THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19 



chamber replete wiMi brood, wliile by omit- 

 ting the same, breeding stopped entirely. I, 

 fonnd, too, that this sent the queen into tlie 

 supers, where she would lay it there was a 

 possible chance; whereas she remained be- 

 low entirely when room was given her in 

 the brood chamber. 



POI.I.E]Sr A REQUISITE TO BROOD REARIISfG. 



The fact that there was no brood reared 

 in colonies destitute of pollen till the bees 

 had gathered and stored some, seems a posi- 

 tive demonstration that pollen is an essen- 

 tial element of the food of the larvoe, though 

 it is not required by the mature bees. The 

 rapid increase of brood in the spring would 

 also indicate that it is as well, if not best, 

 that the bees have no pollen till they can 

 fly out in spring. 



FEEDING MEAI,. 



The observations the past spring, sustain- 

 ed also by those of 1874, show that bees are 

 pretty apt to be able to gather pollen as 

 soon as it is best for them to fly in the 

 spring— by the middle of April— and that 

 feeding meal is unnecessary. 



EVERGREENS FOR SHADE. 



Evergreens for shfiding the colonies, es- 

 pecially Norway spruce, not only serve an 

 excellent purpose, but can be trimmed so 

 as to make the apiary grounds very attrac- 

 tive from their beauty, and are to be strong- 

 ly recommended. 



SAWDUST ABOUT THE HIVES. 



The sawdust about the hives, underlaid 

 with brick, by keeping the grass down 

 serves an excellent purpose, as it enables 

 one to see at once any bees that fall upon 

 it, and thus ensiu'es against loss of queen. 



LATE FAEE FEEDING. 



As all the bees wintered so well during 

 the past winter, I could see no special dif- 

 ference between those fed late the previous 

 fall and those that were not. All bred so 

 late as to vitiate the experiment. 



nOXr^Y-PEANTS. 



The experience of the summer shows that 

 the following honey-])lants not only yield 

 well, but that they bloom from early in 

 July till autumn, covering a period when 

 there is a dearth of native honey-bloom:— 

 mignonnette, borage, and black mustard. 

 Chinese mustard is inferior to black mus- 

 tard. It blooms earlier, and the bloom 

 fades away much sooner. .Sunflowers are 

 unworthy cultivation, while the Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant blooms too late to be 

 valuable where there is plenty of fall bloom 

 native to the region. With no native bloom 

 to furnish autumn honey, it would be vain 

 able. All of the above" do well on light 

 sandy soil. 



GOLDEN-ROD HONEY. 



Our autumn experience proves tiiat gold- 

 en-rod IxMiey, though rather daric. is of very 

 suiicrioi' llavor. St'Ncnil good judges have 

 pronounced it sujx-rior e\'en to linn or white 

 clover. A. J. Cook. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Pasturage. 



What is the cause, in this vicinity, that 

 bees cease to do as well as they have done 

 formerly? 



What can be done by bee-keepers that the 



yield of honey in the future will be as good 

 as it has been in the past? 



The above two questions have been dis- 

 cussed in a meeting lield at Jefferson, on 

 December 4th. by members of the Jefferson 

 Co. Bee-Keepers' Association. 



It was claimed that one of the main 

 causes is the reducing of the forest trees by 

 the woodman's axe, such as the basswoott, 

 poplar, oak, elm, and hard and soft maple. 

 These trees have always furnished abun- 

 dance of surplus honey and pollen, but 

 where said trees are cut down and the land 

 tilled with crops that yield no honey, it can- 

 not be expected that bees will gather as 

 much honey as before. 



It was also claimed that the last two or 

 three seasons the blossoms of the flowers 

 and trees did not yield as much honey as 

 they have done in forn)er years in this sec- 

 tion, on account of the unfavorable weather 

 — drought, heavy rains and north wind pre- 

 vented the secretion of honey in flowers. 

 It was further claimed, and conceded, that 

 this section of country is now overstocked 

 with bees, flowers not being so abundant 

 now as formerly, and on that account pas- 

 turage for so niany colonies of bees kept 

 here is insuflicient. The above are the 

 main points claimed to be the causes in an- 

 swer to tlie first iiuestion. 



In answer to the second question, it was 

 stated that it is necessary for bee-keepers 

 to cultivate artificial pasturage and study 

 the honey season in tliis vicinity, and learn 

 to know when to expect a good flow of 

 honey and when that flow comes, to be pre- 

 pared for it; to manage his bees so to have 

 them strong and in the very best condition 

 to gatlu-r honey. Bee-keepers who own 

 land should sow alsike, white and lucerne 

 clover, buckwheat, rape, etc., and they 

 should also induce fanners to do the same. 

 It was claimed tliat alsike clover compared 

 with red, is not only stiperior in yielding 

 honej' but is also superior in many \iarticn- 

 lars as food for farmer's stock. The follow- 

 ing are some of the advantages of the alsike 

 over the red clover: 1. Cattle like it better, 

 both for hay and pastitre, on account of the 

 stem, which never gets as hard as the stetn 

 of red clover. 2. It is not so liable to freeze 

 out in the winter as red clover. 3. It yields 

 always a good crop of seed, which sells for 

 a high price. 4. It can be cut twice and 

 sometimes tliree times during the season, if 

 sown on bottom latid. 



If bee-keepers can satisfy farmers that 

 the above points of superiority are correct, 

 they will as a matter of [irofit cultivate the 

 alsike instead of tin; red clover, and there- 

 by not only advance their interest but also 

 the interest of bee-keepers. 



Buckwheat is another honey plant which 

 sln)uld be cultivated more freely. In some 

 seasons it yields abundance of honey, which 

 is good enough to winter bees on, althoitgh 

 it is rather dark and ttnsalable. Buck- 

 wheat flour comniands a ready sale at good 

 prices, and bee-keepers shoitld try and in- 

 duce farmers to cultivate it more freely than 

 they really do. 



Rape is also a good honey plant, which, if 

 cultivated will be jn'ofitable for bee-keepers 

 and farmers. Lucerne clover is considered 

 by some bee-kee])ers superior to alsike, in 

 yielding honey for bees and fodder for 

 stock. Beyond the above mentioned honey 

 plants, bee-keej>ers should also cultivate 

 Spanish-needle, golden rod, thistle, raspber- 



