August, 1912. 



American ?ae Journal 



is quickly detected by them, They 

 sometimes take notice of it within a 

 very few minutes, and usually within 

 two or three hours. Did you ever 

 think how this takes place .'' Is it not 

 quite probable that the queen has a 

 peculiar and very perceptible scent (to 

 the bees) which pervades the hive and 

 which disappears more or less promptly 

 after she has been removed ? This is 

 the most plausible explanation of the 

 quick way in which they detect their 

 loss. 



Sweet Clover for Profit 



Since the attention of the public has 

 been drawn to the value of sweet clover 

 by the Farmers' Bulletin No. 48.'), of the 

 Department of .\gricullure, which we 

 mentioned in our previous issue (July), 

 the matter has been taken up in a gen- 

 eral way. Successful Farming for May 

 contains an article by Mr. Frank Cov- 

 erdale, of Delmar, Iowa, who appears 

 to be an authority, for he is already 

 quoted in the bulletin. A leaflet on 

 "Sweet Clover and How to Grow It," 

 is also published by the Bokhara Seed 

 Company, of Falmouth, Ky. 



The value of sweet clover as a stock 

 food has been accidentally tested by 

 the Editor during the past winter. 

 Owing to the great drouth of 1911, hay 

 was scarce, and a crop of mixed alfalfa, 

 sweet clover and weeds was put up by 

 us, although in an ordinary season we 

 would have used this stuff to fill up 

 ditches. We salted it very heavily and 

 fed it to our two horses. At first they 

 neglected the sweet clover, but after a 

 few days they began to eat it, and were 

 soon so fond of it that even most of 

 the coarsest fibrous stems were eaten 

 clean. This confirms the assertion 

 made on page 8 of the United States 

 Bulletin, that "stock often refuse to 

 eat it at first on account of its bitter 

 taste and stiong odor, but when once 

 induced to eat it, by sprinkling it with 

 brine or by other means, they appar- 

 ently relish it as much as any other 

 forage." 



It is very doubtful that sweet clover 

 has proper credit for its abilityto im- 

 prove the soil on which it grows. .'Vc- 

 cordinK to the government bulletin 

 this is one of its most valuable quali- 

 ties. It accomplishes this by rea- 

 son of its large roots which break up 

 the lower layers of the soil and by 

 their rapid decay add a great deal of 

 humus to the layers which lie below 

 the usual depths of plowing. In addi- 

 tion to this the stubbles and stems, 

 when plowed under, also add a great 

 (leal of humus. But its most important 

 characteristic is its ability, which it 

 enjoys in common with other legumes, 

 of fixing nitrogen by means of the 

 nitrogen-gathering bacteria which live 

 in the tubercles on the roots of the 

 plant. This enables it to add much 

 nitrogen, a most costly fertilizer, to the 

 soil in which it grows. It has the great 

 advantage that it will flourish on poor 

 or hard soils, where other legumes 

 would fail. 



As an instance of its effect on land, 

 it may be mentioned that in Alabama, 

 on poor, run-down soil, it produced 

 (iliTi! pounds of hay per acre the first 

 year, and 70 IK pounds the second year, 

 after which the stubble was plowed 

 under and planted to corn. The corn 



produced 22.7 bushels per acre as com- 

 pared with lt).2 bushels per acre upon 

 an adjoining plat where sweet clover 

 had not been grown. That 40 percent 

 increase of the crop was clearly due to 

 the sweet clover as a renovator of the 

 soil. 



At the Ohio Experiment Station 

 sweet clover increased the yield of 

 corn 4,^) percent. 



A French seed house, dealers in 

 coarse seeds of field plants, wrote to 

 the American Bee Journal Editor, dur- 

 ing the past winter, enquiring as to 

 whether there was any other use than 

 seeding, for sweet-clover seed, in the 

 United States, as they had just filled 

 an order for 10,000 kilograms (22,000 

 pounds) of the yellow sweet-clover 

 seed for a United States firm. It ap- 

 pears to be in growing demand for im- 

 proving the arid lands of the Western 

 States, as it takes root and grows with 

 a minimum of rainfall. 



Regarding the quantity of seed need- 

 ed, the bulletin and the bokhara leaflet 

 place it at about 2o to 'W pounds per 

 acre of hulled seed. They also notice 

 that much of the seed is slow to germi- 

 nate on account of its hard seed-coat, 

 which sometimes delays its growth for 

 one year. The Editor has noticed that 

 the seed which is sown promptly as 

 soon as harvested, and not stored, is 

 much more likely to germinate than 

 that which is put away for future use. 

 It is probable that its remaining e.x- 

 posed to the weather prevents it from 

 hardening to such an extent as when 

 stored away. If this proves correct, it 

 will be found best for the producer 

 who wishes to use his own seed, to 

 sow it at once after harvesting it. 



