1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



531 



the gate. Moreover, with no cool honey 

 dropping down into the melter it is proba- 

 ble that the contents reach a higher oegree 

 of temperature than the honey can stand. 



If the heat from the melter is objectiona- 

 ble in the honey-house, it would be a good 

 plan to wrap several layers of asbestos paper 

 around the metal part so as to prevent radi- 

 ation. In this way there would not be so 

 much loss of heat into the room. 



We should be glad to have reports from 

 others who may have used strainers made 

 like the one shown by Mr. Pettit, page 143, 

 March 1. Perhaps a larger size would be 

 necessary when the honey is very thick. — 

 Ed.] 



ALSIKE NOT POISONOUS IN WISCON- 

 SIN. 



Valuable Comments on Current Discus- 

 sion. 



BY ELIAS FOX. 



Alsike clover has been raised here for the 

 past 25 years, and each year it shows more 

 acreage. It is generally fed to horses, cows, 

 calves, sheen, and stall-fed steers, with the 

 best of results. I have raised it on a small 

 scale for 15 years, half timothy and half al- 

 sike; and though I feed no other hay no one 

 has better-lookmg horses than I. It is viney, 

 and has a slim stem, and needs the support 

 of the timothy to hold it up. The stem is but 

 little coarser than timothy, and for that rea- 

 son there is never a straw left or wasted in 

 feeding. 



If alsike poisons white-nosed horses in 

 Canada and kills stock, they certanly have a 

 different variety from ours; but I am of the 

 opinion that the difference is in the veteri- 

 narians. Everybody here pastures it with 

 impunity with all kinds of stock. I think 

 myself that white-nosed horses are more sus- 

 ceptible to poison than others, as I have seen 

 them with sore noses caused by poison ivy 

 or poison oak, and I have no doubt this was 

 the cause of the sore noses in Canada, and 

 possibly the eating of it or some other poi- 

 sonous weed was responsible for the deaths 

 diagnosed as alsike poisoning. Give us 

 more farmers to grow more alsike clover. 



S,0(X) LBS. EXTRACTED IN A SEASON WITH A 

 TWO-FRAME NOVICE. 

 R. V. Cox, page 363, June 15, says the 

 two-frame Novice is all right for the pur- 

 pose for which it was built — namely, for 

 extracting combs in a very small yard or 

 partly filled sections. Now, when tne two- 

 frame N'ovice was invented it was consider- 

 ed a very good machine for both small and 

 large yards; and I want to say I have one 

 that has been in use for 27 years, and last 

 year I extracted 18,000 lbs. with it, and it 

 was capped honey too, and some of it was 

 extracted in October. It pulled pretty hard, 

 but the honey had to come. This work was 

 done by my own hands, with my bees in 

 four different yards. I have extracted as 



much as 1500 lbs. in a day with this machine, 

 without assistance, and I should like to know 

 how much better Mr. Cox has done with a 

 four-frame reversible. This extractor with 

 a new gear is now doing as good work as 

 ever. 



WHY BEES ARE CROSS JUST BEFORE A RAIN. 

 I don't think the editor quite hits the key- 

 note relative to the enraged bees, page 420, 

 July 15. It is generally known that bees with 

 empty honey-sacs are more irritable and vi- 

 cious, and this was just the condition in the 

 case mentioned. Thousands and perhaps 

 millions of bees were going to the fields with 

 empty honey-sacks in anticipation of having 

 them filled, and were driven back by the 

 rain, with empty honey-sacs. They were 

 disappointed, and this gave them just rea- 

 son to be cross. 



VIRGIN WAX WHITE. 

 Virgin wax, p. 422, July 15, in this locality is 

 white. I know, as I had occasion one lime 

 to scoop up a double handful of the scales 

 just as they were dropped from the bees, 

 and melted them, making a cake of half a 

 pound or more, and it was as white as any 

 wax could be. 



UNCAPPING HONEY DIFFERENT FROM CUTTING 

 BEEFSTEAK. 



Louis Scholl, p. 423, July 15, compares cut- 

 ting beefsteak with uncapping honey. Now, 

 I have run a butcher-shop, and I find the 

 work entirely different. 



Hillsboro, Wis., July 30. 



[The little two-frame non-reversible ex- 

 tractor will do an immense amount of work; 

 but it is our judgment, based on observation 

 and from general reports, that where there 

 is considerable extracting a large reversible 

 machine will require considerably less labor 

 and time on the part of the operator. 



There is this fact to be considered, how- 

 ever, that a little light Novice takes up but 

 very little room, can be set on to a wagon 

 and carried to and from the out-apiaries, the 

 extracting taking place at the yards them- 

 selves. Where a larger machine is used it 

 is almost necessary to cart the combs home 

 or to some central point, or have a machine 

 at each yard. 



We feel very sure that our correspondent 

 is wrong in supposing that honey-dew from 

 hickory, which has been gathered so largely 

 in many sections of the country, is light-col- 

 ored. Reports indicate that it is quite dark 

 in color, with an ill flavor. In our own lo- 

 cality, especially in the vicinity of our south 

 yard, we had a large number of hickories 

 but no oaks. The only source of honey-dew 

 (and large quantities of it were gathered at 

 this yard) was from the gummy leaves of the 

 hickory. The bees were fairly swarming on 

 it; and everywhere the hives were filled 

 with this black stuff. 



While the color of honey-dew honey varies 

 somewhat according tu the locality, Ihe gra- 

 dation in our opinion is in proportion to the 

 amount of real white honey that is mixed 

 with it. 



