American Vee Journal 



removeil on the warm days or left off 



as long as the weather was mild. This 



would not meet with the endorsement 



of the large bee-men, for they would 



not relish the idea of making trips to 



each out-apiary a dozen times each 



winter. 



*-•-» 



The Drone a Son of His Grandfather 



Who can tell how much of a disturb- 

 ing factor parthenogenesis is in the 

 breeding of bees ? A drone is not the 

 son of his father, but is the son of his 

 mother only, but his mother is a 

 daughter of her father and mother, so 

 that would seem that a drone is a son 

 of his grandfather. So there you are — 

 parthenogenesis is but a skipping of 

 one generation in parentage. I am 

 rather e.xpecting some one to knock a 

 hole in this statement, but I set it up 

 as a target in order that I may learn 

 from the drives made at it. If a drone 

 is the son of his grandfather, taking 

 this into account is there any great 

 difficulty in breeding a better bee than 

 if he was the son of his father .' 



The Honey-Flora Acreage 



I like to estimate as nearly as possi- 

 ble the acreage of alfalfa and sweet 

 clover within 2 miles of an out-apiary. 

 There is the railroad running within 

 a quarter of a mile of the bees, and 

 there sweet clover lines the track for 

 nearly 2 miles. There is -5 or 10 acres 

 of sweet clover along the track. Then 

 nearly every ditch-bank is lined with 

 sweet clover, making perhaps 5 acres 

 more. That 40-acre farm that the 

 heirs have gotten into litigation over 

 has been taken by sweet clover — the 

 lawyers will get it after a while, but we 

 can rest assured that sweet clover and 

 the bees will have it for a few years, 

 anyway. While it lasts I think that 

 "forty" is worth pretty near a hundred 

 dollars a year to my bees. 



Now about the alfalfa : By setting 

 down the acreage I find that there is 

 about 600 acres of alfalfa within 2 miles 

 or about 2.j percent of the irrigated 

 land. Then there is alfalfa in the 

 wheat, which, in some cases, where the 

 plowing was not done well, is mostly 

 alfalfa, and perhaps the farmer decided 

 in .■\ugust that he will cut it for hay 

 instead of putting in the binder. 

 Alfalfa is hard to break, and every crop 

 of wheat on alfalfa breaking has a lot 

 of alfalfa in it. This gets and stays in 

 full bloom until the bees get all the 

 nectar. 



Half of this 600 acres of alfalfa is 

 cut before it gets in bloom the first 

 time, and so is worth nothing to the 

 bees ; but wait until August, when the 

 wheat harvest is on, and the alfalfa 

 stands in beautiful purple bloom. Ten 

 years ago there was over a thousand 

 acres of alfalfa in this area, but the 

 growing of sugar-beets has cut down 

 this amount. Alfalfa is rising so in 

 price that more acreage is going back 

 to alfalfa now, but this higher price 

 also is the cause for it being cut earlier, 

 as it is more desirable for dairy use 

 than when left until in full bloom. 



There are districts in the West where 

 from 75 to 90 percent of the acreage is 

 in alfalfa, and these are the favored 



districts for the bee-men ; but where 

 we have an abundance of sweet clover 

 and alfalfa in the wheat, we get honey 

 if the season is favorable. 



What is the Parcels Post Worth ? 



A few years ago I was talking with a 

 young man from Switzerland, who had 

 just finished college there. He was 

 telling of his college experiences, and 

 remarked that he sent all his laundry 

 home a distance — if I remember 

 rightly — of 7.5 or 80 miles, by post, 

 and that it cost him but a very few 

 cents to do this. This is an example of 

 the uses to which the Parcels Post is 

 put in Europe. It is a great help in 

 getting things quickly and cheaply 

 from one place to another. There are 

 so many uses to which the Parcels 

 Post would apply that we can not 

 realize the benefit that would come 

 from it. 



The strongest advocates of the Par- 

 cels Post are those who have lived un- 

 der its influence in Europe. They are 

 anxious for its introduction into this 

 country so they can reap its benefit. 



Now is the time to write a letter to 

 your senators and congressman at 

 Washington, urging the passage of 

 effective Parcels Post legislation. We 

 are bound to have such legislation 

 sooner or later, and the sooner we get 

 it the better. The bee-keepers can not 

 realize the full benefits they will de- 

 rive from it — if they did there would 

 be a very insistent call for such legis- 

 lation, by the writing of thousands of 

 letters. 



