64 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



to three weeks earlier than the first-men- 

 tioned variety. It is used as an ornamen- 

 tal tree. 



Tilia platyphyllos is another variety, 

 sometimes used for ornamental purposes. 



All varieties have one common flower- 

 stem attached to the middle of a long- leaf, 

 similar to our American variety. 



I will try to get some seed of Tilia parvi- 

 folia, which alone should be planted as the 

 best of the above varieties. 



Visalia, Cal., Nov. 24. O. Luhdorff. 



ALFALFA FOR HONEY — A CAUTION. 



Last August I wrote, g-iving- some sug-- 

 gestions about sowing- alfalfa, and I also 

 spoke of getting honey from it. Since then 

 I have had several letters of inquiry about 

 alfalfa, the amount of honey it j'ields, the 

 price of land here, etc. Although alfalfa 

 is one of the greatest if not the very great- 

 est honey-plant known, do not build too 

 high hopes on it or migrate all of a sudden 

 to an alfalfa region, simply for the reason 

 that, in future, very little honey will be ob- 

 tained from it, owing to the fact that, un- 

 less it is left for a seed crop, it will be cut 

 just as it commences to bloom. In my own 

 alfalfa I notice the bees do not commence to 

 work much on the flowers until the latter 

 have been in bloom some time. According 

 to tests made by our Kansas Agricultural 

 College, the feeding value of the hay is 

 much greater if cut when only a tenth of 

 the plants are in bloom, and nearly all will 

 be cut in this locality at about this time in 

 future, and only those who raise it for seed 

 can be depended on, and that would not be 

 many. Land here is very high. Good val- 

 \ey land is worth $60 an acre, and some 

 still higher, up to $100, according to locali- 

 ty. M. F. Tatman. 



Rossville, Kan., Dec. 25. 



[I have already referred to the tendency 

 on the part of alfalfa-growers to cut their 

 alfalfa before it is fairly in bloom. If this 

 practice becomes prevalent (and there is 

 grave possibility of it), localities that yield 

 large quantities of honey from it will prove 

 to be very poor if not utter failures. — Ed.] 



scale record of a colony. 



I wish to make a report now of one stand 

 of my bees. In my last report they were in 

 a starving condition. I was feeding. About 

 July 10th I noticed thej^ were gathering 

 honey, and I stopped feeding. On the 20th 

 I placed one hive, a two-story Graham, on 

 the scales, and balanced them by adding 

 weight at 100 lbs. My 50-lb. weight being 

 lost, I had to make it up to 100 lbs. Since 

 then I have secured another 50-lb. weight, 

 and am weighing at actual weight now. 



July 20, 8 a. m., 100 lbs. 



July 20, 7 p. m., 102>4 lbs. 



July 21, 5:44 a. m., 102 '4: lbs. 



I lost % lb. by evaporation during the 

 night, the dry weather being intense, not 

 much water. 



July 21, 7:42 a. m., 102 lbs. 



There were 4 oz. of bees flying out; colony 

 not extra strong. 



July 21, 7:30 p. m., 106 lbs. 



July 22, 5:10 a. m., 105^4 lbs. 



July 22, noon, 106^ lbs. 



July 22, 4:23 p. m., 107 lbs. 



July 22, 7:20 p. m., 108 lbs. 



July 23, 5:25 a. m., 107^ lbs. 



July 23, 7:00 a. m., 107 lbs. 



I extracted here 21 lbs. ; removed extra 

 weight. 



July 24, 1:45 p. m., 70 lbs. 



July 24, 6:00 p. m., 70 '4: lbs. 



July 25, 7:30 a. m., 70 lbs. 



July 25, noon, 7lj4 lbs. 



July 25, 8:35 p. m., 74 lbs. 



July 26, 8:54 a. m., 72 lbs. 



July 26, 7:38 p. m., 75 lbs. 



July 27, 6:20 a. m., 73"^ lbs. 



July 27, 1 : 30 p. m. , 76 lbs. 



July 27, 7:20 p. m., 79 lbs. 



July 28, 7:40 a. m., 78 lbs. 



July 28, noon, 80;^ lbs. 



July 28, 7:30 p. m., 83 >4 lbs. 



July 29, 5:56 a. m., 82^^ lbs. 



July 29, noon, 84>4 lbs. 



July 29, 7:15 p. m., 88 'i lbs. 



July 30, 6:00 a. m., 87 lbs. 



July 30, 1:30 p. m., 89^4 lbs. 



July 31, 6:00 a. m., 91 lbs. Rain. 



July 31, 6:30 p. m., 91 lbs. 



Aug. 1, 5:30 a. m., 90 lbs. 



Aug. 1, noon, 91>4 lbs. 



Aug. 1, 7 p. m., 94 lbs. 



Aug. 2, 5:30 a. m., 93 lbs. 



Aug. 2, noon, 96 lbs. 



Aug. 2, 7:30 p. m., 97 lbs. 



Aug. 3, 6:00 a. m., 96 lbs. 



Aug. 3, 7:00 p. m., 96,!< lbs. 



Now, in the above you will see they lost 

 from X lb. at night to 2 lbs. Rain inter- 

 fered a little, and extracting stopped them a 

 little. Aug. 2d I put on four sections be- 

 tween upper and lower stories; and I sup- 

 pose they consumed some in wax-working, 

 as they lost weight. I will continue the ex- 

 periment, and report further. 



Ladonia, Texas. A. B. Cox, M. D. 



[These figures are quite interesting. Al- 

 though there are no phenomenal yields per 

 day, the consumption of stores at night is 

 suggestive. It shows how much may be 

 thrown out by evaporation, even on small 

 yields per day, for I assume that the prin- 

 cipal loss is the evaporation. — Ed.] 



another protest against the sawed-off 



HOFFMAN frame; THE V EDGE 

 DEFENDED. 



I can indorse all that is said by Mr. H. 

 H. Hyde, Nov. 1, in regard to the sawed-off 

 staple-spaced Hoft'man frame. Hives warp 

 too badly here for that kind of arrange- 

 ment. I have a strip J4' inch thick in most 

 of my old hives, to keep the frames from 

 dropping down below the rabbet, and the.y 

 have full-length top-bars too; and, besides 

 that, I want the ends of the top-bar to lift 



