133 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



it will produce: but 1 believe wo cau iu- 

 crease the available blossoms at a great 

 profit to ourselves. First, we will take 

 the family of clovers. Until we get a 

 race of extra long-tongued hees or a va- 

 riety of red clover with short-tubed 

 corollas, we shall have to consider the 

 red clover useless for our purpose : but 

 we have the alsike and white clovers, and 

 much can be done with these. As a 

 fodder, the alsike is richer in the initri- 

 tious elements than red clover, and here 

 in the North it will produce fully as 

 much hay per acre. It also lias the ad- 

 vantage of thriving on heavy clay soil, 

 where it would be impossible to get a 

 stand of red clover. As a honey pro- 

 ducer, many bee-keepers rank it as fully 

 equal to the white clover; and it comes 

 just at the close of the honey-flow from 

 the latter, which is a decided advantage, 

 as the colonies are strong and well fitted 

 to store snrplus. 



Then, with a little care we can increase 

 our pasturage of white clover. There 

 are many of our stock pastures where 

 white clover can hardly be found, that 

 could be made white with it at the 

 proper season and with great improve- 

 ment to the grazing value of the land. 

 In the autumn, just before snow falls, 

 we go over our pastures and give them a 

 light seeding with white clover, and we 

 are almost sure to get a good stand. 

 This increases the grazing capacity of 

 the land enough to repay all costs and 

 affords an opportunity for the bees to 

 gather many pounds of honey. 



In many parts of the country sweet 

 clover can be used to increase the honey- 

 flow ; but I have tried it here without 

 any great succ(\ss. 



Buckwheat is another great source of 

 honey, and in most localities it will pay 

 a good profit in grain. In our forests 

 the basswood or linden can be increased 

 with a little care, and its lumber is sure 

 of a ready sale at good prices, when we 

 get ready to cut it. It also makes an 

 excellent shade tree, being of rapid 

 growth and fine sha{)e. Many other 



plants will suggest themselves to api- 

 arists in other parts of the country : and 

 I believe that if we make a judicious use 

 of these plants in agriculture, we shall 

 increase the value of our products and 

 also furnish an increase of pasturage for 

 our bees. 



East Dix field. Me. 



"White clover honey is generally con- 

 sidered the highest type of sweets. Svreet 

 clover honey is somewhat sweeter, but is 

 very higlily classed." 



LONGITUDINAL COMMUNICATION 



The Means of Having Sections Filled 



and Capped Clear to the Wood. 



T 



1!V F. (JHEI.NEl!. 



HE most dc'sirable sections of honey, 

 in particular for exhibition, are 

 such as have been well filled and 

 are capped clear to the wood. Twenty- 

 five years ago. when using supers with- 

 out separators, all of our honey, withoiit 

 exception, was capped clear to the wood, 

 and in this respect could hardly be im- 

 proved. When we adopted more modern 

 supers with separators, imperfectly filled 

 sections were rather the rule. I am not 

 sure that honey for ordinary market- 

 ing purposes need be absolutely perfect 

 and sealed all around, but I am aware 

 that a section so filled presents a much 

 better appearance. 



The differences between the open 

 super and the one with dividers, as thev 

 have been used for a good many y(>ars 

 past are markiKJ, rather — revolutionary. 

 While the open super gave free com- 

 munication in every direction, the 

 new style super with its dividers sepa- 

 rated each little comb from its neighbor 

 longitudinally and laterallv or trans- 

 versely. The number of bee-spaces was 

 ali-o increaseil to nearly doul)le the 

 nuillbei'. 



\Ve did not at the time attach very 

 much importance to the less perfect fill- 

 ing, but now competition forces us to 

 study into the matter and sec if we can- 

 not do a little better than our neighbor. 



