AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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vented from destroying such trees, even 

 on his own land. 



I cannot leave this subject without 

 speaking of the clovers, for upon this 

 class of plants a vast number — perhaps 

 a great majority — of the bee-keepers of 

 the United States must depend for their 

 surplus, and as time passes we must 

 each year become more dependent upon 

 these. Clover is a crop that should be 

 grown upon every farm in the land that 

 is adapted to it. I venture the asser- 

 tion that 90 per cent, of the farms that 

 are adapted to it would be highly bene- 

 fited by a thorough rotation of clover, 

 corn, wheat and the other farm crops. 

 What kind of clover, then, shall we 

 grow? Of the alfalfa it is not necessary 

 for one to speak, for it has already 

 proven itself to stand in the front rank 

 among the honey-producing plants of 

 our country. In that part of the coun- 

 try to which it is adapted, no doubt, it 

 stands at the head among cultivated 

 crops, and the bee-keeper can hardly 

 hope to find a crop that is profitable 

 aside from the nectar it yields, which 

 will furnish a greater amount of valua- 

 ble pasturage for his bees. 



But in the majority of States to which 

 alfalfa seems to be well adapted, we 

 must look for another plant in which we 

 can induce the farmers to become inter- 

 ested. This we have in Alsike clover. 

 This clover seems well suited to all 

 lands where the common red clover 

 thrives, and is at present about as profit- 

 able a crop, and, in some cases, even 

 more profitable. My own experience is 

 that it does not make as much hay per 

 acre as the red does, but it is of enough 

 finer quality to make up for the differ- 

 ence in bulk. Here, it seems to stand 

 drouth and pasturing better than red 

 clover, holds its own against weeds and 

 will stand and produce good crops for a 

 year or two longer than red clover. It 

 produces about as much seed per acre, 

 and the seed is always higher per bushel 

 than that of red clover. In this, then, 

 we have a profitable farm crop that is 

 well suited to a large portion of the 

 country. As to the amount of nectar it 

 will yield, no one can more than conjec- 

 ture, but from what observations I have 

 taken, I would place it ahead of the 

 native white clover, taken acre for acre. 



I have only mentioned the name of 

 red clover, so far, and need scarcely say 

 more. That it often furnishes an abun- 

 dance of nectar we are all aware, but 

 that the bees can seldom procure it we 

 are also aware, notwithstanding the 

 claims that some make that their bees 

 can get the nectar from red clover. Bees 



do certainly work on it at times, but I 

 think seldom enough is gotten to amount 

 to a surplus. 



Honey from alfalfa clover can now be 

 purchased by the ton. How soon the 

 same may be said of Alsike clover honey 

 no one knows. But it is quite evident 

 that the honey of the future will be 

 gathered mainly from some one of the 

 many species of clover — the king of 

 honey-producing plants. 



S. E. Miller. 



On motion of George W. York, Pres. 

 E. T. Abbott was requested to describe 

 in full his method of wintering bees, for 

 publication in the proceedings of the 

 convention, which he has kindly done in 

 the following article : 



The Wintering of Bees. 



The various bee-papers are filled with 

 articles giving instructions how to feed 

 bees in the winter, after reading which 

 I feel like saying in most cases, " Don't." 

 One writer prominent in apicultural cir- 

 cles instructed his readers who might 

 have bees short of winter stores, to take 

 them into a warm room and feed them 

 sugar syrup. Just think for a moment 

 how much trouble and "fuss" this 

 would involve ! Moreover, from my 

 stand-point, the method is not only un- 

 satisfactory, but utterly useless. 



The instructions commonly given are 

 to buy a feeder and feed the colonies 

 that are short of stores, sugar syrup, 

 early in the season. In lieu of this, some 

 say to fill empty combs with syrup by 

 placing them in a large pan, and hold- 

 ing the vessel containing the syrup so 

 high that the syrup will be forced into 

 The cells by pouring it on the combs. 

 This, too, it seems to me, is another 

 mussy and useless process. 



However, you are not interested in 

 negatives, and I will give what seems to 

 me a positive and easy solution of the 

 winter problem. It will be necessary 

 first to get a few simple facts fixed 

 clearly in the mind. It is important 

 to remember, first, that in this climate 

 bees do not freeze in the winter, but 

 starve. I am half inclined to think that 

 this is true in any climate where bees 

 are kept. If I were asked to state the 

 secret of successful wintering in a few 

 words, I would say, " Plenty of food in 

 the right place. The right place is above 

 the cluster. Let me explain why this is 

 true : 



Every one knows that it is a natural 

 law that heat rises, and those who are 

 at all acquainted with the habits of bees 

 know that as soon as the cold weather 



