.96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



not — possibly and probably not. There may be 

 a sort of "understanding" by which the others 

 will take up the duty of the outdoor wall. In 

 the same way bees chilled outdoors can be warm- 

 ed by sunshine and return to their hives. 



STORM-DOORS OVER THE ENTRANCES. 



The various contrivances that have been de- 

 vised, and which have been illustrated in these 

 pages, do, unquestionably, restrain to some ex- 

 tent the flight of the bees; but the trouble is, 

 they work both ways. If they prevent the bees 

 to a certain extent from coming out they also im- 

 pede and confuse the returning of the bees into 

 the hive. Our Mr. Bain, who watched these 

 very carefully last spring, came to the conclusion 

 that they really did more harm than good. We 

 have about come to the same conclusion. We 

 observed that hundreds of bees in their return 

 flight would come to their respective hives, and, 

 being slightly chilled, fail to work through these 

 devious passageways designed to obstruct the 

 light and air currents, remain outside and chill. 

 For this reason, therefore, during the past winter 

 we have left all of these devices off, leaving the 

 entrance f^ by 8 wide. 



It is also becoming increasingly apparent that 

 each of the entrances should have a running- 

 board reaching clear down to the ground. Many 

 bees will be too much chilled to strike the en- 

 trance-board if it be elevated above the ground, 

 as the bees falling short will fall outside. As 

 previously pointed out, if it warms up they will 

 return on the following day or the one after that; 

 but if that warm day fails to come they chill to 

 death, never to return. We should be pleased 

 to get hold of reports from others who have used 

 these storm-doors, or what we may noiv proper- 

 ly call entrance-obstructers. 



PROGNOSTICATING A CROP OF HONEY FROM 

 WHITE CLOVER; CLOVERS NOT A' L KILLED. 



On pages 1365 and 1425 of Gleanings for 

 last year we quoted a statement of one of our 

 farmer friends, Mr. Adam Leister, of Medina, 

 one of the most up-to-date and progressive farm- 

 ers that we have in this State, to the effect that 

 the drouth of last summer and fall had not killed 

 out the clovers, but, on the contrary, he was find- 

 ing in fields adjoining his farm a great abun- 

 dance of them. After reading Mr. Weaver's ar- 

 ticle on page 86 of our last issue he called us up 

 over the phone, stating that he would like to 

 have us come down and see the actual conditions 

 for ourself. He explained that he had been all 

 over the farm recently, and was convinced more 

 than ever that the drouth had done no harm. 

 Nay, more, he found the clovers — white, red, 

 and alsike — were not only uninjured by the 

 drouth, but were very much in evidence every- 

 where over the fields. We accordingly boarded 

 the next car, taking along the junior A. I. Root, 

 just four years old that day, Feb. 5. As we are 

 using the editorial 'vue, we simply remark that 

 A. 1. R. second was a very important part of 

 that day's clover hunt. He thinks so anyhow. 



Mr. Leister met us at the car-stop, and with 

 him we went over the farm. It is unnecessary 

 to go over all the details; but suffice it to say he 

 gave us unlimited proof that, in his locality at 

 least, the white-clover plants on the hilltops, 

 where the drouth was the most severe, were not 



only very numerous but very vigorous. By un- 

 covering some of the dead grasses or leaves we 

 could find great masses of white-clover branches 

 intertwined among themselves, and these branches 

 were of such size and general appearance that 

 there could be no mistaking the fact that they 

 were old stalks. True, the drouth had killed 

 out many of the grasses; but that was what gave 

 white clover a chance, and it certainly availed it- 

 self of the free soil. 



But a casual observer might fail to see these in- 

 tertwining stalks unless he should reach with the 

 fingers down into the dead grasses and pull up 

 the loose soil ; and there, sure enough, the twin- 

 ing and creeping white clover with its tiny leaves 

 could be found. We next went over the fields of 

 alsike and red clover, and were gratified to see 

 that they more than held their own. 



Mr. Leister gave it as his opinion based on ex- 

 perience that the drouth of last fall, unusually se- 

 vere though it was, and the mild winter thus far, 

 was decidedly favorable to the growth of clover. 

 "And," said he, "there has been no winter- 

 killing, and I guarantee there will be none. The 

 rains and the snows that we have had have gone 

 down into the soil, which is moist but not wet. 

 To be very much of winter-killing the ground 

 must be soaked with water. 'J'his winter, as you 

 will notice, we are able to walk all over the soft 

 ground without any danger of pulling off our 

 rubbers. While the soil is properly moist, it is 

 not soggy as it is some winters. It is the win- 

 ter-killing, not fall drouths, that kill clover." 



Then he went on to explain how it was impos- 

 sible to have winter-killing under the conditions 

 afforded by the present winter. Even if there 

 should be heavy rains from now on, the soil 

 would take it all, and not become soaked to the 

 extent that a frost would heave the clovers out of 

 the ground. " No, sir," he continued, " I never 

 saw better prospects for a good crop of clover 

 honey next season than we find right here. If 

 we do not get a drouth in the spring or early 

 summer (and that is altogether unlikely, because 

 one drouth is not likely to follow another) we 

 shall have an immense crop of honey from clover. " 



Since writing the foregoing we have had a visit 

 from Chalon Fowls, of Oberlin, who lives about 

 twenty miles northwest of the Leister farm. In 

 talking about the clovers he said he was fearful 

 lest the white clovers in his locality were killed 

 out. The land in and about Oberlin is quite 

 level, and the soil peculiar. The drouth had 

 been very severe — so much so that the earth left 

 great cracks. One place a crack was wide 

 enough so that a brick could be let down flat- 

 wise. This crack extended down into the soil 

 for two feet. 



These cracks show that the drouth must have 

 been more severe than Medina, or else, what is 

 more probably true, the soil is such that it is 

 more easily affected by drouth. We have found 

 no such conditions in land that is rolling in oth- 

 er parts of the State. 



Most places east of the Mississippi we should 

 expect to be more like the Leister farm and the 

 locality described by Mr. Dootlittle on page 99 

 of this issue. Therefore we do not share the pes- 

 simism of Mr. Weaver for the territory east of 

 the Mississippi. 



