80 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.") 



Alsike Clover in Second Bloom. 



Mr. Editor :— Mr. Tillingliast, of Peiin?yl- 

 vanin, desires to kuow what honey-producing 

 plants Av ill best fil the vacancy between mid- 

 July and mid-Augnst. 



I liave taken some pains, during the last three 

 years, to test mustard, cleome, borage, melilot 

 clover, and several other plants, and would_ de- 

 cidedly give the preference to the melilot, if it 

 were of any other use than just as bee-pasturage 

 and to enrich the land. 



If a piece of rich land were sown, late in the 

 fall, with an even mixture of cleome and melilot 

 seed, it would furnish excellent pasture for the 

 two following years, far more than filling the 

 vacancy referred to, and then, if plowed under 

 in the third fall, would leave the land very 

 much richer — and if improvement of the laud 

 ■was desired, it might be a very profitable in- 

 vestment to a bee-keeper. 



Melilot, in good soil, might yield in the 

 second year, an amazing quantity of sweet flow- 

 ers. I have it now seven feet high, and cover- 

 ed with flowers from the bottom up. It should 

 be understood that the '■'■cleome integrifoUa''' is 

 an annual, and the '■'melilntus leucantlia'''' a 

 biennial. Hence the propriety of mixing the 

 seed, to get a crop the first year. 



But, ail things considered, " alsike clover " 

 will be found by far the most profitable, and can 

 be managed to cover the period mentioned by 

 Mr. Tiilinghast. If pastured until early in 

 June, or mowed just when it is coming into 

 blossom the first time, it will bloom largely the 

 second time. At least mine has done so this 

 year. I have near my barn a choice piece, a 

 pvrt of which was mown on the 22d of June, 

 and turned up a good swath, with few blos- 

 soms ; and the remainder was mown on the 

 30lh of June, when in full blossom. The first 

 part began to bloom again in about ten days, 

 and has increased in the number of blossoms 

 until the present time, (September 10th). The 

 later cut Avas longer coming into second blos- 

 som, and did not bloom so fully ; yet it is quite 

 nice. 



I should remark, however, that this was a 

 wet season Avith us, and that suits the alsike. 

 This clover should be sown with wheat in the 

 spring, on good ground, about five pounds of 

 clean seed to the'acre. Or, if for general farm 

 purposes, I prefer mixing timothy and red clo- 

 ver seed with it. Cattle like it exceeaingly. 

 J. "VV. Truesdell. 

 Warwick, P. Q., Canada. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



The more I learn, the more clearly T perceive 

 how much more, both in theory and practice, 

 remains to be learned ; and that in reality man 

 never gels done learning. — Dzierzon. 



Combs having no brood, may be smoked with 

 the fumes of burning sulphur, to kill the eggs or 

 worms of the moth. 



Mr. Editor, and all the readers op the 

 Bee Journal : — When avc last Avrote you (July 

 5th) we meutioned that Ave had made tAveuty- 

 five SAvarms on our new plan, and as the Imney 

 seemed to slack off about the iHst Aveek in July, 

 as it usually does here, we mutt confess that 

 we began to think that bees, for 1869, were not 

 quite up to our anticipations, and we were al- 

 most inclined to feel a little discouraged. But 

 as we are natually hopeful, we soon began to 

 think that perhaps just this season might be an 

 exception to our previous experience, and that 

 we might have a yield of honey in August, as 

 they do in some other localities ; or that some- 

 thing unusual Avould turn up in our favor ; or 

 rather, that toe could turn somelMng up, as that 

 is the Avay we usually have to do. According- 

 ly, we made daily visits to almost every hive, 

 removed all weeds and grass, levelled things up 

 plumb and square, and, in short, made everj'^- 

 thiug as tidy and neat about the hives as we 

 could. 



By the way, Mr. Editor, ycu must allow us 

 to stop long enough to tell you how we have 

 our apiary arranged. We could never bear to 

 see a straight close row of hives, and, as is too 

 often the case, under some rickety old sbed. 

 So we commenced making separate stands, as 

 Quiuby recommends, viz: a broad square board, 

 Avith a heavy piece of oak scantling across each 

 end. (Empty pine boxes Avill often furnish 

 very smooth nice boards for this purpose). 

 And as the bees need shade, Ave have planted 

 Concord grape vines, eight feet apart, each Avay, 

 all over our apiary, and Avith a stand such as 

 first mentioned, set on the north side of each 

 vine, which is trained on a proper trel'is, a la 

 " Fuller on the Grape." Thus we think Ave 

 have got someihing pretty nice. We can Avalk 

 all around each hive, and Avhen in a hurry can 

 shake bees, queen, and all, on the ground al- 

 most anyAvhere in front of the hives, and they 

 are sure to get in safe, provided the space is 

 kept clean, as it should be ; and this we accom- 

 plish pailly by means of saw-dust, and more 

 by hoeing up the weeds by main strength our- 

 selves individually. We cannot hire any gard- 

 ener to Avork among bee hives — "iVo sir, e^." 



Well, we got everytliing in the best shape we 

 knew how, and Avalched as before mentioned 

 for swarms in August ; and sure enough, after 

 about ten days rest, the bees began sTowly to 

 bring in honey and build combs again ; and, 

 in a fcAv days more, some of the heaviest hives 

 were about full. So we took combs out of the 

 middle, and the moie we took out, the faster 

 they filled the empty frames. Pretty soon we 

 bad our thirty-five hives making a comb per 

 week ; and ten frames of honey and brood make 

 a good SAvarm, lacking only a queen. Then, as 

 the drones were not yet killed off, Ave started 

 queen cells, which seemed to produce, fine, yel- 

 low, laying queens in an unusual short time, 

 and with a precision we were quite unaccus- 

 tomed to. It was but a few days before the 



