1890 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



337 



vn the combs. To extract, put a uuinber 

 of such V)ee-f s.-apes on each hive the previ- 

 ous eveniug. Next morning- remove tlie su- 

 jiers, or liives containing combs of sealed 

 lioney, and rei)lace them with hiv(S or su- 

 pers of empty combs, then take the tilled 

 sui)ers to the extracting-house, and extract 

 them at your leisure. Observe that, with 

 this plan, there is no smoicing, shaking, nor 

 brusliing of combs, no stings, and no inter- 

 ference with the work of the bees. One 

 bee-keei>er, who tried it in 1889, pronounced 

 it the "poetry of extracting.'' 



ALFALFA, OR LUCERNE (Medicago 

 sativa). At the i)rcs8nt writing. May, 1890, 

 there is considerable dilTerencc of opinion 

 in regard to this plant, especially in refer- 

 ence to its adaptaliility to the average soils 

 of the different States. In the great deserts 

 of the West, California, Arizona, Idaho, and 

 wherever irrigation is depended upon to 

 raise crops, alfalfa is the great honey-plant 

 — perhaps one of the greatest in the world — 

 certainly the greatest for artificial pasturage. 

 In the Great American Desert, where the 

 w^eather is always favorable for the flight of 

 bees, and where alfalfa is grown in fields of 

 thousands of acres, the bee-keeper can hard- 

 ly ask for any thing more. The iirigation 

 needed to grow it for forage, makes the 

 criip almost certain. As it is cut many 

 times during the season, there is an almost 

 constant yield of honey in the range of the 

 bees' flight. We Jiave reports already of 

 not only honey by tlie ton but honey by the 

 carload; and the quality is probably equal 

 to any thing that the world has ever pro- 

 duced from any other source. In fact, it 

 resembles so much a fine article of white- 

 clover honey that it will probably sell in 

 almost any market as clover honey, which, 

 in fact, it is, as alfalfa is a species of clover. 

 Tlie cuts are copied from Y. 11. Ilallock & 

 Sons' (of Queens, N. Y.), seed catalogue for 

 1890. The large one, giving the size of the 

 root, the way in which it grows deep in the 

 soil, is probably exaggerated, although such 

 plants may have l)een grown in the loose 

 sandy si)ils of the desert. 



AVe have tested the plant on a small scale 

 on our own grounds, but gave it up, as it 

 did not seem to bear honey with us. Yery 

 likely, however, it is because tlie amount 

 ])lanted was too small, and may be because 

 other sources furnislied si> much honey at 

 the same time, that the bees did not notice 

 it. It wintered over without any trouble, 

 and gave a considerable amount of foliage. 

 In digging a cellar for one oi' our new build- 



ings, a bed of it was torn up ; but we found 

 the roots down three or four feet in the soil. 

 We have tried since, and it stands our win- 

 ters here in Ohio without any trouble. We 

 gather the following in regard to its cultiva- 

 tion, from a little pamphlet published by 

 Ilallock & Sons, 1889 : It is better sown in 

 drills, and cultivated, unless the land is 



ALFALFA. OK LUC'EltXK, 



IN AVUK'H THE ROOT ( 



(iROl'XD, SEEK1N(; 



quite free from other 

 line couQiiinn. It can 

 broadcast, the same a 

 our locality it should hi 

 or at least a sufllcient ti 

 may get root enough to 

 (nit by the frost, especi 



SIIOWIXCJ THE WAV 

 iOES DEEI' IN THE 

 FOR MOISTURE. 



seeds, and is in very 

 . however, le sown 

 s other clovers. In 

 sown in the spring, 

 me before fall so it 

 stand being thrown 

 ally if the grouixl is 



