142 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping Among the Rockies 



Wesley Poster, Boulder, Col. 



CONCERNING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 



Bills for bee inspection are presented to 

 the county commissioners before they are 

 allowed to be paid by the treasurer. The 

 average county commissioner knows almost 

 nothing of the character of the work of a 

 bee inspector. If the county oflficers knew 

 the character of the work to be done there 

 would be little questioning as to the value 

 of the inspection, and there would be more 

 questioning as to the actual work accom- 

 plished. The county commissioners should 

 require a detailed account of the apiaries 

 inspected, number of colonies examined, 

 number of colonies diseased, number treat- 

 ed by the bee owner, and the percentage of 

 decrease in the disease from year to year. 

 Bee inspection is a farce unless money 

 enough is available to give thorough inspec- 

 tion of all the bees in infected areas; and 

 it is still more a farce unless the inspector 

 forces the cleaning-up of every diseased 



colony. 



* * * 



PAY TAXES ON YOUR BEES. 



Patriotism of the simon-pure variety is 

 shown in honest tax schedules with nothing 

 legitimately taxable reserved from entry. 

 The bogi;s kind is found where tobacco 

 smoke is thickest in the political meetings 

 where they " whoop 'er up " for the party 

 that saved the country from destruction. 

 The bogus kind always does the loudest 

 clapping when the picture of Washing-ton 

 or Lincoln is thrown on the screen, or the 

 flag is unfurled. If we appreciate good 

 roads, schools, and progressive public en- 

 terprises, we should consider it a privilege 

 to contribute our share to the public wel- 

 fare. And if the public funds are being 

 misappropriated we should be just as loud 

 in our denunciation and active in righting 

 the wrong as is possible; and for the bee- 

 man to pay his full share of taxes will give 

 him the right to ask and demand full pro- 

 tection from his county. State, or national 

 government in the way of bee inspection. 



TINKERING WITH FOUL BROOD. 



Out in Idaho there are still a few bee- 

 keepers who cling to the idea that American 

 foul brood can be cleaned out of diseased 

 combs with formaldehyde. Those who still 

 hold this idea certainly have not tried it 

 thoroughly. Our experience with fumigat- 

 ing oombs was quite extensive and thor- 

 ough; and while the disease did not reap- 

 pear in every comb so treated at once, evesry 



comb showed the disease as prevalent as 

 ever before the season was over. For the 

 average honey-produeer to attempt the ex- 

 periment is folly. It may be possible in 

 time to find a method of fumigation that 

 will kill the disease; but the beeman will 

 make money by leaving the experimentation 

 to the experiment stations. Follow the 

 known methods, and work your diseased 

 combs into wax. Get the wax worked into 

 foundation, and put full sheets in your 

 brood-frames, and you will lose scarcely 

 any thing but the work. 



HOW TO GATHER SWEET-CLOVER SEED. 



A device was illustrated, p. 454, July 15, 

 1912, called a sweet-clover-seed stripper; 

 so, wanting to gather some seed, I made 

 one which was similar. It would not Avork 

 satisfEictorily, so I placed in the center of 

 the large sheet made out of several old bed- 

 ticks, a large box. Over this box the sweet 

 clover stalks were thrashed in convenient- 

 sized handfuls. The larger part of the seed 

 falls into the box; but what falls outside 

 can be easily gathered from the sheet. The 

 seed then requires sifting thiough a screen 

 of about a fifth-inch mesh to take out the 

 sticks and leaves. The seed will not sift 

 tlu^ough ordinaiy window-screening, as the 

 unhulled seeds do not readily pass tlu-ough. 

 By rubbing hard a considerable amount will 

 hull out, but the leaves are ground into a 

 fine dust by so doing. Sweet-clover seed 

 should be run through a fanning-mill in 

 order to remove this dust. 



CUTTING THE CLOVER. 



The seed rattles off the stalks better if it 

 is ripe before thrashing. To prevent the 

 seed rattling oft' while cutting the clover, 

 select a time after a damp period or a rainy 

 spell. The seed will not rattle off so much 

 if cut just before it turns brownish black. 

 The seed will ripen if cut and laid on the 

 ground in piles. 



A scythe is not to be recommended for 

 various reasons. Much of the seed is lost; 

 and, besides, it is difficult to work even a 

 brush-scythe on the coarse stalks. There is 

 a chance that weed-stalks will get in with 

 the sweet-clover stalks, and this should be 

 avoided. 



The best method is to cut the stalks by 

 hand with a sickle, piling it up as cut. A 

 lialf-acre of sweet clover furnishes me 350 

 pounds of fine seed. The work of gather- 

 ing the seed required about five days, every 

 thing counted. 



