74 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 29, 1903. 



CONDUCTBD BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Maren^go, ZU. 



[The QneBtions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mall. — Editor.1 



Sowing Sweet Clover on Waste Land. 



I want to know something about planting sweet clover. 

 I am thinking- of going into the bee-business, and if I do I 

 will go to Butler Co., Pa. I would have two or three hun- 

 dred acres of worn-out ground for pasture ; briars and curly 

 grass grow on it now. If I sow sweet clover around 

 over the ground, would it take hold ? Or what could I 

 plant on it for pasture ? Ohio. 



Answer. — The likelihood is there is nothing better 

 for your purpose than sweet clover. If you scatter the seed 

 where it will be tramped in by horses or cattle it will be 

 pretty sure to catch, no matter how hard the ground. In- 

 deed, it seems to grow better on a hard roadside than on 

 soft plowed ground. There is one danger, however, and 

 that is, if stock that has learned to eat sweet clover is allowed 

 to run on it when it is young, they may eat it down so 

 closely as to kill it. 



•*—-* 



Pollen in Combs. 



I send a piece of comb that I cut out of a brood-frame, 

 and would like to know what is in the cells. It was gath- 

 ered about the middle of June. Will the bees clean it out? 

 If not, what can I do with it ? About half of the brood- 

 chamber cells are filled with it. Michigan. 



Answer. — I find nothing in the cells except a good sup- 

 ply of pollen, and that is in fine condition. If there is an 

 unusual amount of it in the hive, you can give some of it to 

 other colonies in the spring. In most places a pound of pol- 

 len is worth as much as a pound of honey ; when scarce it 

 may be worth a good deal more. 



Sowing Sweet Clover. 



1. When is the right time to plant sweet clover ? 

 2 Does it bloom the first year ? 



3. What kind of land should it be sown on ? I want to 

 order a S-pound package, and before sowing I want to know 

 all about it. 



I have 2 colonies of bees to commence with next spring. 

 They are in box-hives, but after swarming I intend to trans- 

 fer them into good hives. They are Italians. 



Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. The seed may be sown in your vicinity, 

 and it is well to have the ground made quite solid with a rol- 

 ler or otherwise. One of the most successful ways of get- 

 ting a stand of sweet clover is to sow it on hard ground 

 either fall or spring, and they have it well tramped in by 

 live-stock. 



2. It does not bloom till the second year, and dies root 

 and branch the following winter. 



3. It will not grow on solid rock nor in clear water ; al- 

 most anything between these two will answer. It makes a 

 fine growth on tough clay where nothing else cares to grow. 



Average Per Colony from linden, Etc. 



1. How much can 6 good colonies store in an average 

 year, from say 25 average-size linden trees ? 



2. I work in the Cleveland parks. Would the honey 

 from park shrubbery, where there is some Kalmia latifolia, 

 rhododendrons and azaleas, be injurious ? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know. In a very good year I 

 should think the bees would have all they could do while the 

 yield lasted, there being four trees to each colony ; and if so 

 the amount they stored would depend on the length of the 

 harvest and the amount of yield each day. The daily yield 

 might be 10 pounds for as many days, making 100 pounds 



per colony. But then my guess that four trees would keep 

 a colony busy may be all wrong, and a good many years 

 there would be nothing at all from the lindens, some years 

 a light yield, and some years a very short yield. Possibly 

 the average yield might be 25 or 30 pounds to the colony, 

 but I'm ready to let some one that knows more about it 

 prove that my estimate should be doubled — or cut in two. 

 2. I should not be very anxious about it. 



Will August Bees be of Value in Spring ? 



Will worker-bees reared in August and September live 

 through the winter ? and long enough in the spring to be 

 of any value in brood-rearing ? 



They had out-of-door exercise until Dec. 1, 1902; since 

 then they have had no flight at all. It is now Dec. 28. 



Arkansas. 



Answer. — The lease of life of a worker-bee is a very 

 variable quantity, chiefly depending on the amount of work 

 done. With a good fall flow, a bee born in August is likely 

 to die before November. If there is nothing for it to do 

 from the'time of its birth till cold weather, it may live to do 

 fair work the following spring. 



McEvoy's Plan of Increase is given in the Canadian 

 Uee Journal. His plan of putting frames of brood into ex- 

 tracting-supers, barred from the queen, so as to be sure of 

 brood well fed and all sealed, is worthy of attention. He 

 says : 



Early in the honey season I lift two combs full of brood 

 (aboui ready for capping) above the queen-excluders in many 

 of my strongest colonies, and leave them there for nine 

 days (the time it takes from the egg to the capped brood), so 

 as to get all the brood extra-well fed and capped over. 

 After these combs of brood have been nine days above the 

 excluders, I collect two combs of brood from one super, two 

 from another, and two from a third, with plenty of bees to 

 cover them, and place these six combs of brood in an empty 

 hive, and then give them a protected queen-cell, or a comb 

 with eggs in from one of my best colonies, so that they can 

 rear a queeti, or cage a queen on the comb for about 24 hours, 

 if I have one. The brood in these six combs being far 

 advanced when it is placed in a new hive, will all be hatched 

 out in a few days after. 



I add brood to these young colonies from time to time 

 until they are very strong in bees, and place supers on the 

 early-made ones, and from these in fair honey seasons I get 

 a super full of nicely capped honey. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. LfOok at them. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get them 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of SI. 00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year tti advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3'. x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and " Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we arc using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample for 2 cts.; 10 for 10 cts.; 25 

 for20cts.; 50 for 35 cts.; 100 for 65 cts.; 250 for $1.50; 500 

 for $2.75 ; 1000 for $5.00. If you wish your business card 

 printed at the bottom of the front page, add 25 cts. to your 

 order. 



