32 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Prevention of Swarming. 



Bellefonte. Pa. 

 Mk. Alley:— How can I prevent swiirmhig so 

 as to get less swarms and more honey ? 



James L IIote. 



The best reply to the alcove may be 

 round in llie query departuient. Let 

 the bees swarui and hive two or more 

 swarms in one liive. 



Chapman honey plant. 



Murfreeshoro, Tenn. 



Through the Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 1 recei/ed a small package of seed 

 of the above plant in February, 1888; planted the 

 same in March following anil re-set the plants ni 

 Ai)ril last. 



The first bloom appeared on the Fourth of July 

 and it continued in bloom about forty days. 1 

 had twenty-six plants. 



The bees visited tliem continually, but the nec- 

 tar obtained seemed to stupefy and intoxicate 

 them. In gathermg from clover, blackberry and 

 other bloom, their movements from one blossom 

 to another are generally quick and rapid until a 

 load is obtained when the flight was taken at 

 once homeward. Not so when alighting on the 

 blossom of the Uhapman phint. 



I have seen them su(;k ihe juices from partly 

 decayed peach, apple and plum and after filling 

 themselves remain upon the fruit stupefied, and 

 you could move them about with a stick on your 

 finger, without seeming to frighten or making 

 them take wing, and thev would remain there for 

 hours and often all night, and 1 doubt if all or 

 verv many ever found their way back home. 



When filled with the nectar of the Chapman 

 plant, the same coiulilions were obseive<l as it 

 feeding upon the juices of the fruit named. Has 

 any one else noticed a similar condition .■' ihe 

 same thing I noticed of the bees visiting a yellow 

 flower crown as the milk or silk weeil in our old 

 fields. 



W. P. Hendkkson. 



Artificial honey. 



Artificial honey, which is more comnnni in llie 

 market than coiTsumers know, is made of potato 

 starch and oil of vitriol. Some rash optimists 

 flunk that they are sure of getting the genuine 

 pnxluct of bees and flowers by purchasing honey 

 in the comb. They do not know that the exquis- 

 ite white comb that pleases them is often made of 

 paratliu wax.— Herald of Health. 



The fellow who can get such a [)iece 

 of news as the above through his 

 brain has a big head. — Ed. Api.] 



Bee Convention. 



The twenty-lirst annual convention 

 of the New York State Beekeepers' 

 Association will he held at the County 

 Court House, Rochester, N. Y., Feb- 

 ruary 5, 6 and 7, 1890. 



Description of a honey-producing plant 

 found in Utah. 



W. B. P.ENNKTX. 



I noticed in the November issue of the API an 

 article from the pen of Mr. W. P. Henderson, on 

 the "Chapinan jioney plant." I know nothing 

 about that plant, Ijui have thought for a long time 

 of sending you a description of a splendid honey- 

 producing plant lound here in Utah. 1 consider "it 

 superior to ;ill others for the toUowing reasons: 

 1. It produces a profusion of flowers that keep on 

 blooming Ibra long time. '2. It commences about 

 the last of June to blossom and continues until 

 frost kills the plant, i. The bees work upon it 

 from early in the morning till late in the evening. 

 Some jteople call the plant "'wild lucern ;" but 

 I call It ''Ualifornia sweet clover." When cut 

 early it makes excellent fodder for cattle and 

 produces an extra qiialitv of milk. I know the 

 honey gathered from it is splendid. We can say 

 that two staple articles of I'ood :ire produced Irom 

 the ••California sweet clover — fine honey and 

 butter." 



On good soil it will grow to a strong, vigoroui? 

 plant from eight to ten i'eet in height from the seed 

 the first season. To keep it from spreading over 

 the land where it is not wanted, it should be cut 

 down before it seeds. It is one of the best ferti- 

 lizers of the soil I know of. 



Sample of the seed sent to anyone who will re- 

 mit enough to pay for postage and jiacking of a 

 small package. " West Jordan, Utah 



Clover. 



The finiiiently practical and sensible Father 

 Clarkson of the ''Iowa State Register" commends 

 clover for the national flower by reason of its 

 utility, as well as beauty. He says : 



'probably a greater number of the city papers 

 favor the golden rod. To the denizens of the 

 city, in tlie fall of the year, when enraptured over 

 everything they see in their rural districts, the 

 golden red m.iy be a beauty. But to the practi- 

 cal tanner it is'simply a useless, nasty weeil of no 

 benefit as food for stock, no valuable medicinal 

 properties; has no sweet scent, and only of mod- 

 erate beauty just before frost. But the red 

 clover is always sweet, beautiful, and in liloom 

 nearly all summer. There is no flower more val- 

 uable to man. It produces the richest pasture, the 

 most nutritious hay, and its blossoms produce the 

 choicest honey, and it is claimed they have supe- 

 rior medical qualities. Its blossoms contain two 

 of our National colors, while the golden rod has 

 neither. Clover is never a weed, or a nuisance in 

 any place, or under any circumstances, it has 

 only virtues and no drawbacks. It is of utility 

 wherever fonud, and in the world's material 

 wealth it has no superior. Let us have something 

 sensible when ado|)ting a national flower." 



Colonel Ingersol extols its excellences and 

 beauties iiitlie following rhapsody on the clover: 

 "A wonderful thing is clover. It means honey 

 and cream; that is to say, industry and content- 

 ment, that is to say, the happy liees in perfumed 

 fields, and at the cottage gate old boss, the beau- 

 tiful, chewing satisiaction's cucl, in that blessed 

 twilight pause tl'at like a benediction falls be- 

 tween ah toil and sleep. This clover makes me 

 dream of happy hours, of childhood's rosy 

 cheeks, of dimpled babes, of wholesome, loving 

 wives, of honest men, of springs and brooks and 

 violets, and all there is of painless joy and peace- 

 ful human life. A wonderful word is clover. 

 Drop the 'c' and you have the happiest of mankind. 

 Take away the 'c' ami 'r' and you have the only 

 thing that makes a heaven of this dull and barren 

 earth. Cut off the •!■' alone and there remains 

 a warm deceitful bud that sweetens breath and 

 keeps the peace in countless homes whose mas- 

 ters frequent clubs. After all, Bottom was right; 

 'Good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.' "—Ex- 

 change. 



