SEPTEMBER 1, 1915 



697 



SO crood (hat I'lide Sam, as we happen to 

 know, came very near at one time making a 

 bid for his services. 



Our Sweet-clover Cover in Last Issue 



We failed to state editoriallj' in our issue 

 for August !•> that the cover picture for 

 that issue was made from a small vest- 

 pocket kodak. size, by Miss Mary Porter, 

 daughter of Mr. W. L. Porter, formerly of 

 Denver, but now of Caldwell, Idaho. Miss 

 Potter, a schoolteacher and an ardent bee- 

 keeper herself, was in attendance at the 

 National convention of beekeepers last win- 

 ter. She showed us the picture she had 

 taken of a very rank growth of sweet clover 

 along one of the irrigating ditches of Idaho, 

 and wondered what kind of a cover picture 

 it would make. It seems that at the time 

 it was taken she was standing on the bridge, 

 for the railing shows in the foreground. 



The growth of sweet clover is sometimes 

 enormous, but it is seen at its best along 

 t^ome of the irrigating-ditches of the West. 

 The picture is a fair sample. 



By the way, we would not dare to show 

 Miss Porter's picture for fear some half a 

 dozen young men would write her propos- 

 ing marriage. We liave in times past shown 

 I lie faces of a number of single good-look- 

 ing 3'oung women beekeepers. In several 

 instances they have been surprised, amused, 

 or shocked by several proposals of mar- 

 riage. So far as we know these pretentious 

 vouths have been turned down flat or ignor- 

 ed. 



The Great War and the Wet Season 



Ex'EEY now and then we hear statements 

 to the eft'ect tliat the great war is responsi- 

 ble for the almost continuous rains this 

 season ; and even a prominent lecturer on 

 our Chautauqua course went so far as to 

 state that the " scientists " of the country 

 •" agreed '' that the heavy cannonading in 

 Europe was responsible for the large 

 amount of precipitation this year. The 

 facts arc. the "scientists" of the country 

 do not hold that view. The United Slates 

 Weather Bureau has repeatedly said tl'.ere 

 is iio relation between heavy explosions and 

 rainfall. Some years ago France wasted 

 tliousands upon thousands of dollars in ex- 

 periments to test out this very thing. Sim- 

 ilar tests were made in Texas, but results 

 were always negative. 



The claim tliat rains have fallowed great 

 battles is not always true; and when rains 

 have happened it has been simply a coinci- 

 dence. If the great war is responsible for 



tlie Hoods and rains in many localities in 

 the northern parts of the United States this 

 year, why did not that same great war do 

 the same last summer? Why did it not 

 make it rain in Texas and Florida iliis 

 year? On the contrary, there was a long 

 drouth in both places. 



There have been seasons of almost con- 

 tinuous rains before without wars big or 

 little anywhere. This talk about "scientists 

 agreeing" that severe concussions induced 

 by cannonading bring on precipitation is 

 nonsense. It is true we can lay a great 

 many things to the war, but it is not re- 

 sporisible for everything. 



Those Large Quadruple Winter Cases 

 or Tenement Hives; Have They 

 Made Good? 



We should be glad to get reports from 

 those who have tried out the large winter 

 cases that hold four colonies on the tene- 

 ment plan. Some call them Holtermann 

 vv'inter cases; others the quadruple winter 

 case, and still others tenement hives. As a 

 matter of fact, Mr. Holtermann did not in- 

 v-ent the case bearing his name, and does 

 not claim that he did; but he does use a 

 simple construction, one of the best, and 

 hence the name. There are other cases built 

 on the same principle, one used by Mr. A. 

 C. Ames, of Peninsula, Ohio. 



Whatever the modification, the principle 

 is much the same — using four colonies 

 (back and sides together) to utilize the heat 

 of each cluster, leaving only one side and 

 one end and tlie top of the hive to be pro- 

 tected b3- packing and the outside case. 

 For cold climates, and for excessively cold 

 winters in milder climates the quadruple 

 winter case has so far scored exceedingly 

 well. But it is no cheaper than a double- 

 walled packed hive. The amount of lumber 

 that these eases recjuire is just as much, and 

 the labor of packing and unpacking in the 

 fall and spring is vastly more. On the other 

 hand it is argued that, if bees do winter 

 better on the tenement plan, we can aiiford 

 to pay more, both in labor and material. 



Who invented those big tenement eases? 

 We do not know, and it is not important; 

 but our readers will find the tenement chalif 

 hive described in the early volumes of 

 Gleanings and illustrated in the frontis- 

 piece in early editions of our ABC and 

 .X Y Z of Bee Culture, in the early '80's. 

 We used one for several years, and invari- 

 ably it gave Us good results. In the early 

 days the veteran, E. France, used it, and 

 later his s<^u, Mr. N. E. France, for many 



