166 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



[For the American Bi 



Alsike Clover Again. 



In the Deceiuber number of tlie Journal for 

 1869, page 125, there is an article from Mr. Adam 

 Grimm, on Alsike clover. It seems from it, that 

 he is not very favorably impressed with this 

 clover, as a honey-yielding plant, in the vicinity 

 of his home apiary. The conclusion he has 

 arrived at, however, is c^uite different from what 

 mine would have been, under the circumstances. 

 He says he and his neighbors sowed fifty pounds. 

 Sowing four pounds per acre, this would be 

 twelve and a half acres ; but we will call it 

 thirteen acres. He says further, " it commenced 

 blooming about the 5th of June, and remained 

 in bloom till the 25th of July." And, still 

 further on, "after examining about a dozen 

 hives every day, during the w^hole season, I 

 could never discover more than about a hun- 

 dred cells with a very thin, watery honey." 



We have no means at hand of ascertaining the 

 exact number of colonies Mr. Grimm had in his 

 home apiary at the time these examinations were 

 made ; but by referring to the Journal, Vol. 5, No. 

 2, page 35, we find that he had three hundred 

 and sixty-two colonies the spring previous, be- 

 fore any were sold. How many were sold, Mr. 

 Crowfoot does not state (he bought forty col- 

 onies), but we will suppose that sixty-two colonics 

 were disposed of. It would be fair to presume 

 that the increase in stock would equal the 

 number sold ; but we will leave them out of the 

 account, and suppose that Mr. Grimm had, in 

 round numbers, at the time his examinations 

 were made, just three hundred colonies. The 

 number of worker bees in a good colony is 

 variously estimated at frora*25,000 to 50,000. 

 Some writers estimate the number much above 

 the figures here given ; but, as we wish to be mod- 

 erate, preferring to be below the actual number 

 rather than above it, we will call it 30,000. 

 Supposing that one-half of them remained in the 

 hives, while the other half were out on the 

 Alsike, there would be 4,500,000 bees at work on 

 his thirteen acres of clover — equal to 346,154 bees 

 per acre, or 2,103 per square foot. Some twenty 

 years ago there was a gentleman living in Jack- 

 son, Michigan, by the name of Chapman. He 

 had been a judge and also a member of the 

 Legislature. A neighbor, living several miles 

 from Jackson, who in addressing another is apt 

 to give him all the honors he is entitled to, had 

 occasion to ask a favor of the judge and wrote to 

 him, addressing the letter to the "Hon. Judge 

 Chapman, Esq." He sent his son to Jackson 

 with the letter. Tlie judge took it, read the 

 direction, and looking up at the boy said — " the 

 deacon has spread it on rather thick, liasn't he ?" 

 Well, it is somewhat so with Mr. Grimm's Alsike 

 clover, the bees have been spread on there rather 

 thick. If the weather was not as wet in Wiscon- 

 sin, in June and July, as it was here in Michigan, 

 raining almost every day, and he was able to 

 find any new honey in the cells at anj^ time, 

 though ever so thin and watery, I tliink it 

 speaks wonders for the Alsike clover. 



I have now thirty acres seeded to tliis clover. 

 I had intended to sow only sixteen next spring ; 



but since reading Mr. Grimm's article, I think I 

 will not only sow the rest of the farm, 100 acres, 

 with it, but will also give all the seed to my 

 neighbors that I can induce them to sow. If 

 three hundred swarms of bees can collect and 

 store honey enough in each hive, to make a show 

 from thirteen acres in such a season as the past 

 has been, what will thirteen swarms of bees do 

 on three hundred acres in a good year ? Novice's 

 vision of rows of jars of honey miles in length, 

 is tame in comparison. 



In conclusion, I think if friend Grimm would 

 reduce the number of colonies in his home 

 apiary from three hundred to sixty or seventy, he 

 would find that, in good years, they would 

 collect some honey from ichite clover if not from 

 Alsike, even in his poor locality. 



One word more about tiie Alsike clover.' Bees 

 will always be found in the greatest number 

 where honey is the most ahunddnt ; and during 

 the time my Alsike was in bloom, it was alive 

 with bees, (not quite eight to the square foot 

 though,) on all fair days — which, by the way, 

 were like some visits we read of "few and far 

 between," If I remember rightly there were 

 here only eight days in June without rain, and 

 July was a continuation of the same subject, 

 without any perceptible improvement, and the 

 only wonder is that anything in the shape of 

 honey was stored at all, let alone its being thin 

 and watery. Honey from the Alsike is not more 

 watery, however, than that collected from white 

 clover. 



J. H. TOWKLET. 



Parma, Mich. 



[For tbe American Bee Journal.] 



Artificial Pasturage for Honey. 



Mr. Editor : — I see in the Bee Journal vari- 

 ous statements ofsurplus honey obtained this year 

 in different sections of the country, and am in- 

 duced to send you mine. This is the first year 

 since I engaged in bee culture that I tried to ob- 

 tain honey. 



My apiary contains forty-five stands of bees, 

 old and young, -and I have taken two thousand 

 three hundred and thirty-nine pounds of surplus 

 honey. All this is the product of bees gathering 

 on artificial pasture. I live on a very new place 

 six miles from any timber, and there is no white 

 clover, except what I have sown. I have sown 

 white clover, alsike, and melilot. Of all these, the 

 melilot produces the most honey, and the best. ^ 

 My bees gathered honey from it this fall up to the • 

 5th of October. I sowed three acres for my bees, 

 and also some buckwheat. 



The above stated yield was the product entirely 

 of artificial pasturage. My bees are all hybrids, 

 and my honey was all box honey. Of my two best 

 stands, No. 5 gave one hundred and seventeen 

 pounds, and No. 26 gave one hundred and eleven 

 pounds. This, I think, is doing pretty well for 

 a new beginner. My hives are all numbered, 

 the honey all weighed, and each hive credited 

 with the amount taken from it. 



R. Miller. 



Bochelle, III. 



