THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



the many intelligent contributors to the Bee 

 Journal from those parts of the West in which 

 the fall is the ruling honey harvest, will make 

 this subject the basis of an article for the Jour- 

 KAL ? Will my friend, Mr. E. Gallup, of Osase, 

 Iowa, who, it appears, has experimented in dif- 

 ferent climates and States, as well as with almost 

 all kinds of hives, give ns an article on the sub- 

 ject of bee pasturage in the countries in which he 

 has resided ? The subject is one of interest to a 

 large class of bee-keepers, and doubtless could be 

 made profitable ; as its agitation would probably 

 lead to the introduction of some new plants, on 

 which bees could forage with advantage in the 

 fall. 



If there are in other countries valuable bee- 

 plants that are not thought to be too foreign to 

 the country in which I live, I, for one, should not 

 be unwilling to undergo some trouble and ex- 

 pense in experimenting upon their adaptation 

 and availability as forage plants here. I see, in 

 one of the numbers of the I3ee Journal, a com- 

 munication from Mr. Farel, in which he speaks 

 very highly of two honey-producing plants, pur- 

 porting to be different varieties of the golden 

 rod. I also see the Aster very highly spoken of 

 by another writer, as affording valuable fall for- 

 age for bees. If Mr. Fare!, or any other bee- 

 friend benevolently inclined, will assume the 

 task to procure seeds of these plants, and trans- 

 mit by mail a small package of the same to my 

 address, I will see that it is to his interest so to 

 do, as in return for the favor, I might perchance 

 accommodate him to something he would like to 

 have. I have hitherto been engaged in the culti- 

 vation and sale of almost all the choice fruits, 

 flowers, flowering shrubs, &c., and now have 

 Italian queens. And though numerous varieties 

 of the improved Chinese Asters are grown here 

 for ornament, none of the wild species exist here 

 that I know of, nor of the golden rod either. 

 John L. McLean. 



Eic7uno7id, Jefferson Co., Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal. 



Quality of Soil for Bee-keeping. 



Mr. Editor: — On reading the January num- 

 ber of the Bee Journal, and Mr. Grimm's arti- 

 cle — "Product of Honey," &c., on pages 134 

 and 135, I thought it would be well to give my 

 own experieiace in that respect. Mr. Grimm also 

 complains that Alsike clover yields very little 

 honey iu his locality. I was at Jefferson a few 

 years ago, attending a term of court ; was in his 

 bee-yard, and examined his liives, fixtures, &c., 

 without as much as asking his leave. I passed 

 tlie premises at different times during the week, 

 but saw no person to whom I could mtroduce 

 myself; but it is impossible to keep me out of a 

 bee-yard, and always was, so in I went. ' 



But what I was going to say is, that I formed 

 an opinion at the time, about the soil for produc- 

 ing lioney, and Mr. Grimm's article confirms that 

 opinion ; and I will now inform the reader liow 

 any poor soil may be improved or made fit for 

 producing honey. Where I lived in Wisconsin, 

 the fashion was to cultivate our land until it was 



nearly exhausted, and then seed it down to grass, 

 expecting a good crop of hay without any manure, 

 and for five or six years I was compelled to feed 

 ray bees every snnmier, to keep them from starv- 

 ing to death. There was an abundance of wbite 

 clover, but it produced no honey. A neighbor, 

 one season, hired a green son of Erin to haul out 

 manure to a certain six-acre pasture lot that was 

 well seeded to white clover. This neigiibor was 

 compelled to get out the manure, as the barn was 

 too large to be moved. Western fashion. He get 

 the man to work, went away on business, and 

 was gone a weelc. The man covered the ground, 

 so far as he went, from four to six inches deep 

 with manure, and thus smothered the grass com"- 

 pletely. But the clover seed came up the follow- 

 ing year, and the next season after it blossomed 

 profusely. Then, instead of having to feed my 

 ))ees they gave me considerable surplus white 

 clover honey. I had the benefit of that clover 

 patch for four years, and it was then plowed up 

 and ])lanted to corn. There was a strip on two 

 sides of the patch that was not manured, and 

 when the manured part wa* literally covered 

 with bees, and you could fairly smell the honey, 

 there would not be a solitary bee seen on the un- 

 manured part. I took the* hint from that, and 

 manured my clover patch ; and the consequence 

 was I not only obtained honey, but had the satis- 

 faction of having hay and pasture for my stock. 



That the atmosphere has something to do with 

 the secretion of honey in flowers is certain ; but 

 the quality of the soil must be attended to like- 

 wise. The poorest kind of soil can be made to 

 produce honey, by plastering and manuring 

 highly. It is entirely useless to sow Alsike 

 clover on a miserable, poor soil, and expect it to 

 produce honey. I have seen a couple of rows of 

 currant bushes, the currants produced by which 

 were little, sour things, and while the bushes 

 were in blossom scarcely a bee visited these. I 

 then completely covered the ground six inches 

 deep, in .tune, for several feet each side of the 

 rows with horse manure, to kill the grass and 

 weeds, and the following spring, while those 

 bushes were in bloom, they were completely 

 swarming with bees every forenoon. Nor was 

 that the worst of it ! Our "better-half" said 

 that she could scarcely believe that the fruit was 

 the same variety it was the previous season, as it 

 was so much larger and sweeter. I could give 

 several other instances of this kind, but shall not 

 at present. 



Elisha Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



When bees begin to fly in the spring, it is well 

 to feed them a little, even when they have abun- 

 dant stores, as a small addition to their hoards 

 encourages the production of brood. — Lang- 

 strotli. 



If young queens are allowed to issue at will 

 they are pale and weak, like other young bees, 

 and for some time unable to fly ; but if confined 

 the usual time they come forth fully colored, and 

 ready for all emergencies. — Langstroth. 



