1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



277 



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AN ORNAMENTAL SHED FOR BEES, MADE OF CEDAR SLABS. 



As to whether wet ground will heave more than dry ground, 

 thus injuring or killing the clover, I will say that perfectly dry 

 soil is not nearly so apt to heave as wet soil, and in general win- 

 ter-killing from any reason is not so apt to occur where the ground 

 is dry as where it is wet. The extent to which soils heave de- 

 pends largely on their nature. On this point I can give you but 

 very little definite information. R. A. Oakley, 



Washington, D. C. Assist jnt Agrostologist. 



Strange that none of us happened to think of 

 our yards or lawns, where the clover grows lux- 

 uriantly from year to year and never dies out. 

 Observation in this direction ought to allay any 

 great fear as to overcrowding. Certainly on a 

 well-kept lawn that has been in existence for sev- 

 eral years there ought to be crowding if crowd- 

 ing is to be found anywhere. It would be hard 

 to say positively just how clover when thus 

 crowded on a lawn compares with clover in an 

 ordinary pasture-field as to the nectar yielded; 

 but from the number of bees to be seen on such 

 a lawn it can hardly be inferior. 



It seems also a mistake to hold that clover pro- 

 duces nectar only in the second year of its exist- 

 ence. Even in the first year, at least in some 

 localities, it blooms and produces seed, and it 

 would hardly have seed without nectar. 



Prof. Oakley says, "While clover .... 

 will remain vigorous indefinitely from the same 

 root." So long as it remains " vigorous," can 

 there be doubt about its producing bloom and 

 nectar? Yet in view of the more or less general 

 opinion that a plant is not valuable for nectar 

 after the second year, one can but wish for more 

 definite knowledge. That knowledge can be ob- 

 tained easily, if time enough is taken. Take an 

 isolated plant, or chcose a spot in a lawn, allow- 

 ing seed to mature, but clipping the seed before 

 it falls, and see what the result is in the third and 

 subsequent years. 



Even if Prof. Oakley has not told us all we'd 

 like to know, he deserves our thanks for giving 

 us something with some degree of definiieness on 

 a subject of so much importance, and concerning 

 which we have rather divergent views. 



.Marengo, 111. 



[We are glad to get this from one who is evi- 

 dently an authority on the subject of clovers. 

 The professor's statement is fully borne out by 

 evidence in our locality. — Ed. I 



A PERMANENT SHED FOR BEES. 



5Y J. M. LEVVJS. 



Although well advanced in life I am an ama- 

 teur with the bees, and keep them only for plea- 

 sure and to supply our own table with honey. 



The picture shows my apiary, the shed being 

 made of cedar slabs on a frame of round poles. 

 The hives are in their winter casings. These 

 casings are made of half-inch cedar-boards, two 

 inches larger than the hives, and the space be- 

 tween is filled with ground cork. 



The apiary fronts toward the south, and there- 

 fore the hives get the sun a part of every pleasant 

 day during the winter. In the summer it is 

 well shaded by the house, which is on the east, 

 and a large tree which stands directly in front. 

 It seems to be an ideal place Up to the present 

 time the bee; have done unusually well, and I 

 hope they will go through the spring without 

 loss. My first attempt was a failure. I put my 

 colonies in a small building with very little light 

 and no special protection, and lost them all. 

 Last year I began again and built this shed. 



North Westport, Mass., Feb. 15. 



CARPENTRY tOR BEE-KEEPERS, 



How to Make a Work-bench. 



BY F. DUN DAS TODD. 



A work-bench is not exactly a jig, but it is a 

 necessity to a bee-keeper, and a great comfort to 

 every man who can spare the room for it. I have 

 made three in my life, and I like my last one 

 best of all, especially because of one noticeable 



