1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



721 



great liking- for the odor of propolis in and 

 around their premises. I believe the pro- 

 polis was reduced with alcohol. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 In reply to a correspondent, Dr. Miller 

 indulires in the following piece of logic, and 

 it setins to be correct: 



If Dr. r, ilhip is right in Faying that queens leared 

 by the D )oliitlf plan or by any other plan than by 

 swarminof or Miperseding are necessarily inferior, 

 then Mr DooHU'e is either ignorant or di-honest. It 

 is easier lor r-.e t" b^ lieve that Dr. Gallup is utterly 

 wrong than to btlive 'hat Mr Doolitlle is either a 

 fool or a fraud. N.-iiher does Mr. Doolittle stand 

 alone, for r latpe number of others that I believe are 

 intelligent and honest stand with him. 



BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



I guess we'll have to call them twin cou- 

 sins. Gran'pa W. Z. says each of his twin 

 daughters — well, I can't exactly state it ; 

 but Nora's is a little girl and Cora's is a 

 bo}^ Set 'em up in smalt, caps, W. Z., 

 and give us a half-tone of them in due time. 

 \»/ 



Mr. Hutchinson brings out a splendid 

 issue for August. The article from Mr. 

 M. A. Gill, on alfalfa, is of unusual impor- 

 tance to the bee-keeper and the farmer as 

 well. I make the following copious quota- 

 tions from it: 



I say again that it is >iot a fact that alfalfa cut before 

 it conies into bloom makes the best hay; and I know 

 of many careful, thoughtful farmers who were once 

 led into that practice who are now letting their alfalfa 

 stand until it reaches that certain stage when it con- 

 tains, and will retain, the most food value. 



Who can not remember when this same fallacy was 

 taught by some, and imitated by others, in regard to 

 cutting wheat and corn, and even the digging of pota- 

 toes, while in a immature state? 



Some years ago the Experiment Station of New 

 Mexico carried on a series of experiments to find out 

 at what stage of development the alfalfa plant would 

 make the most pounds of the best hay. As I under- 

 stand it, they made four cuttings of the first crop. 

 First, when about half grown ; again just before it 

 came into bloom; then while in full bloom; and again 

 after it had gone so seed. 



They then took four bunches of steers and fed them 

 the same number of pounds from the four different 

 cuttings, and weighed each bunch of steers every five 

 (lays during the experiment, which lasted some (10 

 days. The re-ult was that five steers rf/V'rf during the 

 experiment from the first cutting, while the best 

 results were from the cutting made in J'li/l bloom; and 

 that cutting made 500 lbs. more hay per acre than any 

 other. 



Much good could be done by the hundreds of bee- 

 keepers in the West who buy hay if they would bring 

 this matter before the farmers, not arbitrarily, but 

 candidly, and insist that the hay they buy shall have 

 been cut when in full bloom, and offer to pay a dollar 

 per ton more for it. They can afford to do this, 

 because it is ?vo> th it for feeding purposes. 



Much good, too, would come if bee-keepers and 

 writers and editors would cease talking this "tommy 

 rot," which, in fact, is only another "Wiley '_' canard. 



Again, we read, occasionally, that the delicious al- 

 falfa honey will soon be a thing of the past. Let me 

 say that, if any one " unter der linden " in Wisconsin, 

 among the clover and buckwheat fields further East, 

 among the mangrove and orange fields in I-'lorida, or 

 even in the great forests of Cuba, is laboring under 

 this delusion, let him be at once undeceived. Alfalfa 

 has been the "sheet anchor" of the great arid West, 

 and is her hope for the future. 



Comparison with other vegetables shows 

 that exceedingly immature fruit is not so 

 good as when ripeness has just been reach- 

 ed ; and it certainly seems as if alfalfa cut 

 four or even six times a year could not have 



the nutritious qualities that might be ex- 

 , pected of it when the blooming period has 

 just past. 



"1^ 



(o)®Minrii5ii=^ 



USING FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION. 



"Did you see that flash of lightning, 

 Mrs. D.? Crash! bang! How the thunder 

 rends the air. That on-coming cloud is 

 awfully black. Looks like another cloud- 

 burst, and to-day is August first. Rained 

 28 out of 30 days in June, and the account 

 shows only seven days out of the 31 in July 

 on which it did not rain more or less — gen- 

 erally more. Hay is rotting in the fields 

 by the hundreds of tons; wheat in the shock 

 is soaked and ready to grow; potatoes struck 

 with the rot, bligbt so the vines make a hor- 

 rid stench, equaled only by four- fifths of 

 the potatoes in each hill which are already 

 decayed so they will not hold together in 

 digging. Why, Brown ! where did you 

 come from? Got here just in time. My! 

 how it rains! " 



"I hurried till I am out of breath. I'm 

 glad I got here in time. How's this for 

 bees?" 



"It makes little diff"erence with the bees 

 for the next two weeks whether it rains or 

 shines, as the clover has gone in the wet, 

 and buckwheat will not open before August 

 12 to 15 — bang! I believe the house was 

 struck." 



"I guess not. But it was a close call. 

 See how it pours. Every thing is all afloat 

 already." 



"The ground was already full of water, 

 so it takes little to make things standing in 

 water. But it begins to look a little lighter, 

 which shows that the worst is past. What 

 brought you over here such a day as this?" 



"It was so wet I could do nothing else, so 

 I thought I would come over and talk over 

 the matter of using comb foundation. What 

 I wish to know is which pays better — to put 

 full sheets of foundation in the brood-frames, 

 or put in only starters and let the bees fill 

 the frames with natural comb." 



" That depends a good deal on the wants 

 of the apiarist. If he is working for ex- 

 tracted honey, and wishes his frames filled 

 with worker comb, so that he can use these 

 combs in any place in the apiarj-, then it 

 is almost a necessity to use foundation." 



"Why?" 



"Otherwise only drone comb will be 

 built in the upper stories, over the brood- 

 combs, especially where a queen-excluder 

 is used, as it is best to do when working 

 for extracted honey." 



"Why would drone comb be built under 



