JUNE 15, 1915 



483 



soiue egg with it, would go to show that 

 some nitrogenous food is desirable in their 

 winter food. We are looking for more 



light. 



• « « 



It seemed good to me to see Mr. 0. 0. 

 Poppleton in Gleanings for Feb. 15, as I 

 was with him for some time three yeai'S ago. 

 What is said in praise of his hive is not 

 overdrawn. I had the care of his yard at 

 Pompano for some time, and I believe that, 

 if I were going into keeping bees in the 

 South, and extracting honey, I should adopt 

 that style of hive in preference to any othei'. 

 One of the beauties of the hive is that one 

 can always get at the brood-nest without 

 lifting ofif a heavy super right in the honey 



harvest. 



* * » 



It may be well for us who are engaged in 

 the production of human food to remember 

 that we are doing a strictly partnership 

 business. We may plow, sow, and reap; 

 we maj' care for our flocks and herds, our 

 birds or bees, and we do well, for if we did 

 not we should all starve. We should just 

 as surely starve if our Partner did not do 

 his part by giving the rain and warm sun- 

 shine, the fertility of the soil, and, above 

 all, endow the plants and animals, the birds 

 and bees, with that mysterious something 

 we call life. It is just grand to feel that 

 we have such a Partner to work with us, 

 and make our elYorts a success. 



Mr. Henry Stewart's idea of " pumping " 

 up potash from the subsoil by use of sweet 

 clover is a good one, page 319, April 15. I 

 have become very much interested in this 

 plant, and firmly believe it is to play a vevy 

 important part in the beekeeping industry 

 of this country. Some thirty acres will be 

 sown in this vicinity this season — not much 

 of it, I fear, within range of my bees, how- 

 ever; but I am pleased to see farmers wak- 

 ing up to appreciate its value. I believe 

 it has qualities that will commend it more 

 and more to practical farmers. The valley 

 of Lake Champlain, lying to the east of the 

 Adirondack Mountains, is very much sub- 

 ject to drouth, and the strong long roots of 

 sweet clover will help to produce good crops 

 of forage when other shallow-rooted crops 

 would prove a failure. 

 • • * 



There has been a good deal of discussion 

 during the last year or two as to the best 

 winter nest for bees. This is well enough; 

 but T have been more interested in the best 

 spring nest for bees, esi)ecially the weaker 

 colonies. It doesn't matter so much about 



strong colonies, as they can get along with- 

 out much didiculty; but the weaker ones — 

 can we help them improve their nests? I 

 no'tice the bees themselves hold different 

 views on the subject. Some will start in 

 one corner of the hive, another at one side, 

 while anoLiier Avill begin in the middle of 

 the brood-chamber, while still others will 

 start their brood, little patches of it, at one 

 end of the chamber in several combs. Now, 

 how can we help them to push their brood 

 forward most rapidly — by changing their 

 nest? or are they the best judges of condi- 

 tions or the best prophets of future results? 



On page 199, March 1, Mr. E. S. Miles 

 tells us that after keeping bees for some 

 years he stumbled on to the greatest fact 

 in beekeeping. He says, " This great fact 

 is, the variation in bees. * * It took sev^eral 

 years to convince myself that my imagina- 

 tion was not plaj'ing me a trick." Do we 

 beekeepei-s make enough of this great fact ? 

 It is this fact that has made the keeping of 

 fowls so profitable; that has enabled the 

 American Merino sheep to pi'oduce nearly 

 or quite three times the weight of wool its 

 ancestors did seventy-five years ago ; the 

 Morgan horse to trot a mile in two minutes 

 (or is it two minutes and half a second) ? 

 It is this fact that makes the sugar beet so 

 profitable at the present time, and potatoes 

 yield sucli superior crops of tubers; our 

 fruit and seed catalogs so fascinating, and 

 one colony of bees do so much better than 

 others with the same care. 



I was talking with a man a few days ago 

 who has a cow that gave him some six 

 hundred pounds of butter fat in one year. 

 Now, the most interesting and important 

 thing is that these variations are transmissi- 

 ble from one generation to another, and we 

 can, if we will, greatly improve our bees 

 and increase the pleasure and profit of 

 keeping them. 



Stray Straws 



Continued from page 481. 



is supposed to get a standard quality. In 

 like manner he who buys " select untested " 

 secures something a little above the stand- 

 ard so far as appearance is concerned. No 

 one can absolutely determine in advance by 

 her looks what a young laying queen will 

 do. Rut appearance gives an indication. 

 A full-bodied queen — that is, one well de- 

 veloped in size — will probably do better 

 work in egg-laying than one whose abdomen 

 is a little smaller. But this is not necessa- 

 rily true, for there are exceptions. — Ed.] 



