i66 



American Hee Journal^ 



.Tilly, 1912. 



)>=^gs^#n 



the ground was not solid enough. Look 

 at the successes on the hard roadside. 



It usually requires 20 to :!0 pounds 

 of hulled seed per acre, !i pounds more 

 if the seed is uhhulled. It may be sown 

 as soon as the j^round is dry enough 

 in the spring, but in the latitude of Iowa 

 best results are obtained by sowing the 

 first week in May. It is more success- 

 ful when the seed is sown alone. 



On account of its bitter taste, animals 

 are slower about learning to eat sweet 

 clover than they are about eating other 

 legumes. But the fact that in at least 

 half of the States in the Union, stock 

 have become accustomed to eat this 

 plant indicates that the natural distaste 

 which stock at first show can be suc- 

 cessfully overcome. They learn to eat 

 the dried hay more readily than the 

 green plant, and they are likely to take 

 kindly to the tender shoots in the 

 spring when other growth is scarce. . 



Fresh sweet clover contains 20 per- 

 cent less of protein than fresh alfalfa, 

 and 11.4 percent less than fresh red 

 clover. Sweet-clover hay contains 7 

 percent less protein than alfalfa hay, 

 and nearly 10 percent more than red- 

 clover hay. 



The following table of comparative 

 values per ton of different feeds is in- 

 teresting : 



Sweet-clover hay %iS.i<) 



Alfalfa hay 2o.it. 



Red-clover hay I4.i2 



Timotliy iiay Q.8o 



Cowpea hay 19.76 



Wheat bran 22.80 



Shelled corn 2016 



From certain sections of western 

 Iowa, steers have been turned off fat 

 from sweet-clover pasture, and have 

 brought $1 per hundredweight premium 

 over the ordinary grasspastured stock 

 marketed at Chicago from the same 

 locality. 



The dairy farmers around Ferron, 

 Utah, are practically unanimous in the 

 opinion that sweet-clover hay will pro- 

 duce as much or more milk than alfalfa, 

 and it is also very highly prized for 

 feeding horses during the winter. 



You can have a copy of this bulletin 

 sent free to you if you apply to your 

 Congressman or the -Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C, for Farm- 

 ers' liulletin 48.J. 



Black Bees in Switzerland. — E. P., in 



the " Bulletin D'Apiculture," makes the 

 statement that the Italian bees have 

 never given him the satisfaction which 

 he secured from his black or common 

 bees. He ascribes their failure to the 

 altitude, 4t)0() feet. This may be the 

 explanation of the fact that nowhere in 

 Switzerland have the Italians proven 

 as satisfactory as they have in America. 

 Of course, we have bee-culture in Col- 

 orado at the same altitude, but it is in 

 a much warmer and drier climate than 

 that of Switzerland. The two coun- 

 tries can not be compared as to con- 

 ditions. 



-♦. 



Stretching the Limit. — A grocery 

 house had purchased 10 barrels of glu- 

 cose. As an experiment they fitted up 

 a top-floor as a honey factory. First 

 they had the floor concreted, then they 

 poured in the glucose, and on the top 

 of it floated a number of very thin 

 boards pierced with holes like a colan- 



Anthonv's Remarkable Hive-Lu.-ter.— (See front page.) 



der. Several hundred bees were then 

 turned loose in the room. They alight- 

 ed on the boards, and their weight was 

 sufficient to bring up the glucose 

 through the holes in the boards. Hives 

 had been prepared around the room, 

 and when the bees were surfeitd they 

 went into the hives and stored the 

 honey. It was "pure honey," and, ac- 

 cording to the salesman, was sold as 

 such. — /•'inaucial A'cTieiv. 



What next ? 



bj the greater or less proportion of 

 iron and phosphoric acid contained 

 therein, the difference's in quality which 

 soils of different grades may produce. 



Carniolan Bees in Finland Mr. Mick- 



witz, of Finland, who spent several 

 years in the United States studying 

 bee-keeping, and was for about 3 

 months in our apiaries, sends us the 

 following letter : 



I leave Finland on June ist. for the Con- 

 tinent, to bring home 150 swarms. Most of 

 them arc ordered by customers. I expect 

 to build up some 50 colonies this summer, 

 but do not expect any results this season. 



1 send kindest regards and congratulations 

 to the new Kditor. and wish you all kinds of 

 success. Paul Mickwitz. 



Helsingfors. Finland. May 21. 



Death ot B. T. Davenport. — We have 

 just learned of the death of Mr. B. T. 

 Davenport, of Berlin, Wis., which oc- 

 curred on Friday, March 20. Mr. 

 Davenport had been a bee-keeper for 

 40 years, operating from 75 to 200 colo- 

 nies of bees, and was well known to 

 the more pronnnent bee-keepers. He 

 had been a subscriber to the American 

 Bee Journal for '2b years. Mr. Daven- 

 port was tiO years old at the time of 

 his death. His bees will be managed 

 and operated by his son, who has just 

 finished high school. 



Solar Eclipse and Bees — Analysis of 



Honey. -The May number of " L'Api- 

 culture Nouvelle " contains si.\ reports 

 of the influence of the solar eclipse of 

 April 17th on the worker-bees. This 

 eclipse was central in France at 12:8 

 noon. The bees acted as if the sun was 

 setting, and in most cases jirecipi- 

 tately returned home. We noticed the 

 same behavior in a solar eclipse in 

 this country, years ago. Not only the 

 bees, but the chickens and the birds 

 concluded that night had come and 

 hurriedly went to roost. 



In the same number, Mr. Alin Caillas, 

 the author of an excellent little treatise 

 entitled, " Les tresors d'une goutte de 

 miel " (The treasures in a drop of 

 honey), gives the result of analysis of 

 honey from different soils, and shows, 



European Laws on Foul Brood. Some 



French apiarian associations, among 

 which we will mention the "Societe 

 Hautmarnaise d'apiculture," have pass- 

 ed resolutions asking the Government 

 to " assimilate foul brood to the con- 

 tagious diseases of domestic animals, 

 and to apply to this disease the pro- 

 visions of the law of 1881, on sanitary 

 police."- — J.fs abeilles el les fruits. 



A Nillion Dollars for a Wile. — An 



amusing incident occurred at the ban- 

 quet of the California State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association. .'X bee-keeper from 

 Utah, when called upon for a toast, said 

 in part: "Do not think, because 1 am 

 from Utah, that I have a plurality of 

 wives. I have one, and I would not 

 take a million dollars for her, and I 

 would not give 1.^ cents for another." 



Later a prominent bachelor bee-man. 

 who had been "joshed" a great deal 

 about his position, was called upon to 

 answer to the toast. He opened his re- 

 marks by saying : " If you will reverse 

 the statement of Mr. Gill it will apply 



