86 



March, 191 1. 



' j f ^^ L^i: 



American Vae Journal 



with failures of the honey crop from 

 alfalfa and sweet clover. Sweet clover 

 may be depended upon more than 

 alfalfa. We are finding out more every 

 year it has less enemies and will with- 

 stand drouth better. Alfalfa seed crops 

 and honey crops as well have been de- 

 stroyed by thrips, very small insects 

 that live upon the pollen and delicate 

 parts of the flower. Some seasons they 

 become so thick in the blossoms that 

 they destroy the rei)roductive organs 

 of the flower, and of course the flower 

 can secrete no nectarwhen the delicate 

 flower parts are being devastated by 

 a hungry hord of 40 or 50 little critters 

 called thrips. I have shaken 40 or 50 

 of these little mites from a single 

 alfalfa blossom. The alfalfa at the time 

 was in nearly full bloom, and still the 

 bees were scarcely making a living, and 

 could be easily induced to rob. A 

 farmer living near the field where I 

 found so many of the thrips, was try- 

 ing to raise some seed from a special 

 variety of alfalfa, and his endeavor 

 failed, probably on account of the 

 prevalence of the thrips. 



Grasshoppers, when numerous enough 

 eat off the tender leaves and blos- 

 soms, and some years cut down very 

 materially the yield of alfalfa honey. 

 Grasshoppers will not eat sweet clover 

 until after most of the alfalfa within 

 reach has been first consumed. Like 

 cattle and horses they have been 

 starved to it. 



There are probably a score of causes 

 affecting the yield of alfalfa honey 

 among which I might mention too 

 much pasturage, winter and spring 

 freezing, too much water or too little, 

 the forming of a " water table " tj to 10 

 feet, more or less below the surface of 

 the ground by irrigation farther up on 

 higher ground. This has been given 

 as the cause of the failure in alfalfa 

 seed growing in the Arkansas valley. 

 The alfalfa roots reach down to the 

 water table, and the plants get too 

 much water for seed production. Seed 

 production seems to depend upon a 

 withholding of moisture at the right 

 time to stunt the growth and turn the 

 the thoughts of the plant to reproduc- 

 ing its kind before it dies of drouth. 

 The causes producing abundant crops 

 of seed also seem very favorable to 

 honey production. When the seed 

 crop is good the honey crop is good. 

 When the honey crop is good the 

 alfalfa seed crop may be good and it 

 may not. 



I have mentioned spring freezing, 

 and in my opinion there is nothing so 

 disastrous to alfalfa honey secretion 

 as a late spring freeze that freezes 



Mr. Oliver B. Finn, of Silt. Colo . Disinfecting a Hive-Body with a Blow Torch 

 Mr. J. H. Gardner. County Apiary Inspector, standing. 



the young plant when it has attained 

 a growth of a few inches to a foot. 



As to alfalfa plants exuding a sap or 

 giving ol¥ a secretion similar to honey- 

 dew, I never saw any of it, nor heard 

 of it before. It would not be very 

 difficult to find this out by observation 

 if there ever is such a thing as alfalfa 

 plants furnishing a honey-dew. 



Southern 



Beedom^ 



Conducted by I.ouis H. SciiOLi . New Braundls. Tex. 



Bees, Poultry, and Fruit 



I have always advocated specializa- 

 tion in any line of work, when this can 

 be done advantageously. I believe in 

 applying it to beekeeping. Instead of 



keeping more bees only, as has been 

 advocated for many years, I believe in 

 keepiiij; better bees and keeping them 

 better. But not every beekeeper is so 

 favorably located as to put e.\tensive 

 beekeeping into practice. Therefore 



it becomes necessary in such instances 

 to combine something else with it in 

 order that profitable employment may 

 be provided. 



COMBINED WITH rOULTRY. 



Engaging in poultry raising as a 

 lucrative business in addition to bee- 

 keeping has been mentioned before by 

 me. As a "hobby "this side-line has 

 proved profitable enough, and from the 

 experience I have had, better results 

 and greater profits might have been 

 obtained if a little more care and 

 timely attention had been given the 

 flocks. When considered as a business 

 proposition this becomes absolutely 

 necessary, as the fowls must pay re- 

 turns on the investment. Too often 

 beekeepers are insufficiently informed, 

 and in many instances unpractical in 

 their work with poultry. 



The construction of simple but ser- 

 viceable poultry houses and other nec- 

 essary appliances is too much over- 

 looked. A very common mistake is 



