1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



583 



pression was, that if a season should be just 

 right for swarming, and the swarming ma- 

 nia should get into the apiary, very likely 

 these non-swarmers would get a going, and 

 swarm for certain, when they once got at it. 

 Your story verifies the above. You should 

 still try this queen and her progeny ; and 

 even if you find they are less liable to swarm 

 than your other stocks, you are making 

 some progress. 



ALSIKE NOT A HYBRID. 



SOME OF TflK REASONS WHY IT IS MISTAKEN FOR 

 A CROSS. 



TN the issue of June 1st, Chas. L. Gough seems to 

 g|F have settled conclusively (to himself at least) 

 W that alsike is a cross between red and white 

 "*■ clovers. I think it very unfortunate that that 

 mistake was made by our botanists when they 

 gave alsike its botanical name; and the sooner it is 

 given another and less misleading- one, the better. 

 In your remarks to the article by friend Gough, 

 you say: "If the seed you sowed contained no 

 white clover at all, the phenomenon you mention is 

 a mystery," etc. 



To say, "There never had been a seed of white 

 clover on the ground," as friend Gough puts it, is a 

 pretty strong assertion; and if so, then the phe- 

 nomenon would indeed be a mystery. 



Last fall with us was quite wet, and this year 

 white clover is very plentiful, especially where the 

 ground was pastured closely. Alsike and red clovers 

 do not stand pasturing like white clover. Clover 

 seed will lie in the ground for many years; and 

 when the conditions are favorable it will germinate. 

 In the discussion of this subject some time ago, 

 where friend C. F. Muth was interested (he having 

 sold alsike clover seed, and the purchaser claimed 

 that it came up red clover), I think the case would 

 be of easy explanation if one knew the history of 

 the ground for several years previously. 



The hay I feed is mostly clover hay, and, of 

 course, there is a large amount of seed in the 

 manure. Some years ago I made a hot-bed, and the 

 next year I used it as a cold-frame in raising rad- 

 ishes, etc., and the next year I threw the manure 

 out, which was by this time thoroughly rotted, and 

 the clover came up in it, to use a common expres- 

 sion, " as thick as hair on a dog's back." 



Several years ago I broke up a hillside, sloping to 

 the southeast (it being convenient to the house), 

 and planted it in sugar corn, beans, tomatoes, etc.; 

 the lower portion, which was more level, to pota- 

 toes. The next year I spread considerable manure 

 from the horse-stable on it, and plowed it again, 

 and plowed some ten or twelve furrows further up 

 the hill. I planted it in pe:ich-trees and in sugar 

 corn, tomatoes, etc.; this year, also, the upper part, 

 or sod, I planted in cucumbers. I cultivated as 

 usual; and after my crop was " laid by " I sowed it 

 in alsike clover (I had a little seed left from the 

 spring, which I got from C. F. Muth). The next 

 year [ had mostly red clover; but above where I 

 put the mauure I had a beautiful patch of alsike, 

 and below the manure it was mostly alsike. 



Some throe years ago I "stirred" with a double 

 shovel some ground that had been in potatoes the 

 previous year, harrowed nicely, and sowed in 

 alsike and timothy. It was too late in the spring, 

 and it turned very dry; and although there is oc- 



casionally some alsike and hardly any timothy, I 

 don't think the alsike and timothy turned to rag- 

 weed and briers, although I have plenty of them. 

 I don't see any necessity of making a mistake in 

 the seed of alsike, and white and red clovers, as 

 they are so different in appearance. 



A year ago this spring nay brother sowed timothy 

 and alsike on a field of wheat. On account of dry 

 weather it presented a rather poor prospect when 

 the wheat was cut; but the autumn rains helped 

 the appearance, and now he has a fine field of 

 alsike and timothy; and in places, where he hauled 

 manure on the wheat ground, at a little distance it 

 appears almost entirely red clover; but on exam- 

 ination there is alsike there also. 



Georgetown, O., June 14, 1889. S. C. Gokdon. 



The point you make in regard to the dis- 

 similarity of the seed is a good one. Every 

 bee-keeper should be so familiar with the 

 looks of the seed of all the clovers that he 

 will not make a complaint that he has been 

 humbugged in buying the seed. If tiie seed 

 does not look as you think it ought to, send 

 it back instead of sowing it and then com- 

 plaining of the swedsman. 



A NOTE OF WAENING. 



A NEW HEE-DISEASE WHICH THREATENS TO ANNI- 

 HILATE AVHOLE APIARIES IN CALIFORNIA. 



fOU will doubtless remember my letter of last 

 winter, about the new bee-disease. If you 

 are not too much pestered by ignoramuses, 

 and entirely out of patience, I will try to 

 show that my trouble was not due to a local 

 cause, but was the forerunner of what threatens to 

 seriously cripple the bee-keepers of the State. 

 With the opening of spring I find my entire stock 

 of 170 stands " gone where the woodbine twineth, " 

 and the monster making serious inroads among my 

 co-laborers. From what little I am able to gather, 

 I believe the same thing is at work in Inyo, Ventura, 

 and San Bernaodino Counties. Developments are a 

 little different now, as to symptoms, from my pre- 

 vious description; viz., of mature bees, abdomen 

 distended, and hard trembling; listlessness, death; 

 brood baldheaded; many dead, two-thirds or fully 

 developed sticking in the cell; queen a failure, and 

 moth completes the work of destruction. So far as 

 I am able to learn, there has not boon over two per 

 cent of natural swarming through apiaries in this 

 county. We have arrived at the goal for which our 

 eastern brethren sigh— non-swarming; but like the 

 man whose cow had learned to live without eating, 

 death closes the scene. 



I was sorry you apologized to Dr. Mason, for I 

 saw by the twinkle of his eye, in his thought he 

 said, "Now, I have got A. I., and I will just fix him 

 this time, because 7 just know what I am talking 

 about." That is the style of men that we want to 

 keep talking just as long as they are in good hu- 

 mor; and the doctor has lots of that. Isjow, my pur- 

 pose in writing to you is to hook on to the doctor or 

 Prof. Cook, or some other good-natured scientist, 

 who would take an interest in an investigation; al- 

 so to stir some of the bee-men of this State, and 

 sound the note of warning ere it is too late, if it is 

 not already. 



I should like to know what it would cost to make 

 a microscopical examination and analysis of the 



