THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



odor. For its treatment, see friend Muth's 

 article on page 196 (June No.). 



3. Moths may be seen every month from 

 April till winter. If bees are kept strong 

 there need be no fear of moths. Some 

 syrup in vessels near the hives at night vpill 

 be the means of destroying many.— Ed.] 



MELILOT CLOVEE. 



star, Ind., July 20, 1877. — " Enclosed 

 please find a plant which we call sweet 

 clover; please answer through the Jour- 

 nal whether it is nielilot clover or not, as 

 my bees do not seem to work upon it. 

 Bumble bees work freely on it. The ground 

 ivy is one of the best and earliest honey 

 plants we have here. I find the garden 

 radish one of the best for bees, by planting 

 every 2 weeks." C. A. Ging. 



[The plant is the nielilot or sweet clover— 

 Melilotus Alba. I have found the bees on 

 ours almost constantly, and the honey is 

 just splendid. The bloom lasts a long time, 

 and were this clover an annual instead of a 

 biennial, I should rank it as one of the first. 

 —A. J. Cook.] 



HOW TO ITALIANIZE. 



Lee Co., 111., July 2, 1877.—" I have 60 

 colonies of hybrids. They are at work on 

 clover. I wish to Italianize them. How 

 shall I do it?" J. L. Grey. 



[To Italianize a colony it is only neces- 

 sary to procure and introduce a tested 

 Italijvn queen. In order to do this find and 

 destroy the old queen. Wind a strip of 

 wire-cloth, S^^ inches wide, around your 

 finger, in order to make a cage. The cloth 

 .should be about 15 meshes to tlie inch. Put 

 a cork or plug of wood in one end, or pinch 

 it togetiier, and after putting in the queen 

 plug the other end with a piece of comb 

 honey or cork of some kind, and put the 

 cage between two combs. After 48 hours, 

 smoke the hive and cage thoroughly, open- 

 ing the cage at one end. Watch the bees to 

 see if they attack the queen. If so, again 

 cage her for another 48 hours. It is a good 

 plan to let some honey drop on the queen, 

 when opening the cage; it will familiarize 

 the bees with the queen, while they are 

 cleansing her of the honey. From such a 

 colony you can Italianize your whole api- 

 ary.— Ed.] 



BEST BEE PLANT AND CHEAPEST FEED. 



Los Angeles, June 27, 1877.— " Please an- 

 swer the following questions. Is there any 

 bee-plant that would pay to plant in this 

 climate where we do not have rain between 

 March and Nov.? Which is the best to 

 withstand drought ? 



What is the cheapest bee feed? The 

 price of sugar here is 7 lbs. tor $1, which is 

 the cheapest kind. Is molasses good 

 enough, as there are very few days in the 

 year that bees cannot fly? 



This is a most disastrous year for the 

 bee-men of California, as we have had 

 scarcely any rain. Bees in a great many 

 localities are simply starving, and owners 

 may consider themselves lucky if they save 

 their bees alive without thinking of any in- 

 come from them. My bees seem very in- 

 dustrious and work as hard as last year 

 when they were bringing in immense 

 quantities of honey. I have watched a 

 strong hive that seeined to be doing its level 

 best, and on examination found very little 

 honey stored. What are they doing? I al- 

 ways thought when there is a scarcity of 

 honey in the flowers, bees hang around the 

 outside of hive with ' hands in pockets' and 

 a most dejected expression on their faces." 

 IIamilton Hurnakd. 



[I am not able to speak authoritatively 

 for California, but should suppose that 

 rape, the mustards, and perhaps the mints, 

 might stand the drough. I suppose our 

 friend could easily test the question. 



I should suppose extracted honey would 

 be the cheapest bee feed in California. 

 Such years as 1876, when honey was so 

 abundant, a supply might be kept for time 

 of need. 



Bees in warm, sunny days are ever on the 

 alert to gather, even though unable. This 

 is why the apiarist should keep his bees in 

 the cellar, in our cold climates, till flowers 

 come. Else they wear out in their fruitless 

 quests, and • we are vexed with spring 

 dwindling.— A. J. Cook.] 



Buckwheat for a Late Second 

 Crop. — Our friend Jesse Hobson wish- 

 es to remind our renders that a good 

 crop of buckwheat can be grown on ir- 

 rigated soil, sown as late as August. 

 Indeed he prefers to sow it late, as it 

 comes to maturity as the cold weather 

 commences, and makes a better crop 

 than early sown, which fills in hot 

 weather and is apt to blight. Late 

 sown gets the advantage of cool and 

 damp weather, which is best adapted 

 to its growth. Mr. II. says tliat he has 

 grown heavy crops of buckwheat, as a 

 second crop, on good soil, sown as late 

 as the middle of August. It makes 

 excellent bee pasturage,, besides pro- 

 ducing heavily of grain, and pays bet- 

 ler than any other field crop, on an 

 average. — California Agriculturist and 

 Artisan. 



Subscribers will please notice the 

 date upen their subscription labels and see 

 that they are "up with the times." 



WAKT.'"* UEinOVED. 



A positive cure. Painless and stainless. 

 Price ^1. Order from Dr. Quincy A. Scott, 

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 any druggist. A liberal discount to dealers. 

 Circular free. 



