570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Aug. 



house, and but very little in the boxes. Clover was 

 a total failure ; basswood less than one week, and 

 we do not know yet what the rest of the summer 

 will bring. Friend Freeborn and wife and daughter 

 made us a short visit last Saturday, and he thinks 

 if we do not have to feed for winter we should be 

 thankful. Of honey, SIX lbs. is the least I ever got 

 per colony ; but this year it looks dreary for us at 

 the Riverside— no honey, and our garden was al- 

 most destroyed three times by big storms. Our 

 bees did not increase more than 10 or 13 in lOO. I am 

 superintendent of our Sunday-school, and Helena 

 is secretary. We left the bees to take care of them- 

 selves Sunday forenoon, and perhaps lost one or 

 two, yet I thank God it is as well with us as it is. 

 Orion, Wis., July 17, 1890. F. L. Snyder. 



NO HONEY AND NO SWARMS. 



Having kept bees for threescore and ten years 

 (but now out) I am beset by every bee-keeper I 

 meet asking the reason why bees do not swarm, 

 and also why they do not even occupy the sections, 

 being filled with foundation. You probably will 

 judge what my decision is when I say that there 

 has been but little white clover to be seen this year, 

 where once it was abundant, and the basswood has 

 been in bloom for four days, and no mure signs of 

 swarming than the first of May, some hiiving al- 

 ready killed off the drones. The winter here was 

 mild, and the spring usually favorable. There are 

 bee-keepers here that keep from 40 to 100 swarms, 

 who have not had a single swarm, and I have heard 

 of only two this season, and of them one went back. 

 It is true that it is dry here now, but not so till re- 

 cently. O. E. WOLCOTT. 



Mount Morris, Mich., July 13, 1890. 



PROSPECTS FROM THE ALFALFA FIELDS, AND SOME- 

 THING ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE HONEY. 



The present prospects in this vicinity for a large 

 yield of honey are rather poor. The alfalfa is pret- 

 ty well dried up on account of a short water sup- 

 ply. The usualJune and July storms have not yet 

 afforded the relief hoped for. I send you to-day 

 by mail a sample of extracted alfalfa honey, and I 

 wish you to criticise it closely in Gleanings. We 

 think it fine. It is said that honey is heavier here 

 in this dry climate than in the East. We took 

 46 4}4x4ji xl}4 sections from one hive, some of them 

 not fully capped, and they weighed 43 lbs. Honey 

 has been coming in slowly for a few days past, al- 

 though Field and Farm reports more honey up to 

 date than ever before. J. T. Clapp. 



Broomfleld, Collo., July 7. 



Friend C, the sample of alfalfa honey you 

 send is not only the finest in appearance of 

 any honey I ever saw in my life, but it is 

 also equal in flavor. We may say to our 

 readers that it is almost if not quite as clear 

 as water, and yet during a hot July day it 

 will scarcely run. It is as clear as crystal, 

 and exquisite in flavor. Very likely our 

 friend has not a ton of such honey ; but if 

 he has, I should think it would be a small 

 fortune if he could get it before the class of 

 people who buy gilt-edged butter and things 

 of that sort. And, by the way, we are using 

 alfalfa honey on our table day after day. I 

 never ate any other honey that suited so 

 well, and for so great a length of time. At 

 present the outlook seems to be that alfalfa 

 honey is destined to lead the world. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS" 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on which a thousand millions of men are dependent- 

 for their sustenance, and two hundred millions of men expend 

 their daily toil, must be the most important of all— the parent 

 and precursor of all other arts. In every country, then, and at 

 every period, the investifiation of the principles on which the 

 rational practice of this art is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds. 



James F. W. Johnston. 



WOOD ASHES AS A FERTILIZER. 



For some years I have been a good deal 

 disappointed because wood ashes did not 

 produce as good results on our soil as they 

 seem to on most soils ; and this season, after 

 our heavy business in bee-hives and sections, 

 a pile of ashes had accumulated that looked 

 almost like a small mountain. All our 

 ground had been treated to ashes already so 

 liberally that 1 had little faith in putting on 

 more. "These ashes, of course, are not very 

 strong, for they are made from pine and; 

 basswood ; and, besides, the great bulk of 

 them is from coal. Before putting them on 

 the ground we sift them with a coal dealer's 

 screen, to take out the large cinders. Well, 

 in one of the agricultural papers I read of a 

 man who spilled some beet seed on an ash- 

 heap. He was making garden, and set his 

 package of seeds down on the ashes. To 

 his surprise, the few seeds produced mag- 

 nificent beets— beautiful, smooth, and clean, 

 compared with those that grow in the 

 ground. To test the matter we put some 

 ashes on some of our plant-beds until the 

 surface was more than half ashes. Sure 

 enough, we have onions, radishes, lettuce, 

 and beets growing with wonderful vigor — 

 some of them right in clean ashes, apparent- 

 ly. No insect meddles with them, and their 

 rank growth, with deep-green foliage, is all 

 that could be asked for. We have just 

 planted several pounds of onion seeds left 

 over, in a similar bed. These are, of course, 

 at this season of the year, to produce sets, 

 and not onions. Some of them are already 

 up, and give promise of a wonderful growth. 

 As the ashes and ground were both sifted, 

 all we shall have to do in harvesting our 

 sets will be to sift them out of the dirt. 



POTATOES AS A MARKET-GARDEN CROP. 



Friend Root;— Just four weeks ago I put Vick's 

 Early Market potatoes on the wagon, and they sold 

 at 50 cts. per peck, for ten days, the town taking 

 about li4 to 3 bushels every day. The Puritans 

 were also sold for 50 cts. per peck about June 3.5th. 

 Something is to pay with the potato crop in Ne- 

 braska, and if I had only planted my Puritans in- 

 stead of throwing them into the manure-heap I 

 should have quite a little fortune, as they have 

 done grandly where the ordinary kinds have utter- 

 ly failed. I could sell 50 bushels per day at $1.00 

 per bushel, on the cars, if I only had them, for Lin- 

 coln and other markets. I can always get more 

 trade by selling potatoes on the wagon, though, of 

 course, it makes a heavier load. Now, my object 

 in writing is to find out whether there is any way tO' 

 make the new ripe potatoes grow so that I can raise 

 a supply for winter. Either you or some of your 

 readers may possess this exceedingly valuable in- 

 formation. I have some drying very near but 



