American Hee Journal 



will germinate more readily than the 

 hulled, for the hull soaks up and holds 

 large quantities of water right against 

 the coat of the seed, and the freezing 

 and thawing of this water will sooner 

 or later disintegrate the seed coat. 



Another thing, hulled or unhulled 

 seed that is harvested when seed is 

 slightly greenish in color has a softer 

 seed coat and will show a very high 

 percentage of germination. 



New seed sown on damp or wet soil 

 within a week or two after seed is har- 

 vested will nearly all germinate. But 

 hold this seed all winter and sow in 

 the spring and not over 25 percent of 

 the seed may germinate. Hold this 

 same seed several years and the germi- 

 nation improves again, probably be- 

 cause the hardened seed coat softens 

 with age. 



[Mr. Foster is correct in regard to 

 the hard coat of sweet clover. Numer- 

 ous samples tested at Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations show that the aver- 

 age sweet clover seed is so hard and 

 impervious to water that only about 40 

 to 50 percent will germinate the first 

 year. The process of soaking it in sul- 

 phuric acid, to remove the hard coat, 

 is successful, but the majority of farm- 

 ers will not use it on account of the 

 care required in handling the acid. 



A machine has recently been in- 

 vented to scratch or " scarify " the seed 

 so that moisture can penetrate this 

 coat. We have been fortunate enough 

 to secure one of these machines, and 

 in numerous tests have found that this 

 scarified seed germinates as high as 90 

 to 98 percent. Eight to 10 pounds, or 

 even less, of this scarified seed will 

 sow an acre and secure a good stand. 

 Ordinary seed which has not been 

 treated requires 15 to 20 pounds of the 

 hulled or 20 to 25 pounds of the un- 

 hulled to insure a good stand the first 

 season. With good hulled seed selling 

 at $24 to $25 per hundred weight and 

 unhulled at $10 to $18, the saving is 

 worth while. 



The increased germination caused by 

 this scarifying will so encourage farm- 

 ers to grow sweet clover that we pre- 

 dict a steady source of honey for the 

 beekeepers throughout the country. 

 The scarifying applies to the hulled 

 seed only, as the hull must be removed 

 before it is treated. — Editor.) 





BLACK DOTS SHOW THE DISTRIBUTION OF BEEKEEPERS IN MONTANA 



Montana A Developing Honey-Producing 

 Slate 



Prof. R. A. Cooley, State Entomolo- 

 gist and Professorof lintomology at the 

 Montana Agricultural College, Boze- 

 man, Mont., has a map of the State into 

 which he has inserted a large number 

 of black-headed pins, each pin repre- 

 senting the location of a beekeeper. 

 There are close to 300 pins already in- 

 serted in the map, and if bee-culture 

 develops as it did in the past few years, 

 the supply of pins may run short. 



There are as yet not more thanl 5,000 

 colonies of bees in the State, but the 

 number is growing. There are some 

 limits to beekeeping in Montana; 

 namely, the valleys are as a rule nar- 

 row and the winters are more severe 

 than in the States of Idaho, Utah, Col- 

 orado, Nevada, etc. 



Almost all of the bees are wintered 

 on the summer stands, although some 



of the beekeepers are giving protec- 

 tion. Some are trying cellar wintering. 

 Montana beekeepers have organized 

 and now have an enthusiastic associa- 

 tion. Dr. Copenhafer, of Helena, is 

 president, and Percy Kolb, of Billings, 

 is secretary-treasurer. All Montana 

 beekeepers should send their dues to 

 Mr. Kolb and help Montana beekeeping 

 to build up well and strong. 



Conducted by J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



Early Feeding for Stimulation 



In April many will wish to feed up 

 colonies, particularly weak ones, in the 

 hope that the bees will build up more 

 rapidly. There may be some cases 

 (rare ones in my opinion) when early 

 spring feeding pays, but if your colo- 

 nies have abundance of food in the 

 hives, are well protected and otherwise 

 in a normal condition, my advice is to 

 leave them alone until fruit bloom. 

 This is for beginners; older beekeep- 

 ers have their own ideas and can and 

 will do as they think best. I do not 

 believe that it pays to feed bees sugar 

 syrup in early spring unless it is to 

 avoid starvation, then I regard it a 

 necessary evil. 



son for deciding to get rid of Carnio- 

 lans and keep all Italians. 



Picture Explanation 



A word of explanation regarding 

 that picture of one of my apiaries, 

 shown on page 80 of the March Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Those are winter 

 cases piled two deep that appear in the 

 foreground. The apiary is large, over 

 250 colonies, and the hives can be seen 

 in the distance as well as to the right 

 and left in the picture. Owing to bees 

 all around the yard it is difficult to get 

 a view that will take in more than half 

 of the apiary. 



European Foulbrood and Carniolans 



Mr. Elwood's experience is interest- 

 ing and valuable, coming from not 

 only an extensive beekeeper, but one 

 of our most successful. I am glad that 

 he gives the Carniolans a boost. If I 

 were sure of their being as resistant to 

 European foulbrood as Mr. Elwood 

 infers, I would be slow in forsaking 

 my first love for them in favor of Ital- 

 ians. The latter have their good points, 

 and so have the Carniolans, while both 

 likewise have failings. Averaging them 

 up, in my experience the grey bees 

 score the most "points." The fact that 

 Italians have been almost universally 

 boosted as being best to resist Euro- 

 pean foulbrood has been my only rea- 



Big Losses Expected 



Unless the last of March should be 

 out of the ordinary, the past winter will 

 go on record in Ontario as being the 

 most pleasant in the memory of almost 

 everybody. December was cold, much 

 the coldest month of the winter, but 

 since then we have had moderate 

 weather with bright sunshine nearly 

 every day; have had continuous sleigh- 

 ing since early December, and at this 

 date (March 12) some wheels are going 

 on the road for the first time. 



Contrary to what might be expected 

 after such a favorable winter, the loss 

 in bees here, in York county, will be 

 the heaviest in years. Colonies seemed 

 to hold together nicely until March 1, 

 but since then many have broken clus- 



