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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 9, 



cultural press, that the alfalfa honey-flow was not one long- 

 drawn-out, all-summer flow. I have now been six years in a 

 region where the plant is grown very extensively, and I must 

 say that I find it about as some other plants in regard to re- 

 liability. 



The season of 1890 the flow was very rapid at first, aud 

 continued for about 50 days. In 1891 it was not so rapid, 

 but continued about the same time. In 1892, if it had not 

 been for red clover we would have been almost without sur- 

 plus. In 1893 it was about like 1892, the flow lasting only 

 about two weeks, and mostly from red clover. In 1894 alfalfa 

 again yielded fairly well, giving us about 40 or 50 pounds in 

 a two or three weeks' flow. But 1895 was the poorest in 

 many years, though the bloom was fine, and I thought prom- 

 ised the best in the six years. Thus, alfalfa has practically 

 failed to give a surplus three years out of six. 



I consider alfalfa a fine honey-plant, and the honey of a 

 quality that is hard to excel. I believe, too, that under irri- 

 gation any plant will be a little more certain to yield some 

 nectar, though the alfalfa is sub.iect to the same influence 

 (whatever it is) that keeps other plants from secreting nectar. 



That long-drawn-out bloom is to some extent a myth. In 

 this part of the country it begins to bloom about June 15 to 

 20, and, if left to grow on at will, continues to put forth 

 fresh bloom for six or eight weeks, then gradually ceases, un- 

 less, like any of the clovers, it takes a second growth. This 

 second growth will bloom quite profusely, but I have never 

 known it to yield much. Just like red clover, it will grow a 

 second crop when the first has been cut for hay, but I have 

 not found this to yield much. 



Alfalfa grows more rapid, larger, and more woody than 

 the red clover, being practically between the red and sweet 

 clovers, and the farmers aim to cut it just as if beijlns to 

 bloom. I have seen many hundred acres just beginning to 

 get nicely into bloom, and the bees just getting started on it, 

 when down would go the whole for hay. Happy is the apiarist 

 who lives where alfalfa seed is grown, or where the farmers 

 are behind with their work. Ditch-banks, fence-rows, road- 

 sides, and nooks and corners are frequently a good share of 

 our dependence for pasture. Last year was wet for this coun- 

 try, and many farmers were behind with their work, letting 

 much of the first crop get into full bloom, yet with all the fine 

 outlook the flowers would not " give down." Many said it 

 was too wet, but I have seen good flows from heart's-ease with 

 much more rain. Yes, and from white clover, too. 



The much-famed Rocky Mountain bee-plant (cleome) is 

 tricky, too, and no more to be depended upon than the others. 

 I do not know what sweet clover will do. The poor plant has 

 a hard time of it. It tries hard to live, and succeeds to some 

 extent, but the farmers fight it as the worst of weeds. Few 

 localities have enough left to give it a fair test. I think both 

 sweet clover and cleome are good, and would help out most 

 likely when the other sources fail. 



I have for years eagerly read what has appeared in the 

 journals on the subject of planting for honey. At this date I 

 am of the opinion that one may plant, with profit, if the crop 

 be of value for other purposes ; but to plant for honey alone, 

 or to plant out of season to lengthen the flow, 1 have very 

 little hopes of success. My observation is that in good years 

 plants will yield some out of season ; but when we get but 

 little in season, the out-of-season bloom gives nothing. By in 

 and out of season I mean the regular or natural time for a 

 particular plant— or by late sowing, etc., to get it to bloom at 

 some other season. 



We discuss the whys and wherefores of these matters, 



and offer wise counsel ; but, after all, what can we do ? The 



Power that made all these wonderful things in Nature can and 



does manipulate them as He pleases. Scientific research to 



' find out the methods in Nature by which these things are ac- 



complished is interesting, and may be rightly used ; but if we 

 knew all the details of His methods it is not in the least prob- 

 able that we could avert the disaster that overtakes us. Does 

 not all sacred and profane history teach us that if we live and 

 do as becometh brethren, then our land bringeth forth in 

 plenty ; but when greed and gain are the prevailing motives 

 we are brought into straights, and immediately begin to look 

 elsewhere than to our own selves for the cause ? 



Loveland, Colo. 



Feeding Back — What Becomes of the Feed? 



BY HON. E. L. TAYLOR, 



Suiitrinfe?uletit of the Michigan E:tperimetit Apiary. 



E'eeding bees for profit, i. e., feeding back honey which 

 has been extracted, for the purpose of producing comb honey, 

 which is a more valuable article, is a very complicated matter, 

 if the probability or degree of profit to be derived therefrom is 

 alone considered. So many items which are unknown quali- 

 ties enter into the problem that it is not to be wondered at 

 that some even of the most skillful apiarists have been unable 

 to realize a financial success. But others have been entirely 

 successful, and it is hardly necessary to say that a negative 

 result has comparatively little weight when confronted with 

 a case of actual success, for if all the circumstances existing 

 in the latter case had had place in the former the result must 

 have been alike successful. Failure where there has been 

 success proves that the only requisite to general success is the 

 discovery and application of the appropriate conditions. 



While the exact extent of the bearing of these several 

 conditions is to a considerable degree uncertain, their ten- 

 dency is in most cases tolerably well understood, though there 

 is a diSiculty still in some particulars in determining whether 

 they are the best possible or not; as, for instance, the charac- 

 teristics of the bees of a particular colony which is to be made 

 use of in respect to persistent energy, comb-building, etc. 

 These and some other points cannot always be infallibly de- 

 termined without an actual practical test. 



Among the more important points to be considered in or- 

 der to induce the most favorable conditions are the following : 



1. The character of the bees to be employed. There is a 

 wonderful variety in the character of the bees in the difl'erent 

 colonies even in the same apiary and of the same race. This 

 difference shows itself in many ways, especially in the degree 

 of excitability, in smoothness of combs built, in the whiteness 

 of the cappings of comb honey, in energy and activity, and in 

 the disposition to cling to the brood-chamber, to crowd it with 

 honey, and when that aftords no more room, to cease labor 

 rather than to overcome the disinclination to pass beyond the 

 limits of the brood-nest into a surplus apartment above. In 

 selecting bees to be employed for feeding back, no point is 

 more important than that those should be chosen that enter 

 willingly upon work in the supers. The Italian race is very 

 defective in this respect, while the black or German race or 

 crosses in which black blood predominates are superior, 

 though even among these judicious selections may be made 

 with great advantage. 



2. The character of the queen. The pertinent point here 

 is that the queen should be prolific, not that proliflcness is 

 specially necessary after the feeding has begun, but unless 

 she is so the colony will not have the numerical strength de- 

 sirable, and the existing brood will not be great enough in 

 amount to furnish the required reinforcements as the work 

 progresses and the older bees perish. 



3. The season. That must be early — the earlier the bet- 

 ter after the advent of summer weather. In selecting this 

 time we gain in two ways ; first, we avoid as far as possible 

 the disposition of the bees to store honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber, a disposition which ever increases as the season wanes, 

 and, second, we secure the great advantage of having the 

 work done during the hottest weather during which alone 

 bees produce wax and build comb most economically. Of 

 course, the work must not be undertaken while honey is being 

 gathered from the fields. The opportune time is the interim 

 between the early summer and the late honey season which 

 begins generally about the 20th of July at the failure of the 

 basswood bloom. 



4. The size and condition of the brood-chamber. For ob- 

 vious reasons this should be small, because, otherwise, an op- 

 tunity is furnished for the production of a large amount of 

 brood whose value beyond a certain limit cannot be great, and 

 whose production must cost the consumption of an indefi- 



