1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



241 



however, should be considered. Where the 

 field is good, and not enough to gather the 

 product, the honey gathered unitedly by the 

 old stock and the new may often exceed 

 that from the colony that does not swarm at 

 all. In this case it would be the other way : 

 Those that do vot swarm do well, but those 

 that do swarm do better. 



NOMENCIiATUHE, AGAIN. 



DR. MILIyER GETS TTS INTO MOKE TROUBLE. 



And now our friend '* over the border," on page 

 133, tries to soothe me into satisfaction with the e.x- 

 isting- status of apicultural nomenclature. Perhaps 

 I am unnecessarily exercised, but I will take at 

 least a little space to reply to Mr. McKnight. I sup- 

 pose I must plead guilty to being- " the inventor of 

 that inappropriate phrase, T super." Mr. McKnight 

 asks, " Is there any super in use that bears the 

 slightest resemblance to the letter T ? " No : things 

 are not always named from their resemblance to 

 something else. The Langstroth hive is not so 

 named on account of its resemblance to the good 

 old man of that name, neither is it named movahlc- 

 comb hive on account of any resemblance, but it has 

 the latter name because of its contents, just as the 

 T super is so named because it contains T tins; and 

 I can hardly believe it takes as vivid an imagination 

 as our friend thinks, to see a resemblance between 

 the T tin and the letter T. Hold one upside down in 

 your hand, friend McKnight, and look at the end of 

 it. Isn't it a pretty plain letter T ? Why, the super 

 just named itself. 



Friend McKnight, you say, " It is no misnomer to 

 call the box in which comb honey is sent to market 

 a case." I didn't say it was. I don't think it is. 

 But is it true that "case" always means the thing 

 to ship in, and "crate" the thing on the hive, as 

 you seem to think ? That's just what I object to— 

 the confusion in the matter, for I think your 

 "case "is often called a "crate," and vice versa. 

 Look in Heddon's book, "Success," and you will 

 find in the index and in the body of the book, 

 *' shipping crate" and "surplus case." Even so 

 elegant a writer as Prof. Cook tells of " shipping 

 crates" in his Manual, although he also talks of 

 " crates " on the hive. If we discard altogether the 

 word "crate," I think we may without difficulty 

 settle on '■ super" and "shipping-case." and possi- 

 bly the latter may simply be called "case." 



No, I am not reconciled to the definition of apiary 

 as " a place where bees are kept," even with so good 

 authority as the ABC; neither does it assist any to 

 cite "the terms aviary, hennery," etc. An aviary 

 is an aviary, even without a bird in it; but if you 

 establish an out-apiary, can you say you have an 

 apiary there before you have hauled your first colo- 

 ny there, or after you have taken all awaj*? 



Friend Root, in that same ABC, under the head 

 of " Foul Brood," you say, " Having had to treat 

 nearly one-half of our apiary," etc. Now, do you 

 mean you treated one-half of the" place where bees 

 are kept"? Under "Wintering," you quote Mr. 

 Langstroth as saying, " When my apiary was man- 

 aged chietly for the sale of Italian queens." Was 

 the "place" managed? When you say Mr. A has 

 a larger apiary than Mr. B," do you mean Mr. A 

 keeps his bees in a larger " place " ? Does not the 

 size of an apiary depend upon the number of colo- 



nies rather than the number of square feet ? Please 

 give us a definition for apiary that shall define the 

 word as generally used. 



Rut the term that " exercises" me most is the 

 name "International American Bee Association." 

 It was adopted, I think, without discussion, and, as 

 I thought, rather hastily. The name is too long, 

 and sounds a good deal bigger than the society; 

 and if shortened, as some suggest, into simply 

 "International," the case is, if any thing, still worse. 

 " International " suggests a union of a number of 

 nations, and sounds altogether too "spread eagle." 

 It seems to me that the old name, "North Ameri- 

 can," is much better. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



Now, look here, doctor; I am not going 

 to reply very much, for 1 do not want to get 

 into a muss about names. J^et me suggest, 

 however, that '' apiary "" means the whole 

 plant — bees, hives, and every thing else; 

 but I still think it could be appropriately 

 called apiary, even if every last bee should 

 die in wintering. It will be an apiary as 

 long as the things are left standing in just 

 that predicament. If somebody should clear 

 the hives all off, or stack them up in a heap, 

 and set tire to them, then it would be an 

 apiary no longer. As it is a subject, how- 

 ever, of little importance, comparatively, 

 I think we can drop it for the present. 



THE ALFALFA BOOM. 



. CAUTION TO THOSE WHO EXPECT TO LEAVE 

 GOOD HONEY PASTURAGE AT HOME FOR ALFAL- 

 FA FIELDS. 



Friend Raot:—! notice, from time to time, men- 

 tion made in Gleanings of alfalfa; and so far the 

 items have been such as to give one who is unac- 

 quainted with the sections of country where alfal- 

 fa is raised, the impression that it would be a bo- 

 nanza to just get with a good big apiary In the 

 midst of such pasturage. I can speak of California 

 so far as alfalfa is concerned, from actual observa- 

 tion, as I have made several trips here since 1875. 

 I write as I do, more as a warninu, to have any who 

 might anticipate leaving a good honey pasturage 

 in the East, fully invcstUjate before taking much 

 risk in the alfalfa boom. It seems to me, that, 

 from what I have seen in Gleanings so far in re- 

 gard to alfalfa, has savored a little bit of a desire to 

 boom the localities in which the writers live, and 

 get a little free advertising; but I know there may 

 be exceptions. Now as to my views of this matter. 

 1. Alfalfa can not be successfully raised profitably, 

 except in a warm climate, and, as a rule, it needs to 

 be Irrigated. As a general thing it is raised in lo- 

 calities where the onl]j vegetation is from irriga- 

 tion, and, consequently, not much else grows which 

 produces honey. 3. Alfalfa is ready to c\d about as 

 soon as it is nicely in blossom; and especially where 

 there are such large fields of it, they are anxious to 

 get the first crop out of the way as soon as possible, 

 so as to get the next, and so on to the next. I have 

 noticed a great deal, and the above seems to be the 

 rule. 3. If a crop is left for seed it is usually the 

 third one; and at that season of the year there is 

 no dew, and the weather is very hot and dry, and a 

 hot north wind blows a good share of the time, so 

 that I can't see very much show for the bees to 



