488 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 30, 



GEORGE ■yv. YORK, . Editor. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 118 JVOoIiig-an St., - CHICAGO, ILL. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 [Entered at the Post-Offlce at ChicaKO as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 



VoLinVI, CHICAGO, ILL,, JULY 30, m No, 31, 



Those 40-Ceiit Subscriptions, as offered on 

 page 493, are coming in. Have you made any effort yet to 

 win a part of the $25 cash prizes offered ? We expect to be 

 able, during the whole of July and August, to send all the num- 

 bers from July 1st to new subscribers. Think of getting 26 

 copies of the Bee] Journal for only 40 cents — about IK cents 

 each ! There's no bee-keeper, of however few colonies, that 

 can afford not to accept our offer. Just one month left for the 

 work of getting new subscribers, as the offer extends only to 

 Sept. 1. 



We appreciate very much any and every effort made by 



our present subscribers, to increase the list of readers of the 



American Bee Journal. We believe it is a mutual benefit all 



around — you help yourself, you help those whom you get to 



read.it, and you help us. We wish to thank all who have thus 



aided in the effort to spread apicultural knowledge, and we 



trust none will grow weary in well doing, but continue in the 



good work. 



-«-»-• 



S'weet Clover and Its Honey.— In Gleanings 

 for July 15, Editor Root has the following on the sub.iect of 

 sweet clover : 



A subscriber reading what I wrote editorially in our last 

 issue — where I expressed the hope that sweet clover would 

 take the place of white, which has apparently run out — has 

 written a protest against Gleanings' saying so much in favor 

 of what he calls a "noxious weed ;" and he further intimates 

 that, unless we quit talking about it, he will stop Gleanings. 

 In that case I do not see but he will have to stop his journal, 

 and, for that matter, all bee-publications. They all recognize 

 that sweet clover is one of the best honey-plants in the world, 

 and they insist, on good authority, that it is not a noxious 

 weed — that it is easily killed out on cultivated lands, and seeks 

 only railroad embankments, roadsides, and other waste places, 

 where nothing else will grow. So far from being a noxious 

 weed, it is now being cut and used as hay. While it is not 

 equal to alfalfa, its near relative, as a forage-plant for stock, 

 it conies the next thing to it. It is true, one experiment sta- 

 tion has condemned it as a weed ; but it is being recognized, 

 and is now recognized by some of the best authorities in the 

 world outside of beedom, as a forage-plant both for bees and 

 for stock. It is true, our domestic animals have to learn to 

 like it ; but when they once acquire a taste for it they will 

 nibble it in preference to any other plant ; hence, it can never 

 be called a weed in pasture lands. 



For the first time in our experience we are getting what I 

 firmly believe is sweet clover in sections and extracting-supers. 

 Our bees are just fairly swarming on this plant along our 

 railroad cuts and roadsides. They are bringing honey in 



slowly from somewhere, and we cannot find that they are work- 

 ing on anything but this clover. White clover has been a 

 practical failure, as usual. Basswood premised well, and 

 made a good spurt, but dropped off rather more suddenly 

 than we thought it would. While the sweet clover is perhaps 

 past its height, it will probably be in bloom in our locality for 

 at least two or three weeks, and possibly a month yet. 



I notice one thing — that, after every rain, the honey-flow 

 is increased ; and when it becomes a little dry the bees work 

 the best only nights and mornings. 



Sweet clover is surely spreading all over the country, and 

 I think Gleanings and all bee-keepers may be pardoned for 

 speaking a little in its favor, especially since it does not, ex- 

 cept in a few isolated localities, occupy cultivated lands ; and 

 as it grows where nothing else will grow except ragweed, it 

 adds just so much to the wealth of the country. I, for one, 

 cannot lielp shouting for sweet clover. 



We want to say that we are entirely with Mr. Root in all 

 he says about sweet clover. In this part of the country it is 

 getting to be the honey-plant most to be relied upon. And it 

 is spreading very rapidly. 



Recently we attended our annual Sunday-school picnic, 

 this year held in Elgin, 111., 44 miles northwest of Qhicago, 

 and we were surprised to see such a quantity of sweet clover 

 growing and in bloom along the Chicago & Northwestern rail- 

 road tracks, and some on ladjoining laud. Why, it was a beau- 

 tiful sight, to see the waving plumes of rich white blossoms on 

 their supports of living green ! So much prettier than miles 

 of noxious weeds would be. 



In a "straw" in the same number of Gleanings, Dr. 

 Miller says this, which should not discourage any one : 



" Sweet clover can never, I think, take the place of white 

 clover as a honey-plant, and we may as well know it first as 

 last — just because sweet; clover honey can never take the place 

 of white clover honey on the market. Some will like it better 

 than sweet clover, but others will not like it at all." 



To the above. Editor Root makes this neat response : " If 

 u)7iite clover cannot be had, sweet clover would be a most ex- 

 cellent substitute, at all events." 



And we'd just like to suggest that if it is a fact that do- 

 mestic animals learn to like the sweet clover as a forage-plant, 

 what's to hinder people from learnmg to like its honey ? We 

 confess that we like sweet clover honey above all others — liked 

 it from the very first taste we had. And we know others who 

 are fond of it. But there will always be people who do not 

 like any kind of honey— our next door neighbor belongs to 

 that class. But his wife and son, who had never eaten sweet 

 clover honey before last week, were simply profuse in praise 

 of its excellence. 



Give the people a chance, and we think the great majority 

 of them would call sweet clover honey " licking good," as the 

 knowing small boy would say. 



'Wisconsin Bee-Keepers and Foul Brood. 



— Mr. N. E. France, of Platteville, Wis., who is the very ac- 

 tive committee on foul brood for that State, has sent us the 

 following address to Wisconsin bee-keepers, which should be 

 read and observed by them : 



SPECIAL TO WISCONSIN BEE-KEEPERS. 



Wisconsin is one of the best States in the United States 

 for bee-keeping, as has been proven by the quantitv and 

 QUALITY of honey sold. To retain it in the future will require 

 some special effort on the part of the bee-keepers. If success- 

 ful, each bee-keeper must keep up to the times. I wish to 

 call your attention to some important facts. For years I have 

 attended our bee-conventions, and always felt well repaid. 

 This has been the report each time of all in attendance. The 

 Southwestern Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' Society will meet Oct. 

 7 and 8, 1896, in Wauzeka, Wis., and the State society on 

 i'eb. 4 and 5, 1897, in Madison, Wis. The October program 

 is out, and promises the best meeting ever held in the State. 

 If possible, attend one of these meetings ; it will pay you. 



Another important subject is the present dangerous con- 

 dition of Wisconsin bee-keeping. The contagious disease — foul 



