804 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 20, 1900. 



othy. two pounds, at rate of not less than six 

 quarts to the acre, and as much more as ex- 

 perience with your own peculiar soils shows 

 will make a heayy stand. Should the first 

 trial ])rove a failure, it necessary, furnish the 

 farmers seed at halt cost tor second trial, and 

 eventually you will get an alsike convert who 

 would not do without it even it the seed cost 

 .?:30 per bushel. In the following hay crop, 

 without interfering with the red crop in the 

 least, it will, on the average, add 40 percent 

 to the yield of hay, while the second crop of 

 red will follow as tho no alsike had been 

 grown. I liave fretpiently seen it grow to a 

 height of 20 to 24 inches the tirst sea.5on after 

 removal of the wheat or rye. 



" Full3' three-fourths of the clover sown 

 thruout this section of country contains its 

 proper share of alsike : and as practically all 

 the red clover froze to death last winter, and 

 scarcely none of the alsike, next spring will 

 see a far higher percent <.)f alsike sown than 

 in the past." 



"The common practice in this section," 

 says Mr. Smith, •' has been to use about one- 

 third red clover in seeding to grass: but ex- 

 periments upon our farm have jiroved to vis 

 that we get more hay, and a much greater 

 feeding value, by using more clover: about 

 one-third red and one-third alsike clovers, the 

 rest timothy and red top. 



•• The tirst year we get two crops of clover 

 in which Ijut little else will show: but during 

 the following winter, fully half of the clover 

 plants die, and the timothy and red-top take 

 possession and feed upon the ilecaying roots, 

 giving us a good crop fif hay for two or three 

 years. On our heavy clay soils we sow enough 

 al.^ikc to lake the place of the red clover, as 

 the latter will rarely make a stand. On moist 

 fertile .soil we can produce alsike three feet 

 tall, and it will stool out so thick that it will 

 form a jierfeet tangle; and how the bees revel 

 in it! It seems as tho all the bees in the 

 neighborhood were there. If it is cut wlicn il 

 first begins to bloom we may expect a secnnd 

 croi>. but not otherwise, tor alsike is a l^ien- 

 nial : and if it is not cut before it comes into 

 full l^lofim the most of the ]>lants will die. If 

 the summer is moist, red clover will protluce 

 a second crop, even if the tir.st is not cut until 

 the heads begin to turn brown. By seeding 

 with both alsike and red clovers, and not cut- 

 ting the tirst crop until it is in the height of 

 bloom, we get a larger tirst crop; then the 

 red clover will take possession and give us as 

 large a second crop as tho it had been used 

 alone in seeding. Clover likes a mellow soil, 

 so we i>lan to have it follow some crojj \\'hich 

 leaves the ground light and friable." 



A. I. Root adds in a foot-note: "Clover 

 grown as we grow it, solely for improving tlic 

 soil, is all right for honey, foi- we seldom jtlow 

 it under until it is in full bloom, and some of 

 the heads begin to turn brown. The largest 

 crop of buckwheat we ever grew was where 

 we turned under mannnoth clover .so late it 

 was already full of seed. A neighbor told us 

 the clover seed on the land was worth more 

 than we could get for cnu' buckwheat; but he 

 was mistaken; and from this experiment I am 

 inclined to think that clover is worth more to 

 plow under when it conluins some seed nearly 

 or quite mature than at any other pei'iod." 



Honey as a Daily Pooil. — Dr. C. C. 



Miller, in the National Stockman and Farmer 

 of recent date, had this lo say about the daily 

 use of honey in the families of farmers: 



Some farmers are in the habit of selling oil" 

 all the best of anything raised, letting the 

 family worry along with the leavings. It is 

 Ijleasant to believe that in many cases honey 

 forms an excej»tion : that the farmer with two 

 *)r tlu'ce colonies of bees does not think of 

 selling any of the honey, but leaves it all in 

 the hands of the good wife, to do with when 

 and how she will. Very wise indeed is sueli a 

 farmer. Indeed, if he is wise enough, he will 

 have honey on the table daily, even tho he 

 should be obliged to buy it. 



It is for the health to use honey. Many a 

 poor mortal is to-day living a life of lingering 

 torture or cruel self-denial, to whom the doc- 

 tors have f(irbidden the use <if all sugar and 

 all foods abounding in starch. ,\nd tin* 

 trouble came about from over-indulgence in 



sugar. This nation has a wonderfully sweet 

 tooth. Do you know that the average man, 

 woman and child of the American nation 

 consumes more than a pound of sugar every 

 week of life ! Some more than that, some 

 less; more than a pound a week is the aver- 

 age. Before the sugar can be workt into Hesh 

 and blood, it must be changed from cane- 

 sugar to grape-sugar. When too much of this 

 work is thrown upon the stomach, there comes 

 trouljle — sour stomach, headache, and all the 

 varied ills that come from bad digesti(m. The 

 stomach turns over the job to the kidneys, 

 and when the kidneys have more than tliey 

 can do, having no one else to turn to tor help, 

 they break down with disease. 



The use of honey satisfies this craving for 

 sweet without the dangers that attend the use 

 of sugar. The sugar in honey is alread.v 

 grape-sugar, all ready tor assimilation, ttive 

 a child the choice between sugar and honey, 

 and see which it will take. For too many 

 children bread and h(mey is a treat, a luxury, 

 instead of being an article of daily foiid. The 

 old man or woman of 80, as well tlie child, 

 finds the daily use of hone.v both pleasant and 

 healthful. 



The average family of five persons would be 

 considered as using a good deal of honey to 

 use .50 poiuids in a year. Many do not use 10. 

