.1G2 



GLEANINGS IN J]EE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



This coming season I shall pasture the piece I 

 have in about 12 days later, so that, if it matures the 

 same as it did this year, it will come into blossom 

 about July '■'■^- M- L)- York. 



Milling-ton, Mich. 



r 



^■■1 



HOW TO MAKE A CHEAP HENS-NEST. 



FTEll my remarks in the former num- 

 ber, ill regard to u lien's-nest, I hap- 

 pened to find, in an old American 

 Agriculturist, sonietliinor like tlie cut 

 be"low. A common Hour or sugar bar- 

 rel is all that is needed. 

 You can buy one at the 

 irrocery for about t( ii 

 cents. 'usually. Saw a 

 hole in it like the ilhl^- 

 tratiou. only our ailist 

 lias got it upside down 

 The^'-shaped cut should 

 l)e uppermost. then 

 when l)iddy starts to 

 step out she won't be 

 interrupted in the midst 

 of her cackle by slippuu? ^tN-* em hi n s m.^t. 

 up. Nail securely to the hoops the staves 

 that are cut, then the baii'el u ill not be com- 

 inff to pieces, even if we ha\e drv weatiier. 

 The material for the nest may be g:round 

 moss, stra\v, or any thiuK^ you choose; and 

 if, in the course of time', the institution 

 should become a harbor for vermin, it \\ou'\ 

 cost very much to saturate every part of it 

 Avitli kerosene. The openin.u- can be easily 

 turned toward the wall, so that the inmate 

 can enjoy the proper amount of retirement 

 from the busy, f(ossiping flock, while she de- 

 posits her snow-white or buff-brown egg. as 

 the case may be. 



Any bee-keeper who has too poor a piece of ground 

 to raise anj- paying crop will find that a crop of 

 sweet clover will pay well in honey, besides having 



! a crop second to nothing to plow under in the fall 

 for wheat or rye. You need not fear it as a weed, 

 as its profit p-reatly outweighs any little trouble 

 you may have in that direction. I regard weeds as 



I the poor farmer's best friend, as they compel him 



I to cultivate his crops, and will fertilize his land 



j when he lets it lie idle. 



If you wish to plow it under, sow it pretty thickly 

 (as the stalks and roots will not be so lai-ge). Sow 

 from a peek to 'i bushel per acre; 4 or 5 lbs. will 

 seed an acre for a honey crop. 

 Medina, O., Feb. U, 18S.-). II. 15. Hakrixgton. 



In connection with the above I would re- 

 mark, that Ave have a fine stock of seed that 

 we can furnish for -0 cts. per lb.: 10 lbs.. 

 ?1.K0, or KlU lbs. for .Sl-j.OU. By mail, 18 cts. 

 extra per lb. for bag and postage. If you 

 have any piece of ground so hard and barren 

 iliat uot'liing else will grow, try the plan giv- 

 en by Neighbor IL I have for almost twen- 



J ty years noticed the hillside he speaks of. 



' and wondered why there was not sometliing 

 Lhat could be made to grow on it. There is 

 no mcne need of its l)eing a troublesome 

 ueed than common red clover, if we plow it 



! under, on the plan suggested, when you want 



i to get rid of it. "' 



SWEET, OR BOKHARA CLOVER. 



SOMETHING ABOUT SOWING 

 SIDES, WHERE NOTHING 



)N BLIOAK IlIM 

 WII.I. GROW. 



«S it is about the time of year when bee keep- 

 ers begin to ask the question, "Shall we sow 

 any thing to keep our bees busy and out of 

 mischief after the natural pasture is gone?" 

 1 should like to give a little of my experience 

 with sweet clover. It has generally been classed 

 among the weeds, and not as a forage plant; but 

 this is not strictly true, as. stock of any kind will 

 feed on it very readily in the cnrhj sprniy, or during 

 any dry season when better pasture is scarce; and 

 besides that it is a great fertilizer, as the roots will 

 penetrate 4 or .5 feet into the hardest clay soil, and 

 will leave the soil very mellow, and in good condi- 

 tion for another crop. It is a perennial, bearing 

 seed the second year when the roots all die. 



If you wish to seed a piece permanently, it is bet- 

 ter to sow seed two years in succession. On our 

 river place we had a barren hillside, too stcei) to 

 ]ilow, that had always been utterly destitute of any 

 kind of vegetation. I had tried in vain to seed it to 

 white and red clover, and other kinds of grass. 

 J'ive years ago I sowed it to sweet clover, and ever 

 since it has produced a splendid crop of honey 

 every year, from .Tuly till frost killed it. The sweet 

 clover has so mellowed the ground that it is now 

 well seeded to white clover, which will, in a year or 

 two more, entirely swamp out the sweet clover. 



J. F. FLORY'S SECTION-CLAMP, 

 As Described on Page 100. 



FRIKNI) Ft.ORV TELI,S VS ABOUT IT HIMSELF THIS 

 TIME. 



J' W.ANT to call your attention to one thing, and 

 1- that is, those corner clamps that Mr. Geo. Hob- 

 l ler, our secretari', sent you a few days ago. I 

 ■ have been using the wide frames with sections, 

 nipre or less for nearly ten years; but the 

 greatest ob.ieetion 1 ever had to them was it took 

 too much time to handle the honey, especially here 

 in California, where honey is cheap and labor high. 

 I finally offered SfS.OO for some kind of clamp, or 

 contrivance, that we could clamp them all together 

 with, and handle them like a solid box, like wl>at we 

 here call the "Tulare sectional case," in which 

 shape nearly all our comb honey is put up, and is 

 cheaper and better than the Harbison section. 



I thought of those corner clamps, perhaps a hun- 

 dred times; but there always seemed to be some ob- 

 jection to them,* for some cause that I can not now 

 explain. But I finally rigged up the Barnes saw- 

 table and sawed out a few, and put them on one of 

 our sectional cases, when I saw in an instant that I 

 had it, and exclaimed, "There, now, I've got it, 

 sure," and started for the house to show it to my 

 better half, who was also delighted with it. You 

 see, friend Root, we are partners in bees and every 

 thing else, as well as the babies, which are only (J, 

 the eldest 12 years old, and the youngest 11. So I 

 fixed up ii lot of sectional eases, intending to take 

 them to our quarterly bee convention at Hanford, 

 in Dec, ISfi, but being quite unwell I did not get to 

 go; but at a special meeting in Fresno, .Tan. 7, 1 

 presented them, and every one was enthusiastic in 

 their praise, and there is not a comb-honey produc- 

 er that belongs to the (.'entral California Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association that saw it, and some that don't, 

 but say they intend to use them. Their use will ne- 