Have a Letter File— Other Bills in 

 Congress 



When we read in the newspapers of 

 some Bill before Congress, the passage 

 of which we greatly desire, why do we 

 not sit down and write to our congress- 

 man and senators ? I'll tell some of 

 the reasons that I think cause us to 

 neglect it. We can not think who our 

 senators and congressmen are. Pen 

 and ink and paper are not easily found, 

 and we are out of stamps and envel- 

 opes. We think we do not know how 

 to write a letter to a member of Con- 

 gress and have it in good form. "And, 

 anyway, my letter would do no good, 

 so what is the use .•"" 



Now here is a suggestion: For 3.5 

 cents, a letter file may be bought at the 

 book-store. If you do not have busi- 

 ness letter-heads and envelopes buy a 

 box or a pound of good stationery. 

 Good bond-paper typewriter-letter size, 

 can be bought of almost any printer 

 for 2.5 cents a pound. For convenience, 

 buy stamped envelopes, and save the 

 bother of hunting stamps. Now put 

 this material together with a pen into 

 this box, and if it is a fountain pen all 

 the better — then you wdll not need to 

 hunt up the bottle of ink. 



Now on the inside of the lid to this 

 letter-file paste a sheet of the bond- 

 paper spoken of, upon which you have 

 written the names and addresses of 

 your public servants from the presi- 

 dent of the United States down to the 

 alderman from your ward — if you live 

 in town. It may help some to have the 

 year when their term expires set be- 



side their names. If your list is a long 

 one you will do well to designate the 

 office each holds, so that you will not 

 be writing to a State Senator to sup- 

 port a Bill that is before the National 

 Congress. 



With a box of this kind — which is 

 your "postal ballot-box" — you can 

 quickly write to any of your public 

 servants on any question you wish to, 

 and if you want to you can keep a copy 

 of each letter sent, filed away in the 

 box, the compartments of which are 

 arranged alphabetically. Then you can 

 file the letters you receive from the 

 gentlemen. If you follow it up you 

 will soon have a pretty definite idea as 

 to the efficiency of your servants, 

 whether they are direct and to the 

 point, or are evasive in their answers. 



Will you get your " ballot-box " and 

 use it ? It will be one that you can use 

 every day in the year. On the outside 

 will be printed, " Letters From Mr. 

 Common Ci/ize>i To his Hon. Public Ser- 

 Z'ant.^^ 



Now as to the way to write these 

 letters, I would suggest that they be 

 written as any other business letter is 

 written, brief, gentlemanly, and to the 

 point. 



"But where can I get the names of 

 these men ?" You can get them from 

 your local editor, no doubt, or some 

 lawyer who is in politics — from almost 

 any well-informed citizen. The officers 

 of local political organizations are very 

 well able to furnish the information. 



Our County, State and National Gov- 

 ernments are carrying on our public 

 business. Public business affects our 

 private welfare, and if we do not take a 

 hand in controlling the forces that 

 affect our private welfare we have no 

 one to blame but ourselves, if we do 

 not get what we think are our rights. 



The Inter-State Commerce Commis- 

 sion could be well included in the list 

 of public servants, and but a little 

 study of rates on honey and bees would 

 reveal gross discrepancies, that if 

 brought to the Commission's notice, 

 and pushed, would bring relief. 



I have said it, I am done, and I feel 

 better. This has been on my mind for 

 sometime; I hope it is on yours in 

 such a way that it will bring action. 

 We can all pull together and get what 

 is right — in time. 



" Advanced Bee-Culture." — A 



new edition of this book, by the late 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, of Michigan, is one 

 of the practical and up-to-date books 

 for the specialist bee-keeper ever writ- 

 ten. Its 200 pages touch on nearly .500 

 subjects pertinent to modern bee-keep- 

 ing.and all are discussed authoritatively. 

 It has many fine illustrations. It is 

 bound in attractive and substantial 

 cloth, with a clover design in natural 

 colors on its cover. All together it is 

 a volume whose appearance and un- 

 questionable worth justly entitles it to 

 a place in the library of every bee- 

 keeper. No more important work on 

 the subject has appeared. It is mailed 

 for only $1.00, or with the American 

 Bee Journal one year — both for $1.80. 

 Send all orders to the office of the 

 .American Bee Journal, 117 North Jef- 

 ferson Street, Chicago, 111. 



