354 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



of course, the bees that remain simply wait for 

 the young queen to hatch and become fertiliz- 

 ed and begin to lay. If there is a plurality of 

 them, there will likely be a small swarming-out 

 with each. 



C. M. T., I??.— The honey referred to in this 

 journal, that was raised to a temperature of ISO 

 degrees, was not made darker; but when honey 

 is brought to a boiling -point, and licpt there, it 

 will turn darker, and its flavor will be injured. 

 It is possible that some honeys would be affect- 

 ed by a temperature of even 180 degrees. That 

 of which I spoke was from white clover. In 

 any event you must observe the precaution of 

 bringing it up to ISOdegrees and then take it off 

 the stove immediately, and seal while hot. An 

 ordinary thermometer would do to register the 

 temperature. Those sold for dairy purposes 

 would be better, of course. 



E. S. S., IncZ.— Replying to your question No. 

 1, I would say that, by feeding, you can make 

 your bees considerably stronger. We would 

 recommend the Boardman feeder, as given on 

 page 27 of our catalog. The bees should be fed 

 along nearly up to the time the honey is coming 

 in, and then, of course, feeding should stop. 2. 

 You can begin feeding almost any time now. 3. 

 Yes, we would feed even the colonies already 

 well supplied with stores. By sending to H. R. 

 Boardman you will get some good reasons why 

 colonies well supplied should be fed. 4. It is 

 generally advisable to feed either at the en- 

 trance of the hive or inside of it. There are 

 certain cases when bees can be fed out of doors; 

 but the trouble is. some colonies will get more 

 than their share, and usually it is the stronger 

 colonies that get the most. In such outdoor 

 feeding it is generally safer to use very thin 

 sugar syrup, or inferior sweet of some kind, the 

 same as is spoken of in the ABC book you 

 have. Yes, you can feed the bees meal to stim- 

 ulate brood-rearing, as is explained in the ABC 

 of Bee Culture; but it is not absolutely necessa- 

 ry, and of late years we have not practiced it at 

 all, because natural pollen comes in as soon as 

 the bees really need it. 



ADULTERATION NOT PRACTICED IN CALIFORNIA. 



LiCalifornia can not afford to mix honey with 

 any thing, but I think a large amount of our 

 honey is mixed after it goes east. They have 

 put up a great cry that we mix our honey, just 

 to shield themselves. The reason I make this 

 statement is, our honey-buyers here often get 

 letters from Chicago and Kansas City like this: 

 " A man here needs a car of honey for flavor- 

 ing;" or, "A manufacturer needs a car;" or, 



" A syrup man wants a car for mixing." I want 

 to know what they call it after it is mixed. It 

 is apt to be "Pure California Honey." Then 

 they cry at us, "Thief! thief!" so all will run 

 after us and hiss, while the real thief goes free. 

 Selma, Cal. O. W. Stearns. 



OUR EXPERIENCE WITH SWEET CLOVER, AL- 

 FALFA, KAFFIR CORN, ETC. 



The bees work on sweet clover well. The 

 first we fed to our stock was cut quite small, 

 and the horses or cows did not eat any of it for 

 about a day; but when they tasted it they pre- 

 ferred it to any thing else. It is the same way 

 with red or alsike clover. When our stock are 

 used to eating prairie hay they will not eat 

 clover until they have had a little time to be- 

 come accustomed to it. 



We have raised the Kaffir corn for several 

 years, and think it good. The seed is excellent, 

 especially for chickens; but for fodder, the 

 sugar cane 'is a little better. Both stand dry 

 weather well. The great advantage they have 

 in a dry season over maize is that, after a long 

 dry spell, they will take a second shoot and do 

 well, which the corn will not do if it is too far 

 advanced when rain does come. I have grown 

 alfalfa and alsike clover side by side, and we 

 could hardly see a bee on the alfalfa; but after 

 my alsike died out in the winter of 1892 the 

 bees worked some on alfalfa; but when our 

 seasons become more moist, which will enable 

 us to grow alsike, I would not exchange one 

 acre of it for five of alfalfa for bees. 



Our weather is fine, and prospects are good. 

 Our bees gathered plenty of stores and some 

 surplus last season. J. T. Van Petten. 



Linn, Kan., April 1.5. 



[The great advantage of alfalfa for honey is 

 in the fact that it is grown in many places by 

 the hundreds and chousands of acres. Where 

 irrigation is practiced, it seems to be a sure 

 thing season after season. Now, there is no 

 place in the world where alsike clover is grown 

 in this way or on this large scale— at least, 1 do 

 not know of any such place. Again, alsike 

 blossoms only once in a season, while alfalfa, if 

 I am right about it, blossoms three or four 

 times, so that, in a locality where it is raised 

 on a large scale, there is pasture for bees some- 

 where on the alfalfa during almost the whole 

 season. I think you are right, however, in 

 thinking that alsike gives a larger amount per 

 acre, usually, than alfalfa. — A. I. R.] 



'sweet clover IN KANSAS. 



I have grown sweet clover for four years. I 

 first got 4 lbs. from James Vick, but the chick- 

 ens destroyed most of it: but I saved some seed. 

 Last year I raised about 1^2 acres of seed which 

 turned out well. It would average about i}4 to 

 5 ft. high. When it was just in its prime I had 

 a boy cultivating corn and trying to fish at the 

 same time — two jobs that never would work 

 together right. However, the horses got fright- 

 ened and ran away. They made good time till 

 they got to the sweet-clover patch, which they 



