

 the State association it would encourage the industry 

 and be a great help to all bee-keepers. Of course, 

 here in Kansas the bee industry is new; but it is fast 

 coming to the front, and Kansas is bound to be a grand 

 bee State, as there is much alfalfa raised here. At 

 the close of the meeting we had a honey-banquet. 

 Everthing was made with honey.and honey in all forms 

 was on the table. We had an observation nive with 

 bees in it for a center piece, and everybody went home 

 well pleased and happy. 



Topeka, Kan. J. P. LUCAS. 



