igo;.] THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



PASTURAGE. 



28s 



In connection with the economics of 

 apiculture, the matter of pasturage has 

 an important part. The better the pas- 

 tures, the greater the number of colo- 

 nies which may be kept in one locality, 

 which in turn lessens the cost in labor 

 and travel. 



In our last issue we referred to Dr. 

 Brooks' successful experiments in fer 



NON-SAGGING FOUNDATION. 



During the editor's recent Northern 

 trip he spent a few hours in counsel 

 with the foreman of the foundation 

 factory of the W. T. Falconer Mfg. 

 Co., at Falconer, N. Y., and as a re- 

 sult we are firmly convinced that the 

 sagging problem has been effectually 

 and permanently settled, without the 

 use of wires or other troublesome ad- 

 ditions to the wax sheet. We have 



tilizing old pastures for the purpose of been giving much thought to a solution 



of this perplexing problem for some 

 months, and we are more than pleased 

 with the present status of the matter. 

 Machinery for experimental work has 

 been constructed and the goods turned 

 out are exactly as anticipated in ap- 

 pearance and construction. We be- 

 lieve the "sagging" era is about to be- 

 come history, and to be met there only. 



(H.) 



obtaining clover crops for pasturage or 

 for hay. The results of his work 

 should appeal directly to farmers and 

 poultry raisers, and if such, in the 

 neighborhood of apiaries, can be per- 

 suaded to follow the practice, it will be 

 of mutual advantage to them and to 

 the bee-keeper. 



Another form of pasturage which 

 might be possible to the bee-keeper 

 running his own farm is the sowing 

 of mustard with his grain crops. It is 

 doubtful if the average farmer can be 

 persuaded to do anything of the kind 

 unless he is also a honey producer, for 

 the farmer looks upon mustard as a 

 noxious weed. 



The writer has an apiary located on 

 a farm, the soil of which is somewhat 

 clayey and which produces a strong 

 growth of most all vegetation. Each 

 year the farmer has several acres of 

 oats and invariably there springs up 

 a heavy growth of mustard with the 

 oats. This is very much to the farm- 

 er's displeasure, but he frankly con- 

 fessed that it caused him no harm or 

 financial loss. • 



The mustard ripens and drops its 

 seed before the oats are harvested, 

 and he says that his crop of oats are 

 satisfactory and he cannot see that it 

 is in any wise effected by the presence 

 of the mustard. The honey from this 

 source is a bright golden color, good 

 body and flavor but inclined to be a 

 little stingy. It is not, however, un- 

 pleasant. The yield seems to be uni- 

 form one season with another, and 

 during the past year when nothing else 

 was yielding, two and one-half acres of 

 this plant, growing in with oats, sup- 

 ported fifteen colonies of bees and 

 yielded about 150 pounds of surplus 

 honey. Without this source of supply 

 the bees would have had to be fed, for 

 there was absolutely nothing else ob- 

 tainable. (M.) 



ANOTHER RAMBLER. 



Mr. Thos. Chantry, whose home 

 used to be in South Dakota, is be- 

 coming noteworthy as a traveling 

 apiarist. He is one of those fellows 

 who do things, and his enterprise is 

 winning success. Much of the time lie 

 is producing honey out in California, 

 or circulating among the apiaries of 

 other Pacific States; but he travels 

 extensively in the region of the Dako- 

 tas and Iowa, where the pure honey of 

 the "Western Honey Producers" is 

 placed through the retailers of that 

 country. The Western Honey Pro- 

 ducers is an organization of which Mr. 

 Chantry is president, Edward C. 

 Brown, secretary and treasurer, and 

 W. P. Southworth, manager; and, we 

 believe, has headquarters at Sioux City, 

 la. Our readers will probably have the 

 privilege of reading some interesting 

 contributions from INIr. Chantry's pen, 

 dealing with phases of apiculture that 

 he has met in his rambles. (H.) 



ESTIMATING OUR PROFITS. 



Elsewhere in this issue is an article 

 on the profits of bee culture. The very 

 loose methods of estimating the re- 

 turns from the business have resulted 

 in harm to persons engaged in it. The 

 free and easy way may do for the per- 

 sons who turn otherwise idle time to 

 profit by caring for one or a few 

 colonies, and such estimates may make 

 good advertising copy for persons en- 



