M.VY 15, 1913 



letters from subscribers in Kansas, who, 

 fearing I would make too rosy a description 

 of the semi-arid West, wrote, suggesting 

 caution; but I am happy to state that the 

 article above was written before the letters 

 came, and so I think no one will accuse me 

 of booming new territory if he reads all 

 I have written, especially what I have said 

 above. There are good and bad lands, and 

 there are sharks and honest men. The wise 

 man will use his own judgment as he thinks 

 best. Here are the letters : 



In Gleanings for Feb. 15, page 106, you refer 

 to alfalfa yielding honey in Kansas. This is true of 

 a good many localities in the State, but not all. In 

 the country immediately surrounding Topeka it is 

 only occasionally that bees will work on alfalfa 

 bloom. 



At our State beekeepers' convention this year 

 the honey reports ran anywhere from ten to one 

 hundred pounds per colony. Most of the heavy 

 yields came from localities where alfalfa is grown 

 for seed. It seems to be a fact that, where seed- 

 growing is profitable, conditions are such that the 

 plant secretes considerable nectar. 



A man who has a favorable alfalfa location in 

 one of our western river bottoms said that, in his 

 locality, alfalfa could be depended upon to yield 

 nearly all season if it was on land where water 

 could be reached at a depth of ten feet or less, while 

 alfalfa on higher ground could be depended upon to 

 yield only after a refreshing rain. 



Alfalfa is particularly susceptible to atmospheric 

 conditions; and any one not familiar with the pe- 

 culiarities of this plant would be apt to go astray. 



North Topeka, Kan., Feb. 24. A. V. Small. 



The following is a private note to the 

 editor, not for publication, but as it states 

 the " other side "' I give it here without the 

 name and address. 



I believe it wise to go very slow about advertising 

 Kansas as being great for bees. There is no class 

 so easily stampeded as beekeepers, on account of 

 being able to move what they have. The sight of 

 alfalfa does not imply bee locations by any means. 

 I have alfalfa on my farm. My neighbor has fields 

 18 years old; but I never saw a bee on it, nor have 

 I even seen a pound of alfalfa honey produced in 

 the eastern part of Kansas, and I have lived here 

 35 years. 



Where alfalfa is grown for hay it is not much 

 of a success for bees. Where irrigated, which is 

 very little in Kansas, and where grown for seed, 

 there is not much of any flora to build up with ; 

 and then in these last-mentioned districts, the winds! 



Sunflowers and cottonwood along the streams, 

 and wheat and corn districts are nothing to start 

 a stampede on. Kansas is a great State agricultur- 

 ally, but a mighty poor place for people of moderate 

 means to make a start, as our farms are large and 

 the land valuable. I am of the opinion that a matter 

 of location is one to approach with care. I am of 

 the opinion, also, that any thing of extensive transi- 

 tory or non-resident beekeeping would be a flat fail- 

 ure in Kansas or Oklahoma ; besides, such beekeep- 

 ing would be conducive to disease. 



Subscriber. 



I know of places in your State where 

 alfalfa does yield honey. — E. R. Root. 



WINTER CASES MADE OF OLD BOXES 



BY L. E. THOEX 



I am sending a photograph showing part 

 of my apiary on the 28th of April, 1910. 

 Most of the hives, as shown, still had the 

 winter cases on. Those cases were not very 

 sightly, as they were made of all kinds of 

 lumber. There was a space of two or three 

 inches between the hive and the case on all 

 sides except the front, and also a few inches 

 on top, to be filled with packing, a tight 

 cover completing the case. The bees win- 

 tei*ed as well with these boxes around the 

 hives as they do in the more expensive out- 

 side cases that I am using at present, which 

 are built of inch lumber, with a telescope 

 gable top of the same material, the latter 

 covered with galvanized iron acting as a 

 roof. 



Spearfish, S. D. 



MORE ABOUT CAUCASIAN BEES 



BY J. J. WILDER 



Owing to the great variation in conditions 

 which season and location bring about in 

 the beekeeping industry it is possible to 

 advocate too strongly some particular fea- 

 ture, such as stock, methods, or conve- 

 niences. It may be that I have advocated 

 Caucasian bees too strongly; yet, on the 

 other hand, possibly not enough has been 

 said about them in our bee publications. 

 Many have tried them, and very few have 

 condemned them. In the majority of cases 

 where they have been thoroughly tested 

 they have been found superior to any other 

 race of bees. In some instances they have 

 even revolutionized beekeeping, so they must 

 have a high commercial value, and must be 

 here to stay. 



Each season for a number of years, ex- 

 cept this spring, I have been rearing and 

 selling queens of this race of bees. This 

 season I could have sold more than 1000 

 queens, and most of these to the same old 

 customers; but since I have decided to go 

 into very extensive beekeeping I will not 

 offer any more queens for sale, but will use 

 all I can possibly raise in mj" own apiaries. 

 Since they have met with the approval of so 

 many, are fast coming to their own, and 

 have so completely changed beekeeping for 

 the better in my own experience, I can not 

 withhold my pen. I have tested these bees 

 very extensivelj^, and from time to time I 

 have made knoAvn what I have found about 

 them, good or bad. 



I want to emphasize again two of their 

 superior qualities — %dz., that for honey- 

 gathering and of rearing large quantities of 



