GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to fifteen days from the first blooms, apply- 

 ing water at the beginning of bloom, and 

 not again nntil after cutting; then young- 

 growth is just getting started by the time 

 the field is cleared and water again applied. 



I am persuaded that continuous cutting 

 while immature is devitalizing to the plant, 

 and that where continuous cropping is de- 

 sired, renewed strength is furnished when 

 the plants are allowed to come to full 

 growth, but not to the production of seed, 

 as seed development greatly reduces the 

 streng-th of the plant. 



I am confident that, as time proves what 

 is best, we shall find pretty well-grown 

 crops and but little tender-plant cutting. 



Prosser, Wash. 



SOME COMMENTS ON RECENT STATEMENTS 



Is the Wall of the Hive Porous ? 



CUTTING ALFALFA 



The Time for Doing this Depends on the Stock to 

 which it is Fed 



BY V. R. NICODEMUS 



To my mind, alfalfa is the most alluring 

 plant now under cultivation. Its high feed- 

 ing value, both in digestible nutrients and in 

 palatability, makes it a prize worth the best 

 efforts of every good farmer. Fortunate 

 indeed is that eastern farmer who has se- 

 cured a good stand of plants on several 

 acres. More fortunate still is he if he suc- 

 ceeds in cutting his crops at the proper time 

 and getting them cured properly. 



One important factor in determining the 

 proper time for cutting is the animal to 

 wliich one expects to feed it. For cows or 

 horses, alfalfa may be left standing until in 

 full bloom — better only three-foui'ths bloom 

 — before cutting, and good results be ob- 

 tained. But for hogs it is highly important 

 that it be cut early. By so doing we lose a 

 little, perhaps, in yield, and in the total 

 digestible nutrients, but we gain immensely 

 in palatability. If alfalfa is left standing 

 too long its stem becomes woody and un- 

 palatable. I remember that the spring of 

 1912 here was very wet, so that we were 

 unable to cut the first crop of alfalfa until 

 it had all bloomed full and broken down. 

 When feeding tliis to our cows we found 

 considerable waste. 



Then there is another consideration. 

 Early-cut alfalfa does not drop its leaves as 

 readily as late cuttings. When one consid- 

 ers that about three-fourths of the digestible 

 nutrients are in the leaves of the alfalfa 

 plant, we readily see the advantage of early 

 cutting. 



Henrietta, Pa. 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



On page 822, Nov. 15, the question wheth- 

 er hive walls are porous is brought foi'ward 

 by Mr. A. S. Tarson. Let me say that I do 

 not want an unpainted hive or super; but 

 water or moisture does go through the sides 

 of the hives. I know this because I have 

 seen it after it came through. Now, do not 

 be in too great a hurry to say that I am 

 mistaken, or that I can not prove that state- 

 ment, for I can. 



I have wintered bees in cellars in years 

 gone by ; and when taking them out in the 

 spring I saw on the sides of the hive patches 

 of paint having the appearance of a blister. 

 Ui3on breaking through this paint I found 

 water underneath. Where did the water 

 come from? It could not have come from 

 the outside, or the paint could not have con- 

 fined the water under it. It must have come 

 from the inside of the hive, driven, in the 

 form of vapor, by the heat of the bees into 

 the wood where it condensed under the 

 paint. The late S. T. Pettit had the same 

 experience. I have seen cases of this kind 

 when the bees were in his bee-cellar, and I 

 have heard him speak of it. 



It is not at all necessary that moisture 

 leave the hive in such a way. If proper 

 provision is made, there are better ways to 

 take care of the excess of moisture. 



This much I am prepared to admit: The 

 more the bees propolize the inside of the 

 hive, the less tendency for moisture to go 

 through the side of the hive. 



THE SMOKE METHOD OF INTRODUCING QUEENS 



The discussions along the above line have 

 interested me; but when a man like Mr. J. 

 E. Marchant makes the statement, "You 

 can run a queen into a colony that already 

 has a queen by smoke, and the bees will kill 

 the old queen and accept the newly smoked- 

 in queen," I just wonder if he should not 

 say, " may accept the newly smoked-in 

 queen." If he is correct, the plan will be of 

 great value to us. 



Over thirty years ago a student of the 

 late Henry Alley taught me how to intro- 

 duce virgin and other queens by means of 

 tobacco smoke. Up to the present time I 

 know of no better way of introducing queens 

 providing the colony has no surplus honey 

 in the hive, and if it is not during robbing- 

 time. 



In the first ease it is a difficult matter to 

 get all the bees under the influence of the 

 tobacco smoke, and the smoke taints the 

 honey. In the latter case I have found by 

 experience that something, probably the 



