126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Alsike or Swedish Glover. 



Wilhiu the past few years, Alsike or Swedish 

 clover has been somewhat cultivated in tliis coun- 

 try, and higlily lauded as a forage plant. Some 

 eight or ten ytiars ago, I received a small pack- 

 age of the above-named variety of clover seed ; 

 sowed it early in the spring, on a good and well- 

 prepared soil. A large portion of the seed failed 

 to germinate, but such as did, made a good 

 growth, which was mown in the fall, and the 

 land top-dressed. The second year I got two fair 

 crops. The third year June grass was largely 

 mixed with the clover. On the fifth year the 

 Alsike was missing ; the tough-swarded June 

 grass rooted it out entirely. 



In the spring of 1867, 1 obtained one pound of 

 Alsike clover seed, which was sown early in 

 May, with a thin seeding of barley. I gave the 

 land a heavy dressing of .superphosphate. Both 

 the barley and the clover did finely. In 1868, 

 mowed the clover twice ; first crop badly lodged. 

 This year (1869), first crop very good, with quite 

 a show of other grasses, which showed more 

 largely in the second crop. The intruding grasses 

 are red and white clover ; timothy, red-top, and 

 June grasses ; and probably in 1871, the Alsike 

 will have disappeared. 



It makes the finest quality of clover hay, yields 

 a large amount of seed, gives a good yield, and 

 while in blossom is a favorite resort of honey 

 bees and all other houej'^ -loving insects. If this 

 clover could be kept free from other grasses, I 

 think it would prove an admirable dry forage for 

 milch cows and sheep at yeaning time. 



L. Ba,rtlett, 

 In " Country Gentleman." 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



My Experience with Alsike Clover. 



When I visited Germany and Italy, two years 

 ago, I bought and imported fifty pounds of Swe- 

 dish or Alsike clover seed. This seed was for 

 the most part given to my nearest neighbors, free 

 of charge, hoping that the honey gathered by the 

 bees from the blossoms of the clover, would com- 

 pensate me for the cost of the seed. It was sown 

 at the rate of about four pounds to the acre, and 

 did not germinate well, though it ultimately 

 proved to have beea sown thick enough. It 

 wintered well, and grew nicely to a length of 

 from twelve inches to thirty last spring. It 

 commenced blooming about the Sth of June, or 

 at the same time with common white clover. It 

 remained in bloom till about the 2oth of July, 

 when it was cut by me and my neighbors. 



I was of course anxious to see the great piles 

 of honey my bees would gather. They seemed 

 to like the blossoms very well, and worked on 

 them when ever the weather was fair. But, 

 alas ! after examining about a dozen of my hives 

 every day during the whole season, I could never 

 discover more than about a hundred cells filled 

 with a very thin watery honey, and these were 

 regularly found empty again next morning. My 

 fond expectation of being able to improve the 

 honey pasturage of the poor location of my home 

 apiary, was therefore sadly disappointed ; and 

 if the bees gather no more honey from the clover 



next season than they did in the last, I shall be 

 forced to the conclusion that neither the white 

 nor the Alsike clover yield any honey in the 

 lacation of my home apiary. 



Adam Grimm. 

 Jefferson, Wis. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Dzierzon Theory. 



Mr. Editor : — I will reply once more to J. 

 H. Thomas's statement in the June number of 

 your Journal. In that statement he expresses 

 his surprise at the mistake, as he terms it, made 

 in an article I wrote for the Journal some time 

 before, concerning the reproduction of the honey 

 bee. Dzierzon was the first discoverer of the 

 true system and theory concerning the propaga- 

 tion of the bee. He says, if an Italian queen 

 meets a black drone, her drone jjrogeny will be 

 pure Italians, but her worker progeny will be 

 hybrids. And also if a black queen meets an 

 Italian drone, her drone progeny will be blacks, 

 and the worker progeny will be hybrids. 



The above theory agrees with my experience 

 in every respect. 



J. H. Thomas's new theory, as set forth in the 

 Journal, is, that, if an Italian queen meets with 

 a black drone, her whole system becomes im- 

 pregnated with the black blood, and hence her 

 drones would not be pure. And if such a drone 

 would meet with a pure Italian queen, her worker 

 progeny would lose one or more of their yellow 

 bands. 



Now, if this theory is correct, I w^ould hold 

 Mr. Thomas right here — 1st. That the drone 

 progeny, as well as the workers, must show evi- 

 dent marks of black blood ; and so long as Mr. 

 Thomas fails to show this, his new theory must 

 fall to the gi'ound, and stay there. 



I will here give a little of my experience in 

 this matter. In the year 1867, I bought a full- 

 blood Italian queen of Mr. Langstroth for twenty 

 dollars; and, after seeing her progeny, I was 

 convinced I had the worth of my money. That 

 year I raised twelve fertile queens, and every one 

 was fertilized by a black drone ; and I was con- 

 vinced that the drone progeny was pure, while 

 the workers were hybrids. In the year 1868, I 

 bought another full-blood Italian queen, and 

 raised sixteen fertile queens. Of these, all but 

 two met Italian drones. The worker progeny 

 of the fourteen which met Italian drones, were 

 all alike marked full Italian. These queens must 

 have been fertilized by drones which were pro- 

 duced by the queens bred the year before and 

 which were fertilized, as already stated, by black 

 drones. Hence the case is clear that Dzierzen'a 

 theory will stand unscathed, firm as the rock of 

 Gibraltar. 



Inclosed please find two dollars for your ex- 

 cellent Journal. It is edifying to read it, as one 

 writes a, 6, c, and another c, 5, a ; hence we 

 have a thorough discussion of every intricate 

 question. 



H. ROSENSTIEL. 



Lena, III., Oct., 1868. 



Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an 



attack. 



