710 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mov. 5, 



whenever I have drawn out a comb, I have replaced it with 

 foundation. If I had not, 1 should have had lots of drone- 

 comb. As it now is, I have splendid worker-comb in the 

 breeding apartments. 



By the way, I heard quite favorable reports of the Adel 

 bees, or golden Carniolans ; so I sent $1.00 for an Adel queen 

 to test for my own satisfaction, and the scamp of a breeder 

 sent me two in place of one. They were introduced last Mon- 

 day (Sept. 14). Some object to them because they are such 

 prolific breeders. When I have a queen that is so prolific that 

 her bees will fill three supers with honey while ordinary 

 queens only fill one, it never frightens me one particle. Have 

 had such. Santa Ana, Calif. 



Bees Puncturing Grapes — Sweet Clover, Etc. 



BY PETER J. SCHARTZ. 



Mr. W. S. Fultz fully admits, on page 492, that some- 

 thing else does the puncturing of fruit when there are no bees 

 on them. To more fully show that bees do not puncture fruit, 

 I will give my reasons and experience. 



My bees are located on what we call "Grape Hill," with a 

 slope of about -io-J facing east, containing in all two acres. 

 These vines run north and south in rows eight feet apart. 

 Directly back of the rows my bees are located, while in front, 

 not three feet from the hives, hang large clusters of ripe 

 grapes; still they are punctured, and the bees do not touch 

 them, which goes to show that bees will not work on fruit 

 when they have foiage. Then, is it not proper for bee-keepers 

 to provide this forage as much as possible ? Would it not be 

 to their interest, as well as to that of their neighbors ? and 

 would it not keep the bees out of mischief, and keep all in 

 good humor, the bee-keeper as well as his bees ? The old say- 

 ing, " By industry we thrive," is very good in its place, but 

 this industry must be provided for or we cannot thrive, and 

 points as much to bees as to human beings. We must labor 

 to make a living, but when labor is not to be gotten, then we 

 must starve, or live from the hands of others. 



Mr. Fultz asks to be told how to produce that forage in 

 paying quantities on land that is worth S75 per acre. Let 

 me say that it is not the value of the land that is of any benefit 

 to the farmer, but the condition of the soil and what it will 

 produce. Land here is valued all the way from .$65 to §125 

 per acre, depending upon location, and rents from .$3.00 to 

 $4.00 per acre. Now, why is it that farmers who rent this 

 valuable land leave it a year after? Simply because it does 

 not pay the rent. Farming is not what it is "cracked up" to 

 be, nor is it what it used to be, still, by using good judgment, 

 farming can be made to pay. 



Mr. F. asks what it is that we must plant that will pro- 

 duce honey, and pay us for our time and labor, and the use of 

 our land ? Simply this very small, innocent-looking plant — 

 sweet clover, which blooms here in June, and continues to 

 bloom until frost kills it. The honey is of the best quality 

 that can be produced, and of very fine flavor. Sweet clover is 

 one of the best honey-plants we have, and will stand any 

 amount of cold or heat, will grow on any soil, either sand, 

 clay, or gravel — except on a solid rock ; it also grows in 

 swamps, or any place where it can catch root; drouth does 

 not affect it, and I find that the drier the season the more 

 honey it produces. Mr. F'. does not need to sow it on his 

 valuable land (for it needs no cultivation whatever), but sow 

 it along the roadsides and waste places. If he lives close to 

 the road, I would advise him to sow the seed for a distance of 

 two or three miles each way, which will give considerable for- 

 age for his bees. 



Again, Mr. Fultz says that the dairy proved to be more 

 profitable than the apiary, etc. The dairy must be provided 

 for, or it would not be profitable. Suppose the dairyman did 

 not feed his cattle, or have pasture provided for them, how 

 long would he remain in the business? The dairy is a very 

 particular piece of business, for the dairyman has to provide 

 the best of care and the best of feed, because all the milk that 

 is shipped to the creamery is tested, and must come up to the 

 standard, for if it does not it is discarded, or he receives much 

 less for his milk. Then why should we not provide the best 

 of forage, as much as we can, for our bees ? Bees are a pay- 

 ing institution if rightly managed, but the slipshod manner of 

 keeping bees will never be profitable. 



Mr. Fultz may say that I am " blowing pretty bard ;" may 

 be I am, but then I know a good thing when I see it, and I am 

 going to keep right on tooting it for every bee-keeper's good. 



Lemont, III. 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide " offer on page 7 1 7. 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



Mb. Jos. H. Bolton, of St. Paul, Minn., is the late B. 

 Taylor's successor in the "Apiary Department" of the Farm, 

 Stock and Home. Mr. Bolton has the honor of following a 

 successful bee-keeper — one of the few apiarian leaders of the 

 present decade. 



Mr. a. W. Darby, of Vermont, writes these appreciated 

 words concerning the Bee Journal : 



" Every bee-keeper should take the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, if he owns one colony or 100. I often find a single 

 article in it that is worth more to me than a year's subscrip- 

 tion to the Bee Journal." 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle, although a very busy bee-man, 

 finds time to write articles on political reform quite fre- 

 quently. He is a great student on the subjects of finance, 

 temperance, and other public questions of the day. Like all 

 his bee-writings, Mr. Doolittle's productions in other lines are 

 fraught with the same clearness and sincerity of expression. 



Editor Merrill, of the American Bee-Keeper, does not 

 think it out of place for publishers of bee-papers to air 

 their political views in their own papers. He is right so far 

 as his particular paper is concerned, for at least half of its 

 monthly contents are on subjects entirely foreign to bee-cul- 

 ture. Might as well be politics as love-stories, trut enough, 

 Mr. Merrill. 



Miss Mathilda Candler, of Wisconsin, is again in Chi- 

 cago, prosecuting her studies in the Art Institute. Miss 

 Candler has 58 colonies of bees now in winter quarters, hav- 

 ing averaged about 50 pounds of comb honey per colony the 

 past season. She increased from 54 to 90 colonies, and then 

 doubled back again to 58. Miss C. is so fortunate as to have 

 a fairly goed crop nearly every year — and some years a big 

 crop. She deserves all her success. 



Mr. Thomas G. Newman has been specially invited to be 

 present and address the next annual meeting of the California 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, which will be held in Los 

 Angeles, on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 12 and 1 o. 

 1897. The bee-keepers of that State will then have a good 

 opportunity to make Mr. Newman's acquaintance. As the 

 honey-crop in Southern California for this season has been an 

 entire failure, the bee-keepers are all the more hopeful for a 

 large crop next season. We trust they may have a splendid 

 convention in January. 



Mr. Byron Walker — the tall honey-producer of Michi- 

 gan — again harvested about 30,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey this year, principally from basswood and willow-herb. 

 So reports Gleanings for Oct. 15. Since learning the fore- 

 going, we have heard that Mr. Walker is now selling honey in 

 large cities, liaving disposed of 10,000 pounds in Toledo quite 

 recently. He generally spends the winters in Chicago, where 

 last winter he placed upwards of 50,000 pounds of mostly 

 extracted honey. Mr. Walker is a whole " honey exchange" 

 himself, on a small scale. He knows Imw to do it. Nothing 

 succeeds like success — so it is said. 



A BJeiv Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends us 20 cents. It is called " The Wood 

 Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get it yearly. 



