304 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



addition to extensive germination tests. A 

 larce number of plots were seeded on the 

 station field in the summer of 1914, compar- 

 ing treated and untreated sweet-clover seed 

 from various sources. In a large number 

 of cases, stands which were, if any thing, 

 too thick, were secured from the treated 

 seed, when the same seed seeded at the same 

 rate and time, but not treated, failed to 

 produce any stand at all. The machine as 

 constructed has a capacity of approximate- 

 ly 25 bushels per hour, and requires about 

 four-horse power to operate it. It is esti- 

 mated that it can be put on the market at 

 a price not to exceed $90 to $100. 



The construction of the machine repre- 

 sents eight years' work on the part of H. 

 D. Hughes, Chief in Farm Crops. 



During the spring of 1914 and 1915 sev- 

 eral thousands pounds of sweet-clover seed 

 were treated for individual farmers. A 

 farmer for whom the section treated some 

 3000 pounds of seed in the spring of 1914 

 states that the seed germinated approxi- 

 matel}^ 50 per cent when sent to Ames, but 

 germinated 98 per cent when returned. 

 Another reports using 5 pounds per acre of 

 treated seed, from which he secured a per- 

 fect stand, while the usual rate of seeding 

 ranges from 15 to 20 jDounds per acre with 

 many failures and uncertain stands result- 

 ing from poor germination. 



While it is too early to predict the indi- 

 rect effects of this invention on beekeeping, 

 it may ultimately be of great value. Any 

 thing that will increase the number of hon- 

 ey-plants in an acre of ground will make 

 it more easy for the bees to gather nectar, 

 especially in lean years. An invention that 

 will treble the effectiveness of all the clover 

 seed is likely to mean much to those who 

 depend so directly upon the clovers as the 

 beekeepers do. 



Dr. 



In our last issue we referred to our inter- 

 view with Dr. Cook. We had the pleasure 

 of meeting him for an liour between trains, 

 and he is the same old Professor Cook 

 whom we used to know away back in Lan- 

 sing, Michigan. He was always an original 

 investigator and a lover of beos. and inter- 

 ested in all lines of horticultural work. As 

 Entomologist at the Michigan Attricultural 

 College, back in the early days, he did some 

 invaluable research woi'k. Among otlier 

 things, he was among the very first, if not 

 the very first, to make some direct exj^eri- 

 ments in testing out the value of bees as 



pollenizers of fruit-trees. He covered the 

 limbs of certain trees with mosquito-netting 

 before they came into bloom. The result of 

 all this work showed how necessary was the 

 work of the bees. Similar expei'iments were 

 made by others at a later time with the same 

 results. 



Dr. Cook was ijrobably the first to sug- 

 gest the use of oil emulsions for the de- 

 struction of the San Jose scale. About the 

 same time Dr. Riley, then Chief of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, 

 was conducting .similar experiments and 

 claimed tlie honor of the discovery ; but 

 Cook, we think, from the evidence in hand, 

 was a little in the lead. 



Cook was also the first to show that honey 

 is a predigested sweet, or, as he called it at 

 the time, " digested nectar." He was ridi- 

 culed by many at the time, even by promi- 

 nent beekeepers, for putting out such a 

 "heresy;" but now the whole scientific world 

 acknowledges that lionej', before it comes to 

 the human stomach, has already gone 

 through one stage of digestion. 



Dr. Cook, notwithstanding he is well ad- 

 vanced in 3'ears, seems to be in the very 

 prime of his youthfulness. His aggi-essive 

 pioneer work has sometimes made him 

 enemies; but all he asks is that his work be 

 thoroughly investigated. At times the at- 

 tacks that have been made on him have been 

 particularly bitter. False charges have been 

 hurled at him; but to-day he stands vindi- 

 cated as one of the sti'ong men in his state. 



The Editor ot Gleanings Interviews 

 the Editor of the Western Honey 



We had the i)leasure of visiting Mr. J. D. 

 Bixby, the genial editor of the Western 

 Honey Bee, at his home in Covina. near Los 

 Angeles, Cal. He is one of tliat kind of 

 men who w'ear a smile that never comes off. 

 In fact, we had a most deliglitful talk witli 

 liim concerning problems connected witli 

 the beekeeping industry in the East as well 

 as in the West. In this connection it should 

 be noticed that Mr. Bixby originally hailed 

 from New York, where he liad a consider- 

 able experience as a beekeeper. He has 

 continued his bee operations in the West for 

 several years back so tliat in a sense he 

 unites the P^ast and tlie West. He is emi- 

 nentlj' well qualified to take up the edito- 

 lial management of a bee-journal; and, so 

 far as we could learn, that paper is making 

 good on the Coast. 



Mr. Bixby is one of that kind of bee 

 editors who are almost every day among 



