GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ington is under the Entomological Depart- 

 ment. We believe that the bee industry is 

 just as important in the development of our 

 State as dairying, hog, or poultry raising. 



Rev. Francis Jager, of St. Bonifacius, 

 Minn., has been appointed by the board of 

 regents of the University of Minnesota to be 

 the chief of the Apicultural Division, and 

 will be called the State Apiarist. Father 

 Jager, as he is called, is a thorough and 

 pi-actical beekeeper. Although he devoted 

 less than half of his time to bees, he has 

 produced, the past season, about 20,000 lbs. 

 of honey from about 110 colonies of bees, 

 and is now wintering 225 colonies. He is a 

 scientist, and a natural-born teacher and 

 experimenter. 



At the Minnesota State Fair he extracted, 

 bottled, and labeled 12,000 lbs. of honey. 

 This display created so much interest that 

 the daily papers of Minneapolis and St. 

 Paul had articles on it neai'ly every day for 

 a week or more. The effect on the public 

 was noticed by the dealers in honey, who 

 sold more honey at better prices than ever 

 before. The beekeepers of Minnesota are 

 fortunate in having so capable a man in this 

 office. 



Father Jager announces that he will 

 have a course in beekeeping at the Univer- 

 sity, commencing January 6, and lasting 

 about thirty days. There will be another 

 course, of ninety days, during April, May, 

 and June. He intends to keep about 100 

 colonies of bees at the University next sum- 

 mer. 



No doubt there will be great develop- 

 ments in the bee industry in Minnesota in 

 the near future. Large yields of honey are 

 reported from all parts of the State, rang- 

 ing from 100 to 400 lbs. per colony. An 

 entire crop failure has never been known, 

 and there are vast territories of good bee 

 locations with scarcely a bee on them. 



CUTTING ALFALFA 



Rules for One Locality may not Apply to Another 



BY PAUL E. USSHER 



In Stray Straws, Nov. 1, I read the short 

 article on alfalfa. In that article the ques- 

 tion is asked, " Has it been proven beyond 

 doubt that there is any advantage in cutting 

 alfalfa before it comes into bloom? " As a 

 Westerner I feel qualified to write on the 

 conditions existing in sunny California and 

 Arizona. In the great Imperial Valley in 

 California, and in the Nile-like valley of 

 the Colorado in Arizona, we find conditions 

 well nigh perfect for the growth of that 

 greatest of all plants, alfalfa. 



Alfalfa is the great western food for 

 horses, cattle, and the ostrich. I mention 

 the ostrich for the reason that there are 

 thousands of these giant birds reared in 

 Southern Arizona. It has been proven be- 

 yond doubt that hay for dairy purposes 

 should be cut when the plant is about one- 

 tenth in bloom, and for horses and mules 

 the plant should be allowed to attain prac- 

 tically full bloom. The reason is a scientific 

 one. Horses and mules require a strong, 

 nourishing hay which is found in alfalfa 

 which, has been cut while in full bloom; 

 while cows, especially daii'y cows, require 

 a hay that is rich in milk-forming qualities 

 which is found in alfalfa cut while tender, 

 and, as I said, when about in one-tenth 

 bloom. The ostrich is permitted to graze, 

 and eats with avidity the tender growths 

 of the plant. 



I hardly think that cutting before bloom 

 would have a detrimental effect on the vital- 

 ity of the plant or materially shorten its 

 life. Alfalfa is known to live for a hun- 

 dred years, and under adverse conditions at 

 that. Of course, cutting before bloom would 

 give probably one extra crop, but such 

 crops are not so heavy as fully matured 

 alfalfa would yield. 



In the Imperial Valley and in the Yuma 

 Valley of Arizona no commercial or barn- 

 yard fertilizer is used upon the fields, for 

 the very good reason that natiare has pro- 

 vided the best possible fertilizer. The Col- 

 orado River, which furnishes all the water 

 used for irrigation purposes in these parts, 

 cames in suspension a large percentage of 

 the most valuable fertilizers. In this respect 

 our soil conditions are very similar to those 

 of the Nile. 



Bees gather great stores of honey from 

 the bloom of the alfalfa in these sections. 

 It commences to blossom in April, and 

 continues well up into October. Many fields 

 are allowed to blossom for seed. Such fields 

 yield abundantly for several weeks a fine 

 nectar. I have never seen nicer honey than 

 that furnished by alfalfa. The flavor and 

 body are present, and in color it equals 

 most grades of choice honey. 



On the desert plains and valleys all shoots 

 of this plant grow to an equal height, so 

 that, in cutting, all shoots are severed a 

 short distance from the ground. All seem 

 to start at once after cutting, and no short 

 shoots are injured in cutting, as appears to 

 be the trouble in the alfalfa grown in the 

 East or middle West. This year I saw the 

 first crop being mowed the 20th of March, 

 and the last will be cut about the first of 

 December. Cuttings may be had every five 

 weeks provided water is judiciously applied. 



I would not attempt to advocate for the 