The white sweet clover is more de- 

 sirable than the yellow annual, as the 

 requirement of 2 years for its produc- 

 tion of seed makes it more easy to 

 eradicate when its destruction in cul- 

 tivated spots is deemed necessary. 

 Plants requiring 2 years for reproduc- 

 tion are never difificult to eradicate 

 from tilled fields. 



The Nationnl Dairy Magazine (Kim- 

 ball's Dairy Farmer) is publishing a 

 series of articles on sweet clover. They 

 recommend it highly. See their July 

 number. 



Queeu-IJreeders aiul Foul Brood 



At a meeting of the Washington 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, held in 

 Wapato, Wash., May 2,'i, 1012, a resolu- 

 tion was passed requesting the Post- 

 Master General to make a ruling pro- 

 hibiting any (|ueen-breeders with foul 

 brood in their yard, or among bees in 

 their charge, from using the mails to 

 send queen-bees. The resolution sug- 

 gests that queen-breeders be required 

 to furnish the local postmaster with a 

 certificate from a properly authorized 

 bee-inspector, stating tliat all the bees 

 in their charge are free from foul brood, 

 or, when no inspector is available, to 

 furnish a copy of an oath before a no- 

 tary or other authorized person testify- 

 ing to the same fact ; also, that the 

 honey used in their mailing-cages is a 

 product of their own apiary, and that 

 they are not personally handling or 

 bottling honey from other localities. 



'l"he above suggestion is good. No 

 one wants to buy queens from a foul- 

 broody yard. On the other hand, until 



we have inspectors paid by public 

 funds in every State, it would be im- 

 possible to have every queen-breeders' 

 apiary inspected. With patience and 

 persistence we will sooner or later get 

 a ruling that will make matters safe for 

 the bee-keeping public, while treating 

 the queen-breeders fairly. We have no 

 doubt that Dr. Phillips is doing all he 

 can to get this matter in proper shape. 

 It is a vital question for the bee-keepers 

 of the land, 



Noseina Apis ami l,sle of Wight 

 Di.sease 



Nosema rfpis has been the subject of 

 no little attention lately, and views 

 concerning it vary greatly. Some Ger- 

 man authorities count it a terrible 

 scourge ; others consider it of little 

 account. Latest investigations point 

 to it as connected v.'ith the Isle of 

 Wight disease. Dr. Maassen, in the 

 May Centralblatt, says he is convinced 

 that Nosema is not identical with any 

 known bee-disease. While hoping it 

 may not soon be troublesome on this 

 side of the water, we should keep a 

 sharp eye on what is done abroad. 



Supplement No. 8, of the Journal of 

 the British Board of .Agriculture, is a 

 report on the Isle of Wight disease by 

 five investigators, Dr. Graham-Smith 

 and colleagues. It is exceedingly in- 

 teresting. It identifies Nosema apis as 

 present in this trouble, and makes evi- 

 dent the fact, already suspected by 

 many, that this disease is variously 

 known as constipation, vertigo, paraly- 

 sis or May disease, in different parts of 

 the world, from Maine to California, 

 and Florida, in Germany, Italy, Austria, 

 France, Switzerland, Australia, etc. 

 But in very few instances has it been 

 as damaging as it proved to the api- 

 aries of the Isle of Wight and a few- 

 counties of England, where it was first 

 noticed in serious amount in 1904. 



Although the report mentions a few 

 cases of the disease as appearing in the 

 autumn, the bulk of the testimonials 

 shows that it originates in the spring, 

 during cool, damp, unfavorable weather. 

 This corresponds with all the state- 

 ments seen by us so far, no matter 

 whence they come. 



They say: "The summer of 1910 

 was wet and cold, and the disease was 

 much in evidence, that of 1911 was fine 

 and warm, and comparatively few cases 

 were reported. With the return of 

 wet weather the trouble has again 

 shown up, and is now as bad as ever." 



The most commonly recorded symp- 

 tom is the presence of crawling bees, 

 with distended abdomens and in very 

 apparent misery, in front of the hive or 

 upon the alighting-buard. The term 

 dysentery, when applied to this dis- 

 ease, is usually meant to describe the 

 swollen condition of the bowels. The 

 report quotes Beuhne, who establishes 

 a plain difference between dysentery 

 and paralysis. Dysentery, caused by 

 bad winter food, is evidenced by the 

 inability of the bees to retain an excess 

 of unhealthy feces, which they dis- 

 charge in the hive or at the entrance. 

 As early as ISlil, Samuel Wagner, the 

 founder and first editor of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, had already stated. 

 Vol. I, page l.il, that "the May sick- 

 ness is not dysentery, but constipation," 

 and ascribed it mainly to bad honey. 



The report in question makes it 



