May, 1914. 



American "Bgc Jonrnal j 



with sealed brood only a slightly ele- 

 vated ridge can be seen, and it takes 

 sharp looking to see it. When he says 

 the splint is '' left exposed," I under- 

 stand that to mean that the bees have 

 built out the comb and left the splint 

 bare. Except in the cases I have men- 

 tioned, when the bees tear down both 

 splints and foundation, making a flat 

 failure, there is no exposure of the 

 splints. Hundreds of combs may be 

 seen with every cell perfect just as if 

 no splints were present c. c. miller ] 



Soil Fertility and Honey Pro- 

 duction 



BY PROF. H. A. SURFACE. 



[Read before the A'alicinal Beekeepers' Associalio/i 

 111 St. I. Olds Febrintry. IQI4) 



IT IS generally agreed that we cannot 

 plant for nectar or honey produc- 

 tion alone. In other words, to sow 

 a field to any kind of crop merely for 

 the sake of the honey it might produce 

 is scarcely profitable. If, however, the 

 field crop can be made a successful 

 primary feature, honey production as a 

 secondaryfeature is entirely clear gain, 

 as most profits come from compara- 

 tively small things. We note, for ex- 

 ample, that the packing houses of Chi- 

 cago utilize every part and by-product 

 of the hog, excepting the squeal, and it 

 is now proposed that they utilize that 

 in making phonographic records to aid 

 the old style beekeepers in making 

 more noise to help hive their swarms. 



In this day of keen agricultural com- 

 petition, every factor possible should 

 aid the husbandman. Conditions are 

 against success from continued crop- 

 ping or from the old style methods. It 

 is impossible for any husbandman to 

 succeed without considering all the 

 factors that enter into modern agricul- 

 ture. He may be up-to-date in many 

 things, but ii not in all, he may fail. He 

 may select seed in accordance with the 

 methods of Holden or Hunt; he may 

 fertilize in accordance with the latest 

 directions from Hopkins or Thorne, 

 and may cultivate according to Hil- 

 garde, and spray according to Gillette, 

 Forbes or Howard, but when crop re- 

 turns are sought he must see "the 

 handwriting on the wall " or hear the 

 saddening statement that was made to 

 the rich young man, who went to 

 Christ: "One thing thou lackest." 

 This is soil fertility with organic mat- 

 ter. 



To buy commercial fertilizer and 

 depend upon it, year after year, as a 

 source of plant fertility, will eventually 

 make a rich man poor. We do not 

 have enough barnyard manure to meet 

 the needs of our extensive agricultur- 

 ists or horticulturists. How, then, can 

 a poor man increase the yield by econ- 

 omical means ? This is a question of 

 such far-reaching importance as to 

 justify our attention for a few minutes, 

 even though at first it may be beyond 

 anything pertaining to bee-culture. 



The greatest element of plant food is 

 "nitrogen." It is also the most expen- 

 sive element in our commercial ferti- 



lizers, and the most difficult to get into 

 the soil by artificial means. At the 

 same tine it is the most abundant ele- 

 ment in the atmosphere. Practically 11 

 pounds of this material rests upon each 

 square inch of the earth's surface. 

 Why is it not directly utilized ? Be- 

 cause it must be transformed into a 

 compound that can be taken up by the 

 plants. An illustration is seen in the 

 lowly field bean. In its raw state it 

 will scarcely sustain human life, but 

 properly cooked there is no more 

 nourishing article of food for mankind. 

 Thus, when the nitrogen in the atmos- 

 phere is transformed, it becomes at 

 once the most stimulating or invigorat- 

 ing element in the food of plants. 



How is this transformation effected ? 

 Here is the important point. This is 

 done in nature's laboratory by myriads 

 of organisms known as bacteria, that 

 live in a mutually beneficial relation- 

 ship, known as symbiosis, upon the 

 roots of the legume plants, the mem- 

 bers of the Pulse or Pea and Bean fam- 

 ily, botanically known as I.eguminostc. 

 Upon the roots of all members of this 

 family these beneficial bacteria, gath- 

 ering and transforming nitrogen, live 

 in great numbers, forming little lumps 

 or nodules. Upon practically each 

 kind there is a different species of bac- 

 terium. So the nodules taken from the 

 roots of different kinds of legume 

 plants differ in size, shape, color, and 

 general appearance. These nodules or 

 lumps are large enough to be seen 

 readily by the unaided eye. 