 But the average of sugar for such a family is 

 about 300 pounds a year. If half of that, or 

 even 100 pounds, were replaced by honey, it 

 would be for the betterment of the health of 

 the family. 



The foregoing advice will apply to bee- 

 keepers as well. Why shouldn't they use 

 more of their own honey and buy less sugar '. 

 We have honey on our table three times a 

 day, and the meal would seem hardly com- 

 plete without it, 



A good way to use extracted honey is to put 

 a good-sized tablespoouful in a little sauce- 

 dish for each one at the table. This will 

 usually all be eaten. It is a much Ijetter way 

 than to pass a dishful of it and let each one 

 take what he wants and put it on his plate, to 

 run all over it and daub the other things on 

 the plate with its sticky sweetness. Try the 

 siiie-dish i)lan, putting only enough into the 

 dish so that it will be used at that particular 

 meal. 



Bee-keeijers should set a good example to 

 the world in the line of eating honey — "take 

 their own medicine," or advice, as it were. 



I Weekly Budget t 



Emtok W, Z. HfTCHiNSON, in the last 

 issue of his Bee-Keepers' Review, has these 

 t wo very complimentary paragraplis: 



The American Bee .Journal receives a very 

 kind but well-descrvcil notice from (lleanings. 

 Among other things. Mr. Root fears that Bro. 

 York does not get moiu'V enough for his .jour- 

 nal when he sells .">'2 numbers for only ^1.00. 

 This is what I have often thought : and only 

 a first-class business-man, like Bro. York, 

 would ever have kept the American Bee .lour- 

 nal afloat at that price, and m.ade it what it is. 



The Chicago convention rei^ort of the Na- 

 tional Association meeting held last August 

 in that cit3", as now lieing publisiif in tlie 

 .\merican Bee -lounnil, is the best, most ac- 

 cui'ate, and fullest report ever publislit of 

 any conveidion held by this body. It shows 

 that it pays to have an efficient stenographer. 



We can not conceive of anything that we 

 have done to merit such kind words as have 

 recently ajvpcared in some of the bee-papers, 

 notalily Gleaidiigs and the Review. We cer- 

 tainly appreciate them very much, and only 

 hope that there never may anything occur 



that will cause our good friends to regret 

 having written the commendatory words. 



We have been devoutly thankful tor the 

 kindly feelings that have existed for so many 

 years between the editors of the various lead- 

 ing bee-papers. It was not always so. In 

 other days, long ago, there was more or less 

 of strife among the bee-brethren, not only 

 touching those who were guiding and guard- 

 ing the helms of the bee-papers, but among 

 the rank and file of bee-keepers themselves. 



Let us all rejoice in this better day that has 

 dawned, and trust that the present era of 

 good-will and good-nature may be as lasting 

 as it is desirable and pleasant. 



Mr. Wm. McEvot is perhaps the best 

 known bee-keeper in Canada to-day. His ex- 

 cellent report for 1900 as foul-brood inspector 

 for the Province of Ontario appears on 

 another page. Mr. McEvoy has made a success 

 of handling that dread disea.se, and seems to 

 have done so in a manner that all can approve. 

 This is saying a good deal, when we remem- 

 lier that he has all kinds of people to deal 

 with. We have met Mr. McEvoy, and also 

 his good wife, and it would be rather difficult 

 to say which is the better •' man " of the two. 

 However, we might say of them as did the 

 Irishman when he wisht to compare a couple 

 of men, and do it gallantly. He said: "One is 

 as good as the other, if not a little better!" 



Mr. Wm. F. Ware, of Cumberland Co., N. 

 J., gives his estimate of the American Bee 

 Journal as follows: 



" If you can tell me how any one keeping 

 only a few l)ees, and can get along without 

 taking the American Bee Journal, or some 

 other paper just as good, and will make me 

 believe it, I will send you at once another dol- 

 lar for anf)ther year's subscription. You can't 

 do it, you know. 



" I lioiie to have a good season next year 

 with mv 20 colonies of bees." 



Editoks Root axd HrxcHiNsox have been 

 enjoying the attendance upon several bee- 

 keepers' conventions in the East, particularly 

 the recent Ontario convention, of which Mr. 

 Wm. McEvoy, the hustling and efficient foul 

 brood inspector for that Province, writes us 

 as follows: 



' We had the best convention ever held in 

 the Province of Ontario. Mr. Holmes read the 

 Itest paper on (jueens ever written, and of im- 

 mense value. Prot. Fletcher, of Ottawa, ]ire- 

 pared himself, and with charts and a lecture 

 he astonisht every one. Mr. J. B. Hall moved 

 to have it publislit in i^aniphlet form for the 

 benefit of both bee-keepers and fruit-growers. 

 It was i>roniptly carried. Our conventions 

 are getting better every year. Woodstock is 

 the next place of meeting." 



It is too bad that we are not able at this 

 season of tlie j'ear to .get awa.v to meet the 

 bee-keepers in conventions, but from Dec. 1st 

 to Feb. 1st, we are tisually kejit very busy in 

 the office, and feel that we simply must be 

 here, not allowing anything but severe sick- 

 ness or death to keep us away for even a day. 



But we arc glad tliat our tirother editors can 

 attend and enjoy the conventions. Besides, any 

 one of them is more helpful to a meeting than 

 we possibly could be. So it is all right in that 

 way : but we feel we are missing a good deal 

 of profit and pleasure by being prevented 

 from attending. Still, wc will fry to be satis- 

 tied to remain at home, and look after the 

 weekly Bee Journal, which requires more 

 constant attention than any other bee-paper 

 publisht in America. Only bv attending 

 strictly to business, and letting nothing inter- 

 fere, are we able to keep it "afioat at the 

 price," as Mr. Hutchinson has well said. 



