428 



(iLEANlWGS IJSJ BEE CULTURE. 



June 



to be overlooked by an experienced hand. You 

 Itmnr that the seed you sowed did not look like red 

 clover, and weknoiv that the seed we sent you looked 

 like alsike seed. Both of our statements are truth- 

 ful. This matter will not create hard feelings be- 

 tween us, but it should convince us that, if your 

 statement is correct, tall and low clover is raised 

 from the alsike seed; and we know (and if we don't 

 we ought to know) that alsike is a hybrid plant. 

 We have raised alsike clover for several years, and 

 it was taller than red clover every time. A friend 

 on the River Road, within two miles of our city lim- 

 its, had alsike clover 4^ feet long. He invited me 

 to come down and see the bees "swarm" on it, 

 which I did. Will you tell me now that your bees, 

 this summer, did notfeed on the clover in question ? 

 And will you tell rae that you ever saw red clover 

 as tall as your alsike of this summer, which you say 

 is 5 ft. 3'/2 inches long- ? Reading: over your letter 

 once more, I notice that yon may sell the seed of 

 that clover in question for alsike. This looks like 

 an exhibition of g-ood sense, for I verily believe it 

 to be alsikeclover seed. Please send nie a sample 

 of the seed, when I will make you an offer for the 

 lot. C. F. MUTH. 



Cincinnati, O., July 31, 1886. 



Friend Muth, I can not snggest any good 

 explanation for the difficulty between you 

 and your customer. I will, however, say 

 this, that quite a good many have complain- 

 ed that red clover came up when they sowed 

 ;ilsike seed ; and my opinion is, that the red 

 clover had been in the soil, and, owing to 

 some accidental ccmditions that were just 

 right for its germination, it started vigor- 

 ously, while for some other reason, perhaps 

 accidental, tlie alsike did not start as freely. 

 I suggested the above explanation to friend 

 Demaree, but he rejected it rather vehe- 

 mently. A neighbor of ours sowed alsike a 

 number of years ago. and it did not seem to 

 amount to any thing; but several years aft- 

 erward, r can" not how tell just how many, 

 l)y accident the groiuid was plowed up arid 

 every thing hapjiened to be especially favor- 

 able for the germination of this alsike seed, 

 and lie got an excellent stand — better than 

 is often secured when we do our best. Tlie 

 same thing has happened a good many 

 times with red clover. 



The seed of alsike is so unlike the seed of 

 red clover that I do not see how anybc^ly 

 who has had any experience at all with the 

 two clovers could ever make a blunder in 

 sowing the seed. The seed of red clover is 

 so much larger it can be easily sifted out 

 •with almost any ordinary sieve. There is 

 no need of any admixture ever being found 

 in the market. We have just purchased the 

 best mill that can be found, for separating 

 clover-seeds. This mill is to be placed in 

 the basement of our new factory, and it is 

 to be run by power. By means of it we ex- 

 pect to be able to give pure clean seed, of 

 any of the clovers in use by bee-men. 



i am afraid friend C. did not exactly un- 

 derstand your meaning when you said that 

 alsike is "a hybrid ; that is, it is said to be a 

 cross between the white and red clover. 

 Now, although it is a common thing for hy- 

 brid plants and animals to revert to one or 

 the other'original parents, I hardly believe 

 alsike is guilty of such a trick, for tlie reason 

 that^jit has been for so many years an estalj- 

 lished variety of clover, and it is not given 

 to sporting any more (so far as I can discov- 

 er) or perhaps not as much, as different 

 kinclfj of large red clover. Perhaps Prof. 

 Beal or Prof. Cook will be so kind as to give 

 us a hint on this rnatter. I should very 



much like them to say whether they consid- 

 er my position on the question a right one. 

 I have never seen alsike so tall as jou men- 

 tion ; l)ut on very rich ground I have seen it 

 a tangled mass of vines, perhaps fully five 

 feet in length. 



ADVEBTISING; MTTELY IT PAYS, 

 WHY IT DOES NOT PAY. 



AND 



BEE-JOURNALS " REDOLENT OP WAX AND SAW- 

 DUST," ETC. 



J^EAR BRO.;ROOT:-Some thinjrs in Glean- 

 ,'4c| iNGS sugg-est a few thougrhts. and this hap- 

 1^ pens often and always: but I seldom get so 

 '■^"^ far as to put pen to paper to give you the 

 benefit, or to bother you, as t he case may be. 

 I do not report progress in business or personal 

 matters, as my success has not been remarkable, 

 .but moderately fair. J have built up a fine apiary, 

 in which I have great satisfaction, but have not es- 

 tablished a trade or a name that extends very far. 

 Here comes up the question of advertising. I have 

 not advertised much, and I might say, as some do, 

 that advertising does not pay. We have advertis- 

 ed in our county papers, perhaps ten dollars' 

 worth, and I know of only two customers that we 

 got thereby— two or three dollars' worth of honey 

 sold, and more than half of thp.t to the printers. We 

 advertised in Gleanings about fifteen dollai-g, I be- 

 lieve, besides ten pounds of paper with printed 

 heading, and some printed postal cards, the in- 

 come of which is a continuous flow of circulars and 

 price lists from those who have bees and supplies 

 to sell, and very few inquiries from an.v who wish 

 to buy. Our sales of such wares as we deal in have 

 been to men near by whom we know personally, 

 who visit us, and whom we visit, and who have not 

 known of our advertising. Now, I think it unjust 

 and foolish to turn round and blame and abuse 

 the publisher for this. The fact is, we did not ad- 

 vertise enough. It is not those who make a sudden 

 and spasmodic appearance in print that get hold of 

 the attention of the public, and keep it, and in- 

 crease and extend their business, and make ad- 

 vertising pay. It is those who follow up the fickle 

 public, and take them by the button-hole by judi- 

 cious advertising from month to month, who make 

 their names and business familiar as household 

 words; and if they are reliable, prompt, and pro- 

 gressive, those who are attracted to them by the 

 printers' aid will stay with them on account of 

 their own worthiness; and if not — not. 



It may have been an error, but I decided, soon 

 after coming to this place, that I could more profita- 

 bly devote my energy to building up a strong and 

 good apiary, and the production of honey, than to 

 attempt much in the wa> of selling queens, bees, 

 and supplies, though had I been associated with a 

 thorough business man instead of a professional 

 man, things might have taken another turn. 



Here follows the question of bee-journals as con- 

 nected with the supply-business, or wholly sepa- 

 rate from it. This conies up once in awhile, and I 

 have seen some publications that harped upon it 

 continually, in a very unlovely and unhappy 

 strain. T do not think there are many bee-papers 

 in our country that are thus entirely disconnected, 

 nor do T think there is any thing particularly mer- 

 itorious in such a position, or anything unfair in 

 the opposite. I look at it from this point; It 