Take up, for example, the roots of 

 the common white clover, white sweet 

 clover, red clover, crimson clover, 

 alfalfa, the locust tree, and the red-bud 

 tree, keeping the surrounding earth 

 with them until they are placed in 

 water, and very gently washed to avoid 

 breaking their minute fibers. Note 

 the small white, pinkish or brownish 

 lumps that are there. These are the 

 nodules, the homes of myriads of bac- 

 teria, which are plainly seen when a 

 lump is crushed under a compound 

 microscope of high power. They are 

 composed almost entirely of available 

 nitrogen transformed from the unavail- 

 able nitrogen of the atmosphere by the 

 vital action of these microscopical or- 

 ganisms, and thus rendered fit for im- 

 mediate use by the plants upon which 

 they grow, as well as by other plants 

 grown in the same soil. Therefore, it 

 can be seen that the more such legume 

 plants are grown in any soil, the more 

 fertile the soil becomes from the in- 

 crease of nitrogen and organic material. 

 As the plants mature they draw upon 

 the nitrogen stored in the nodules on 

 their rootlets, using part of it in for- 

 mation of tissue, especially seeds. 



A bulletin, No. 145, from the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station at Brook- 

 ings, S. Dak., says: "Every ton of 

 clover hay takes 40 pounds of nitrogen 

 from the air, and every ton of alfalfa 

 takes .50 pounds from the air. through 

 the roots of these plants." Hence, by 

 growing these crops, or other legume 

 crops, and returning them to the soil, 

 either directly or after they have been 

 transformed into manure, a supply of 

 nitrogen may be maintained in the 

 soil. 



So much for the primary story of in- 

 creasing soil fertility, which is; really 



more important than increasing the 

 size of the farm. A secondary point 

 for consideration is, for us beekeepers, 

 of no small importance. Among the 

 very best honey producing plants in 

 the world are the legumes. With crim- 

 son clover and locust blossoms in the 

 spring, we have a close succession of 

 alsike, white clover, yellow sweet 

 clover, alfalfa, and white sweet clover, 

 upon all of which the honey bees work 

 to a remarkable extent. Every one of 

 these legumes is of great benefit as a 

 soil renewer, and they are recognized 

 as being the chief honey-producing 

 plants of America, with but few ex- 

 ceptions. 



Another important point is that these 

 are our greatest forage plants. No 

 other plants contain as much protein 

 or are as beneficial for live stock. The 

 energy of the work horse and the yield 

 of milk from dairy cattle increase 

 when these plants are used either as 

 pasture or hay. The growth of pork 

 is greater when they supplement the 

 grain feeds. The production of eggs 

 is increased by their proper use in the 

 poultry yard, and there is a report of a 

 banquet of western growers, in which 

 one of these plants— alfalfa— furnished 

 not only bread and vegetable food, but 

 also a food used as breakfast cereal. 



To get the benefits of such plant 

 growth for the beekeeper it is neces- 

 sary that the bees have opportunity to 

 visit their blossoms. This means that 

 thev should grow at least until the 

 blossoms are commencing to fade or 

 wither. The heaviest nectar secretion 

 is just at the time of the opening of the 

 bloom. After a flower has been visited 

 by a bee and fertilized, the secretion of 

 nectar stops and the blossom fades and 

 drops. 



Here, again, good agricultural practice 

 is in accordance with apiculture profits. 

 It so happens that the best results for 

 hay or stock food are obtained by cut- 

 ting just before the seeds form, which 

 is just after the blossoms have passed 

 their stage of perfection and are with- 

 ering. Also when these crops are to 

 be turned down for soiling crops, the 

 best results are obtained by plowing 

 them down when they reach this same 

 stage of development. To plow down 

 a great crop before blooming means to 

 put into the ground too much water in 

 the form of thin sap, and there is spe- 

 cial danger of souring the soil then. 

 The juice in a plant commences to be- 

 come thick after it has passed the vital 

 period of full bloom. It is also the 

 time when it has done its greatest 

 work in transforming and fixing nitro- 

 gen. But the fertility is not lost by 

 using the plant as stock food. If the 

 manures, liquid and solid, are saved 

 and returned to the field, it will have 

 as great fertilizing value as though it 

 had been plowed down, and the grower 

 will have the increased benefit of its 

 feeding value for his live stock. 



From the further standpoint of the 

 greatest fertility from the nitrogenous 

 nodules, it must be remembered that 

 their best stage of perfection is reached 

 also when the plant is at its highest 

 point of development, or just at the 

 end of blossoming and the beginning 

 of the ripening of the seed. Thus 

 whether the plants be plowed down, or 

 cut for silo, or dried for hay, the best 



