APKIL. 15, 1015 



Grasshopper Enemies of Alfalfa 



What insects attack alfalfa are of con- 

 cern to the producers of alfalfa honey, in 

 some indirect measure at least, since pros- 

 perity depends upon their control. Two or 

 three common species of grasshopper, their 

 habits, and the methods of preventing or 

 destroying them, form the subject matter of 

 Farmers' Bulletin No. 637, " The Grasshop- 

 per Problem and Alfalfa Culture." This 

 new circular will be of interest wherever 

 alfalfa is threatened by an attack of these 

 insects. 



One of the enemies is known as the dif- 

 erential gi'asshopper, another as the two- 

 striped grasshopper, and the third Melano- 

 plus atlanis. Others have been reported to 

 have had a part in the damage, but these 

 are the principal culprits. Since the eggs 

 are laid just below the surface of the 

 ground, the most effective means of pre- 

 venting their hatching is to plow or dig the 

 soil to the depth of two inches. Full-grown 

 in.'^ects may be destroyed by the use of a 

 hopperdozer, a simple coal-oil pan dragged 

 over the ground, or by means of poisonous 

 bait. 



Unless steps are taken to eradicate this 

 pest, it is possible it may assume serious 

 proportions. 



Not Winter Nest but Aster Stores Re= 

 sponsible for the Loss 



Our friend and correspondent Mr, J. L. 

 Byer, of Canada, in our issue for April 1, 

 in his department, says: "It is not often 

 that the editor gives me such an opening as 

 that on page 176, March 1, when he tells of 

 so many colonies being dead." Then he 

 goes on to give it as his opinion that the 

 death-loss was due to " too much winter 

 nest." Perhaps we should have explained 

 on page 176, which we did not do at the 

 time, that the bees referred to consisted of 

 ten colonies in double-walled packed hives 

 by themselves in the Blakeslee yard, and 

 an equal number at the Hamngton yard. 

 These colonies had come from the swamps 

 near Akron, and were supplied almost en- 

 tirely with aster stores. As a matter of 

 fact, they did not have a winter nest, but 

 had solid stoi'es of aster, or practically aster 

 honey, and, furthermore, they were not 

 verj' strong to begin with, but were no 

 weaker than those in Holtermann quadruple 

 winter cases. While there was a 30 per 

 cent loss, there was only one dead out of 

 sixty in the Holtermann winter packing- 

 cases having the same stores and about the 

 same strength per colony. 



S03 



We did not then realize the fact that 

 aster stores wore going to prove so trouble- 

 some; but later events showed this very 

 clearly. The incident, so far from showing 

 that the winter nest is a bad thing, proves 

 nothing on that point, but, rather, goes to 

 show that the death-loss was due to the 

 quality of stores and an insufficient packing 

 for the kind of stores. It also showed that 

 combs of solid stores did not save them. 



Profo Gillette on the Trouble in West- 

 ern Colorado 



We had an interview with Professor C. 

 P. Gillette, Entomologist at the Experiment- 

 al Station, Fort Collins, Colorado. We re- 

 ferred to the fact that statements had been 

 made that large numbers of beekeepers had 

 lost heavily on account of the spraying 

 liquids falling on the cover crops under the 

 fruit-trees on the western slope of Colora- 

 do. He admitted that this was probably 

 true, and was urging the fruit-growers to 

 plow these crops under, or to cut them be- 

 fore they go into bloom. No trouble, he 

 said, arises from the sprays that fall on 

 the fruit-trees, because the fruit-growers 

 for their own protection, and because there 

 is a law against it, do not spray while the 

 trees are in bloom; but red clover, which 

 is chiefly used as a cover crop, comes into 

 bloom when there is a general dearth of 

 honey, and at the very time when the trees 

 are being sprayed with arsenatei-of-lead 

 solutions. 



Prof. C. P. Gillette is a friend of both 

 the fruit-grower and the beekeeper, and we 

 may rest assured that he will do every thing 

 that lies in his power to prevent the further 

 destruction of bees. 



Clover Seed Germi- 



One of the discouraging things in clover- 

 raising has been the low germination of the 

 seed, due to the hardness of the seed coat. 

 Only a small proportion of the seed of the 

 common clovers can be expected to produce 

 plants. Now the Iowa Experiment Station 

 announces that it has constructed a practi- 

 cal machine by which it is possible to scari- 

 fy the seed coats and thereby increase the 

 germination of legume seeds to over 90 per 

 cent. 



The first machine with this efficiency was 

 constructed in December, 1913. No an- 

 nouncement was made at that time, how- 

 ever, in order to allow time for field tests 

 comparing treated and untreated seed, in 



