Skptember, 1919 



G f; K A N T N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



565 



NEVADA COMB-HONEY WIZARD 



Alfalfa 

 Hay, 



Comb 

 Alfalfa 



MOST of Ne- 

 V a (1 a i s 

 iiiountaiii- 

 oiis and much of 

 it is desert coun- 

 try ; but Harry 

 Warren, the 

 comb -honey 

 wizard, lives in 

 one of the finest 



alfalfa sections of the State, about 75 miles 

 from Eeno, between the towns of Wabuska 

 and Yerington. As one approaches his home 

 he sees a grove in the center of large fields 



Honey, Alfalfa 

 Seed in Carlots 



By E. R. Root 



Fig. 1. — Three big tractors and two threshing ma- 

 chines held in reserve for operating the big alfalfa 

 ranch run for hay, seed, and honey. 



of alfalfa — alfalfa for hay, alfalfa for seed, 

 and last but not least, alfalfa for comb hon- 

 ey. In order that the Union Land & Cattle 

 Company and the subsidiary company, the 

 L'nion Honey Company, may carry on their 

 extensive operations, they have the latest 

 and best machinerj' available, including 

 mammoth tractors, gang plows, threshing 

 machines, big, heavy, stocky teams, 25 em- 

 ployees, a general manager in the person of 

 Mr. Warren, and a superintendent or fore- 

 man in the person of Truxton V. Damon. 

 The whole outfit, teams, men, and machines, 

 apparently work like clockwork. 



How the Bees Make Alfalfa Seed. 

 The combination of bees, alfalfa hay, and 

 alfalfa seed-raising goes well together. It 

 was formerly supposed that bees performed 

 no useful work in pollinating the alfalfa 

 blossoms. Indeed one or two experiment sta- 



tions went so 

 far as to state 

 that there was 

 no evidence 

 showing that 

 bees had any ef- 

 fect in increas- 

 ing the amount 

 of seed from the 

 alfalfa; but Mr. 

 Warren has demonstrated that with plenty 

 of bees he not onlj' can double, but more 

 than triple, the amount of seed grown per 

 acre. His evidence is so overwhelming that 

 there can be no possible doubt on the ques- 

 tion any further because he produces car- 

 loads of alfalfa seed. It is a pretty safe 

 rule to give out, when nature furnishes a 

 large supply of nectar as in the case of al- 

 falfa, that there is "method in her mad- 

 ness. ' ' She wouldn 't do it without a pur- 

 pose, and that purpose is to make more and 

 better fruit, or seed, as in this case. 



When nature desires the visitation of cer- 

 tain insects, she provides doorsteps as well 

 as color, nectar, or pollen in her flowers; and 

 sometimes she supplies all of them, as she 

 does in the case of the alfalfa. Every one 

 of the means that she employs is calculated 

 to attract bees or some insects, and it is evi- 



Fig. 2. — One of Mr. Warren's honey trucks loaded 

 with bee supplies ready to go to an outyard to con- 

 nect with him and his crew who are shaking the 

 yard into skyscrapers. The men had just changed a 

 tire and were about ready to start out. 



<leiit that nature considers bees not only 

 necessary but essential; and therefore she 

 puts out special inducements for bees. Mr. 



Fig. 3. — A few of t!ip numi nse ult'.ilfa lia\ sl;n k.s uf tlio Union Land & Cuttle Compauy. lu tlic foreground 



are oue of their tractors and a threshing machine, threshing out alfalfa seed. It has been proved that bees 



make it possible to increase the seed crop ^OD per cent in this valley. 



