268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



M\Y 1 



spring fruit-blooms. Their ability to do this 

 will depend largely upon the quality of their 

 queen, and close study is necessary in order to 

 determine her comparative value, as some vrill 

 forge ahead with remarkable rapidity in brood- 

 rearing, while others will apparently make little 

 or no advancement. 



So the successful bee-keeper should also under- 

 stand queen-raising, as he should reproduce or 

 procure superior individuals of the most improv- 

 ed stock. He must also study his field, and know 

 from whence and at what time his principal flows 

 are to come, and adopt a system of management 

 which will enable him, or his bees, to gather and 

 store it at the very moment that it is to be had. 



Then comes the interesting question of being 

 able to improve the natural capacity of his field 

 by filling up the intervals of scarcity or dearth; 

 for while it is true that, as above stated, there are 

 certain times when, in nearly all localities, there 

 are honey-flows far greater than can be saved by 

 all the bees in the largest apiaries, it is also equal- 

 ly true that between these spasmodic flows there 

 are often long intervals when, without aiding na- 

 ture, there is little or no production whatever. 



Now, assuming that this represents the condi- 

 tion of affairs in most localities, the question 

 arises, " What can be done by the average bee- 

 keeper to improve the situation or remedy the de- 

 fects of nature.'" 



Buckwheat and alsike clover are in many 

 places profitable farm crops, aside from their hon- 

 ey-producing qualities, and may not only be 

 sown by the bee-keeper himself, but often a little 

 argument or influence brought to bear upon 

 neighbors may induce them to give these crops a 

 trial, with the result that they will discover more 

 advantages in them than they even suspected. 

 Indeed, I have known of farmers becoming ar- 

 dent admirers of alsike clover, and large produ- 

 cers of it, who would perhaps never have known 

 its value but for an interested neighboring bee- 

 keeper supplying a small quantity of seed and re- 

 questing him to give it a trial. 



Of plants to be sown in waste places wholly on 

 account of their honey producing capacity, I 

 know of none more valuable or more easily and 

 cheaply produced than sweet clover. I do not 

 think it advisable to try to get this by sowing on 

 cultivated land with some grain crop, as you 

 would other kinds of clover; for under such cir- 

 cumstances I have almost invariably failed to get 

 a stand; but if we just follow nature, and scatter 

 a few seeds along the highways and railroad em- 

 bankments, and on the thousand and one vacant 

 strips and corners which may be found in almost 

 any neighborhood, at any time from September 

 to April, they will germinate, and not only take 

 care of themselves but rapidly spread from self- 

 sown seeds, and no other plant that I know will 

 afford more lioney or for a longer period. 



As valuable as is buckwheat for honey, it has 

 serious defects. Not only is its season short in 

 duration, but it usually produces honey only 

 during the earlier iiours of each day. In the aft- 

 ernoon there is usually nothing doing. Not so 

 with sweet clover. In season it lasts for months, 

 completely filling up the intervals of dearth be- 

 tween other supplies, and seemingly furnishing 

 an abundance of nectar from earliest dawn until 

 dark each day; and, as in many other things of 



life, it is constancy fhit t. I's in the end. And to 

 the credit of sweet ti. \.r, I want to say it is far 

 from valueless for other purposes, as some seem 

 to think. As a soil improver or renovator it will 

 be hard to find its equal. It will readily grow 

 upon the poorest sand and gravel, where scarcely 

 any other plant will start or thrive, and it not 

 only has the povser, like other clovers, of enrich- 

 ing this soil by gathering nitrogen from the air, 

 but its deep-running roots bring up plant food 

 from great depths below, and the crop has only 

 to die down and decay for a few years when the 

 surface will be found in condition to grow almost 

 any thing. 



Indeed, so great is my faith in sweet clover 

 that I am preparing to sow our poorest ten-acre 

 field in early spring with a mixture of it together 

 with alsike clover, and I shall let them remain 

 unmolested for several years for the combined 

 benefit of the land and the bees. 



Factory ville, Pa., Dec. 15. 



BEES AND POULTRY. 



The Value of the American Hen as a Pro- 

 ducer of Wealth. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



The question that often confronts the bee- 

 keeper is, "What occupation shall we follow in 

 connection with bee-keeping to give us something 

 to do during winter as well as during our spare 

 time during the busy season.?" While, doubt- 

 less, there are a few who would prefer to follow the 

 advice of W. Z. Hutchinson, and keep more bees, 

 yet the majority of the bee keepers of the country 

 prefer to have some other business in connection 

 with bee-keeping, for various good reasons. To 

 such as these I wish to say I know of no branch 

 of rural industry that is so well suited to this 

 purpose as poultry- keeping, especially where the 

 bee-keeper has a few acres of land, and can raise 

 the feed for his poultry. Poultry, like bees, re- 

 quires but little room, and the business brings 

 quick and perhaps better returns for the capital 

 invested, than any other branch of rural industry. 



The branch of the poultry business that appeals 

 the strongest to the honey-producer is the produc- 

 tion of winter eggs; and, of course, summer eggs 

 will be plentiful. This will give the honey-pro- 

 ducer a winter occupation that will be both pleas- 

 ant and profitable if rightly managed, and will 

 help to tide the bee-keeper over the poor seasons, 

 which occur with painful frequency. 



To give the reader something of an idea of the 

 magnitude of the poultry industry of the United 

 States let me give you a few figures. 



The dairy products of the United States for 

 one year amounted to $254,000,000. We are in 

 the habit of lookingat this branch of rural indus- 

 try as one of considerable extent, and yet we find 

 that the poultry products for the same year 

 amounted to the snug little sum of $560,000,000, 

 or more than twice as much as the dairy business. 

 In view of these stupendous figures it is pretty 

 safe to say that no other department of the farm 

 will yield such generous returns for labor and 

 capital invested as poultry, except, perhaps, bee- 

 keeping. Egg-farming, like every other calling, 

 in order to be a success, demands experience, and 



