56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Jan. 



no fee is ever charged. I speak as one who has ex- 

 perienced healing in this way by faith, and so I asl£ 

 you to investigate this matter thoroughly. 



It seems as though you should not lose any sub- 

 scribers because we can't all agree with you. We 

 believe you honest, and it would hardly show a 

 Christian spirit to get angry because you consider- 

 ed it your duty to write as you have ; so I trust that 

 none who love the Master will have any angry feel- 

 ings about it; and surely those that don't love him 

 needn't care. You brother in Christ, 



C. B. Peaslee. 



South Pittsfleld, N. H., Dec. 11, 1889. 



Many thanks, dear brother, for your very 

 kiud suggestions. Your concluding sen- 

 tence indicates most unmistakably that the 

 spirit of Christ Jesus has found a lodging- 

 place in your heart, no matter what may be 

 our convictions and beliefs In regard to oth- 

 er matters. A great number of letters have 

 been received in regard to the position I 

 have taken, but none written in a better 

 spirit than your own. 



SWEET CliOVEK IN MISSISSIPPI. 



PttOF. TRACY'S OPINION OF IT, OF THE MISSIS- 

 SIPPI AGKICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Friend Root:— Notiug what you say in last 

 number of Gleanings about sweet clover, I here- 

 with inclose a letter from Prof. Tracy, of our Agri- 

 cultural College, bearing on the subject, which you 

 may like to see. You will notice he says they use 

 it for both pasture and hay. I should like much to 

 know if bees are kept near this 160 acres, as its 

 value as a iionny-plant can be determined with ac- 

 curacy, that not being much of a honey country, 

 and the increased yield would be marked. The 

 small patch I had the past season was too small to 

 give any indication of its yield; my idea being to 

 secure seed, and gradually encourage its spread in 

 waste places. But bees swarmed on it continually, 

 notwithstanding the wet weather, and the period of 

 bloom extended into the fall; indeed, in sheltered 

 spots it is green aud blooming now. I have never 

 heard whether they have a "chair of apiculture." 

 Send them a copy of Gleanings, and suggest it. 



Pontotoc, Miss., Dec. .5, 1889. C. P. Coffin. 



We take pleasure in publishing the letter 

 from Prof. Tracy, and hope we may hear 

 from him again. 



Mr. Coffin:— The clipping which you inclose, from 

 the Columbus Index, undoubtedly refers to the 

 melilotus, but it does not say half as much in favor 

 of the plant as might have been said with truth. I 

 can say nothing, from experience, as to its value as 

 a honey-plant, but I have often seen bees feeding 

 upon it; and being a clover, I do not doubt its 

 value. As a hay-plant it is certainly one of our 

 best. It requires care in handling, as the leaves 

 shatter off easily; and if handled often when very 

 dry, little (xeepting th« bare stems will be left. 

 With proper care in making, it makes the best hay 

 we have for mixing with Johnson grass and other 

 coarse feeds. We have about 160 acres of it, a part 

 of which we use for pasture. We find that cattle 

 do not usually like the feed at first, but they soon 

 learn to eat it, and soon prefer it to other pasture. 



S. M. TRAcy. 



Agricultural College, Miss., Nov. 26, 1889. 



Friend C, we are much obliged to you for 



your suggestions, and also for your letter 

 from Prof. Tracy. I do not believe, how- 

 ever, that sweet clover is worth very much 

 for pasture or for hay, in the Northern 

 States. The matter was pretty thoroughly 

 discussed through our columns some years 

 ago. While cattle eat it at a certain stage 

 of growth, to some extent, this stage goes 

 by so soon that it has been generally voted 

 not worth the trouble, as feed for stock. 



THINGS BY THEIR KIGHT NAMES. 



UR. C. C. MILLER SCORES SOME GOOD POINTS ON 

 APICULTDRAL NOMENCLATURE. 



1 AM glad to see some attention paid to the matter 

 of apicultural nomenclature. It is not an easy 

 thing, always, to get the right word in the right 

 place, and confusion exists with regard to some of 

 the words in common use among bee-keepers. One 

 thing that tends to increase the difficulty is, after a 

 word has been used for some time the very fact of 

 its having been used gives it some show of right 

 to be used. It is pleasant, however, to note that 

 some progress has been made. Nowadays we sel- 

 dom hear a man say, "I had five swarms live 

 through winter," or, still worse, " five hives." The 

 word '"colony" Is used with general uniformity, 

 although I think I have seen objections raised to 

 the word, in the British Bee Journal. On the other 

 hand, it is still common to hear workers spoken of 

 in the masculine gender; as, "Across bee planted 

 hiH sting on my nose." Not only is this common in 

 ordinary conversation, but our best editors allow it 

 in the printed column. The error does not appear 

 flagrant and glaring, only because so very common; 

 but from a grammarian's standpoint, is it not just 

 as bad to say, " A bee planted his sting in my wife's 

 nose" as to say, " My wife got a sting in his nose " ? 

 Please, Messrs. Editors, exercise the same authority 

 in this particular that you do with regard to other 

 grammatical errors, and let the worker-bee be spo- 

 ken of in the feminine or neuter gender. 



The words case, clamp, and crate, are used in a 

 somewhat confusing way. One man uses the word 

 case for any receptacle on the hive, and crate for 

 the same thing used for shipping; while another 

 uses the words in exactly the opposite way. Web- 

 ster defines crate thus: " A kind of basket, or ham- 

 per of wicker-work, used for the transportation of 

 china, crockery, and similar wares." I think the 

 use of the word in a more general way has become so 

 common that it applies to articles very much unlike 

 crockery. A sewing-machine, for instance, is crat- 

 ed for shipping, when it is fastened in an open 

 framework of wood; but if the machine were en- 

 tirely inclosed in a box, I think no one would be 

 likely to call the box a crate. An essential element 

 in a crate seems to be that it must be at least partly 

 open. If I am right in this, it is doubtful whether 

 the word crate can often be used as applying to any 

 thing used in the apiary, and probably never to any 

 thing used for shipping honey, unless it be to the 

 open framework very rarely used in fastening to- 

 gether several of the receptacles used for shipping. 

 The word clamp, as long ago as 1861, and I don't 

 know how much longer, was used (see first volume 

 American Bee Journal) to mean a place in which 

 bees were buried for wintering, and I don't know 

 that I ever saw such use challenged ; and of late 

 years it has been used by some for a receptacle to 



