1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



88*7 



HONEY FROM ALFALFA. 



REPORT FROM NEVADA, OF HONEY RAISED SOLELY 

 BY IRRIGATION. 



E have with us to-day Mr. W. K. Ball, 

 of Reno, Nevada, who brings us 

 some samples of comb houey, as 

 handsome as any ever produced 

 from white clover; and, allowing 

 A. 1. Root to be judge, of as fine a flavor as 

 any houey from white clover. This honey 

 was all gathered from alfalfa fields, kept 

 growing solely by irrigation. As Mr. Ball 

 sits in a chair near myself and the stenog- 

 rapher, I propose to ask him some questions, 

 and have the stenographer take down his 

 answers. 



" Mr. Ball, how many colonies of bees 

 have you now ? " 



" Well, I should say between 200 and 300 

 stands." 



" How many had you to start with in the 

 spring ? " 



" I started in with 125." 



" How much honey have you secured, like 

 the sample you have shown us ?" 



" I have taken 12,000 lbs. of comb honey." 



" And about how much extracted ? " 



" I extracted between 4000 and 5000 lbs., 

 the past year." 



" What was your best yield from a single 

 colony?" 



" My best colony gave me about 250 lbs. 

 of comb honey, such as you tested." 



" About how many acres of alfalfa are 

 there, say within two miles of your apiary? " 



" Well, it is pretty hard to say. It is all 

 alfalfa to the east, and to the west it is 

 mountains and table-lands." 



" How many other bee-keepers are there 

 near you, keeping, say, a hundred or more 

 colonies ? " 



" There are none keeping over a hundred 

 colonies, but quite a large number keep a 

 few bees." 



" Are they all doing well ? " 



" They are all doing well when cared for." 



" About when does the first bloom from 

 alfalfa begin ? " 



" Well, generally about the first of June." 



" How long does this first period of bloom 

 last? 'I 



" I should say about a month ; but some- 

 times it hangs on for six weeks before they 

 cut it." 



" They cut it while it is in bloom, do 

 they ? " 



" Yes, when in full bloom." 



" After they cut it, the honey - flow is 

 done, is it ? " 



" It stops for a few days, and then it 

 starts out again. This year it was about a 

 month before we got another honey-flow." 



" Do you know whether, when they de- 

 pend on irrigation solely, alfalfa yields 

 every season if irrigated ? " 



" Yes, it does. It never fails. Of course, 

 we have grasshoppers occasionally that eat 

 it up for us." 



" When does the last crop begin ? " 



" Sometimes it commences as late as Sep- 

 tember. This year I think it was a little 

 earlier." 



" Well, now, Mr. Ball, there is another 



point that comes in here : Do they all cut 

 the alfalfa about the same time ? " 



"No, not generally, though they did so 

 this year. During the mouth of July the 

 honey-yield was not large; still, they gath- 

 ered honey all the time, and they did fairly 

 well." 



" Now, then, if a bee-keeper had control 

 of the alfalfa fields, could he manage to 

 have a continuous flow of honey from June 

 or earlier, till — 



" Yes, till the 20th of September. I am 

 going to have that." 



" The alfalfa always yields honey, you 

 say ? " 



" It does, every time." 



" Mr. Ball, can you give us any remote 

 idea as to how many acres of alfalfa would 

 be required to keep 100 colonies of bees 

 busy ? " 



"Well, I don't know. Alfalfa is just a 

 perfect mass of blossoms. It is just as 

 thick as any thing can be ; but I have no 

 idea of how many acres would be required 

 for any given number of colonies. We 

 have but few bees, and they can't begin to 

 gather what there is. I am pretty sure 

 there is enough for a thousand colonies of 

 bees." 



" Without question, 100 acres of alfalfa 

 would keep 100 colonies of bees busy, would 

 it not ? " 



" No doubt about that, at all. I thought 

 that 20 acres would, in full bloom." 



" If what you say is true, then it is quite 

 probable that the great field for bee-keepers 

 has almost, as yet, been unexplored and 

 undeveloped ? " 



'■ Yes, sir; it is." 



" How about the expense of irrigation ? " 



" Well, where they buy water, they buy it 

 of the companies, and it costs about $4.00 

 an acre to water the land, and each acre 

 yields from five to seven tons, but some- 

 times only three." 



" What is land worth per acre, suitable 

 for raising alfalfa ? " 



" Under cultivation ? " 



" Well, both ways." 



" They value land at about $100 per acre, 

 and the water goes with the land. Uncul- 

 tivated land without water— well, the idea 

 is, the land is of no value without water." 



" What could land be bought for without 

 water— say for raising sheep ? " 



" I don't know. It is very cheap. I have 

 not bought any. Perhaps $1.25 an acre. 

 Land that is watered is higher." 



"After arrangements have been made 

 for getting water on this land that is worth 

 $1.25 per acre, how much expense is requir- 

 ed to get in a crop of alfalfa — that is, how 

 much per acre for the first crop ? " 



kk About $4.00 clearing the ground of sage 

 brush, or not more than $10.00, seeding and 

 all, on good ground. The first ditch is very 

 expensive." 



" What is done with such immense quan- 

 tities of hay ? " 



" Oh ! it is fed to cattle, there in the \ al- 

 ley." 



" How often is the land irrigated in a 

 year, for alfalfa ? " 



" Well, that depends a good deal on the 



