Ueccmber, 1916. 



41fl 



American ^ee Journal 



Ifer--., 



■■<^'^^rl 



through mishap the horses have been 

 stung to death, and the driver and his 

 companion have only escaped by taking 

 headlong to their heels. 



At last, however, at a late hour in 

 the night on account of the desired 

 coolness and, also, that it may not be 

 in the dark of the early morning when 

 the cart comes to the dangerous track 

 on the different moors or heathery 

 hills, the valuable cargo is started on 

 its journey. Often it is late in the 

 morning when it arrives at its destina- 

 tion, the men, horses, and inevitable 

 dog looking very tired. 



The shepherd, who for a small sum 

 per hive is to keep an eye on the api- 

 ary, is on the spot, and in a short time 

 the hives are set safely inside the dis- 

 used circular sheep-fold and the bees 

 are let out. In one circling sweep they 

 seem to find their bearings, and settling 

 down to work industriously, are soon 

 coming back with their burdens. 



It is seldom the border beeman 

 makes a mistake, and dispatches his 

 treasures to any reaches of purpling 

 heather deficient in the requisite nectar. 



He not only certifies his inquiries as 

 to the condition of the heather whether 

 it is moorland or mountain, but can 

 tell at once by the very color of it if 

 there is honey. When he arrives with 

 his bees, if the night has been dewy 

 and the morning balmy, as likely as 

 not he walks through the heather and 

 notices how the pollen whitens his 

 boots, thus enabling him the better to 

 judge of its honeyed conditions. 



Sometimes the shepherd has from 

 600 to 1000 hives in his charge, and, 

 incidentally, his dogs', too, the real 

 guardians of his domain, which may 

 cover from 3000 to 4000 acres of moor- 

 land or hilly slopes. 



Seldom are the bees on the heather 

 for more than a fortnight. The chilly 

 nights of September bring the beekeep- 

 ers back for their well-filled hives, and 

 the prospect of probable gains. 



Thundersley, England. 



Theory vs. Practice 



BY A. S. PARSONS. 



■ DO not want you, dear readers, to 

 get the impression from what I am 

 about to say that I am opposed to 

 education or advanced ideas, so long 

 as they are based on common sense. I 

 am convinced that we as a people or as 

 a nation are depending too much upon 

 theory and losing sight of some of the 

 good lessons taught us by experience 

 and practice. 



I will recite a few instances where in 

 my opinion experience does not verify 

 theory. My first experience in feeding 

 alfalfa dates back to about 1887. At 

 that time I was living in Garden City, 

 Kan. I had bought a 5-acre tract of 

 land and had to have a horse and con- 

 sequently something to feed it. Alfalfa 

 being the principal forage crop I 

 bought a load of the nicest, brightest, 

 green alfalfa hay I could find. 



The amount of that hay my horse 

 consumed was wonderful. I could 

 hardly get the harness buckled on in 

 the morning, but by noon it was so 

 loose it looked like it would fall off. I 

 was told this hay was second cutting, 

 cut when just beginning to bloom, just 

 the time when theoretical science is 



now advising all alfalfa to be cut. They 

 tell us that chemical analysis shows 

 this to be the proper time. I com- 

 plained and was told I should feed the 

 first cutting, as that was best, so I 

 bought a load of first cutting. When 

 that was delivered I noticed quite a 

 few seed pods and some dry bloom. It 

 was not so bright, and my horse did 

 not eat it so freely, but he gained in 

 flesh and I soon learned I could dis- 

 pense with grain and keep him in good 

 shape. This was the beginning of ob- 

 servations that have proven to my en- 

 tire satisfaction that the farmer who 

 cuts his alfalfa before it gets in full 

 bloom is making a mistake. 



Only a short time ago we were told 

 by theoretical men that sweet clover 

 was a pernicious weed unfit for any- 

 thing useful, and I think some States 

 even passed laws making it a penal 

 offense for a farmer to allow it to 

 grow on the wayside. But some 

 "cranks" kept saying it made good 

 hay and would grow where nothing 



else would, until it simply had to be 

 recognized. 



And now I am told that our experts 

 have discovered that our alfalfa is 

 stricken with a disease that is threaten- 

 ing to annihilate it entirely, and that 

 we will never be able to get the crops 

 of honey we have been accustomed to 

 harvesting; but I believe that when we 

 get back to normal seasons we will get 

 just as much honey per acre as ever. 

 The last two seasons in the Arkansas 

 Valley have been exceptionally unfavor- 

 able to the secretion of nectar. Time 

 will decide this question. 



In the spring of 1903 I came to Colo- 

 rado and cast my lot with the beekeep- 

 ers. I shipped in 125 colonies from 

 Texas and got a nice crop of honey. 

 Then came the question of wintering. 

 I was advised to pack them by banking 

 on the northeast and west sides with 

 something dry and put a super on top 

 filled with chaff or leaves. I did so, 

 using the utmost care to do a thorough 

 job of it. About March 1, a neighbor 



FIG. QS.-ACACIA OR SILVER WATTLE lAcaaa ifeal/:,iU)-{Pbotoeraph by M. C. Richler 



