1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



99i 



places, the standard being - hinged to the under side 

 of the feed-board, with a nail driven into the lower 

 end, tiled sharp, and, when swung against the 

 Louse, will hold the board very rigid. It is one of 

 the handiest tools one can have about a house- 

 apiary for hiving bees. I use the wire basket that 

 shuts automatically when the bees drop into the 

 basket, should the bees cluster on a tree; but I usu- 

 ally catch the queen when she comes out, and 

 place her in a trap, and hang the trap on a pole or 

 in a tree, as you will observe in the picture. The 

 bees will soon cluster, and may be shook on the 

 feed-board, the queen liberated, and hived with the 

 least trouble. The small dark spots above the en- 

 trances are two-inch auger-holes with funnel-shap- 

 ed wire-cloth bee - escapes. A three -inch space 

 between the hives and weather-board is packed 

 solid with sawdust, answering the same purpose as 

 the chaff hive. During the winter I fill the porti- 

 cos with straw, having an air-chamber on the in- 

 side of the house to the hive, covered with wire 

 cloth, that affords abundance of air for the bees. I 

 also have a three-inch tiling, 60 feet in length, pass- 

 ing about six feet under the ground, and conducted 

 thence up through the floor of the house, having a 

 small ventilator at the roof; and on a cold day one 

 would be surprised to see how mild the air seems 

 to be, passing from the ground. My floors are car- 

 peted, and no jarring is noticeable when one desires 

 to examine the bees. J. A. Golden. 



Reinersville, O. 



ALSIKE TURNING TO WHITE DUTCH 

 CLOVER. 



ALSO RED CLOVER TURNING TO ALSIKE ; AN EX- 

 PLANATION OF THESE APPARENT PHENOMENA. 



R. C. L. GOUGH states in Gleanings of 

 June 1, that he believes alsike has turned 

 to white Dutch clover with him. Now, 

 after an acquaintance with both of tbese 

 varieties for years, I think he must be mis- 

 taken. That the changes, as he states them, un- 

 doubtedly do happen in hundreds of fields all over 

 the United States, I believe. Perhaps it would be 

 better to say that one kind of seed is sown, and, by 

 some reason, destroyed, and another growing 

 plant, perhaps of similar habit, takes its place. 

 Some of the reasons that may lead us to think al- 

 sike may change to white Dutch, are, that in many 

 seasons, on a dry soil (especially if sown thick), al- 

 sike will grow short, and about the height of white 

 Dutch, and it will also have a great many nearly 

 white blossoms. With us, about the middle of 

 June, there were many stalks of white Dutch one 

 foot in height; but the difference between this and 

 alsike could be readily seen by comparing their 

 different way of flowering. The flower of the white 

 Dutch is borne at the top of a leafless, branchless 

 stem, springing from near the root of the plant. 

 With alsike there is generally a flower formed for 

 every joint on the stalk of the plant. This differ- 

 ence in the manner of flowering is sufficient to 

 show that one variety can not change to the other 

 in the course of a season. 



To account for the presence of the white Dutch 

 in any soil here is not difficult, as it will spring up 

 under favorable conditions everywhere. The seeds 

 are probably scattered by the winds, animals, etc. 

 On a piece of ground lately cleared of timber, the 



white clover has made a flne;growth, and yet proba- 

 bly no grass seed has ever been sown there by the 

 hand of man. May we not refer this to the provi- 

 sion made by an all-wise Providence to always keep 

 the ground covered with growing plants? 



One of my neighbors has perhaps some reason 

 for thinking that red clover turns to alsike, al- 

 though he knows better. He seeded a field of six 

 acres to red clover and timothy, and was surprised 

 the next year with a fine growth of alsike. It had 

 been about ten years since any alsike had been 

 sown on this field; but the conditions were favora- 

 ble for its growth, and all the seeds in the soil ger- 

 minated, while the red clover had been winter-kill- 

 ed. Perhaps the same happened to Mr. G.'s alsike, 

 and the white Dutch came in its place. 



Watkins, N. Y. Chas. Chapman. 



Friend C, there is certainly something 

 wonderful about the way alsike and other 

 clovers come up, years after the ground was 

 first seeded, and I think that this fact alone 

 explains not only one kind of clover turning 

 to another, but the complaint that has been 

 made that seed furnished does not always 

 produce the kind of clover that it ought to. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on which a thousand millions of men are dependent 

 for their .sustenance, and two hundred millions of nun expend 

 their daily toil, must be tin- most important of all the parent 

 and precursor of all other aits. In every country, then, and at 

 every period, the in\ estimation of the principles on which the 

 rational practice of this art is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds. 



James F. W. Johnston. 



EXTRA-EARLY CABBAGES. 



Mr. Boot:— Have you grown any or all of the fol- 

 lowing varieties of early cabbage? Early Jersey 

 Wakefield, Early Etampes, and Early Express (both 

 Early Etampes and Early Express have been re- 

 named by several seedsmen, and called their "Ear- 

 liest"). We should like to hear what you think of 

 any or all the varieties named, under whatever 

 name you may have grown them. We want to 

 know what estimate of value you put upon them as 

 early market varieties; which is the earliest, and 

 which sells the best in market. 



W. J. Green, Horticulturist, 

 Ohio Agricult'l Experiment Station. 



Columbus, O., Nov. 26, 1889. 



We have tested all the kinds you name, 

 besides every thing else that has come out 

 claiming to be earlier than the Jersey Wake- 

 field. Some of them have, perhaps, been a 

 trifle earlier, providing we call loose heads 

 cabbage; but so far as sound heads are con- 

 cerned, we have not found any thing that 

 would compare at all with the best strains 

 of the Jersey Wakefield. I ventured, two 

 years ago, to plant just one row of Early 

 Express, but the experiment cost me several 

 dollars. The Wakefield was so near the 

 same time in maturing, that no one would 

 buy the Express at all, on account of its in- 

 ferior quality. Landreth's Extra Early gave 

 us a few fair heads ; but there was nothing 

 uniform about it. The product seemed to 

 be all sorts and sizes, both early and late. 



