1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



PlElDlTORIAC 



Reports so far indicate general good 

 wintering, and the prospects very favorable. 

 The heavy snows in the North have put the 

 ground in fine condition, and preserved the 

 young clovers. 



As I have been taking so much space in 

 Gleanings of late, it seems to me only fair 

 that in this issue I should give our corres- 

 pondents more room than usual, and I am, 

 therefore, cutting down the editorial space. 



The bees in the cellar under the machine- 

 shop are beginning to make a loud protest. 

 The thermometer stands at 60. The noise 

 would quiet down providing we could let in 

 fresh air without also letting in the light. 

 Too great warmth stirs up activity, with 

 the result that the air is rendered more or 

 less impure. 



I AM not able to continue my series of 

 travels in this issue, on account of the fail- 

 ure of the paper-mill to supply the right 

 grade of paper to print the half-tones on, 

 which we have been using of late. I ex- 

 pect to resume the series in our next issue; 

 but in the mean time we are enabled to 

 publish some articles that have been held 

 back for want of space. 



Mr. W. Frank McClure, the well- 

 known newspaper correspondent, and writer 

 for a number of prominent magazines, such 

 as the Ladies'' Home Journal, Review of 

 Reviews, Country Life in America, etc., 

 called at the Home of the Honey-bees to 

 gather some facts for a write-up that he has 

 in contemplation. I spent nearly all day 

 with him, explaining the modern methods 

 of bee-keeping and some of the peculiar 

 habits of bees. I then told him how the 

 bee-keeping industry had been damaged by 

 the comb-honey canard. He promised to 

 set the facts forth through the newspapers 

 for which he is a regular correspondent. 

 At the same time, he proposes to prepare an 

 article or two, with illustrations, for some 

 of our leading magazines. 



AN ASSURED HONEY CROP FROM CALIFOR- 

 NIA. 



Just as our last issue was going to press, 

 containing the statement that the long- 

 looked-for California rains had not come, 

 and that there would probably be no honey 

 from California this year, we received sev- 

 eral letters from our friends on the coast, to 

 the effect that the long-expected rains had 

 come, making in all about 9 inches, and 

 that all the bee-keepers were wearing 

 broad smiles. Some even went so far as to 



say that the rains were as copious as those 

 that came in 1884, but this, I think, must 

 be a mistake. This kind of news, while it 

 brings joy to our friends in the Golden 

 State, may be depressing to the bee-keep- 

 ers of the East; but we see no good that can 

 came from concealing the fact, as it is bound 

 to leak out. If there is to be a honey crop 

 in California it should be known. 



SHALL SWEET CLOVER BE OUTLAWED IN 

 OHIO? 



Secretary Mason, of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association, recently called my 

 attention to the fact that a bill has been 

 presented in the Ohio Legislature (House 

 Bill 598), the purpose of which is to class 

 certain plants as noxious weeds, and among 

 the list is named sweet clover. Whenever 

 complaint is made, the township trustees 

 are directed to cut down, or cause to be cut 

 down, all such weeds. 



We immediately wrote to our Representa- 

 tive and Senator, stating that sweet clover 

 is grown in the far West as a forage-plant 

 on the arid lands where nothing else will 

 grow; that among the progressive farmers 

 of the East it is not regarded as a weed, 

 and when it has attained a certain growth 

 stock are turned loose in it. We also stated 

 that our Ohio Agricultural Experiment 

 Station at Wooster had issued a bulletin 

 telling of the value of sweet clover, stating 

 that it is not a noxious weed, and never 

 ought to be outlawed. I wrote the Station, 

 and received from Director Thorne the fol- 

 lowing letter: 



Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 C. E. Thorne, Director. 



Wooster, O., March 10, lOffi. 

 Mr. A. I. Root, Medina, Ohio 



My dear Sir : — If you find any serious attempt to have 

 sweet clover declared a noxious weed, please let me 

 know. I should consider such a declaration about as 

 wise as one to call red clover such a weed and will 

 fight it with all my might. I was one of the first to 

 call attention to the peculiar habit of this plant of 

 growing on soils where no other plant will thrive, a 

 little article of mine on this point having been pub- 

 lished as far back as 1877, and quoted throughout the 

 range of the agricultural press. 



Yours truly, 

 (Die L,.) Chas. E. Thorne, Director. 



Since the above was written I have re- 

 ceived' other assurances from the Director 

 that he will use his influence against so 

 foolish a measure. 



Our subscribers in Ohio are requested to 

 write at once to their Representatives and 

 Senators. Do not put it ofl^, but do it now 

 as soon as you read this, otherwise your 

 protest may be too late. 



In the mean time bee-keepers of other 

 States would do well to watch their legis- 

 latures to see what the}' are doing. There 

 has been an efl^ort made to class sweet clo- 

 ver as a noxious weed in several States. 

 Wherever such laws have been passed, so 

 far as I know they have been repealed; but 

 there are certain old-fashioned farmers who 

 call it a weed, and every once in a while 

 they manage to get in a bill before the leg- 

 islature providing for its annihilation. 



