62 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of a swarm while pasturage is abundant; and 

 only after its liivc is thus furnished, will it pro- 

 ceed to build drone comb. Hence if from a 

 strong stock all the honey and brood combs be 

 removed, and the queen and workers brushed 

 back ino the now empty hive, worker comb 

 only will he built. The brood combs thus re- 

 moved and freed from bees, should be given to 

 some other colony which still has room for 

 combs in the brooding apartment. If,. on ex- 

 amining the deprived colony a week subse- 

 quently, we find that the bees, having built a 

 supply of worker combs, are beginning to build 

 drone comb, or show a disposition to do so by 

 constructing transition cells, all the empty 

 space should at once be filled with worker comb 

 taken from the hive in which the removed 

 brood combs were inserted — that hive being 

 now, in tires, treated in the same manner as 

 the first, by removing the combs and brushing 

 back the queen and bees, that these likewise 

 may now build worker eomb exclusively. 



By tbis process bees are never injured, no 

 time is lost, nor is any honey wasted on useless 

 drone brood, and a large amount of new and 

 beautiful worker comb is obtained for the use 

 of new colonies or artificial swarms. 



H. A. Hopf. 



Foiflbroody colonics should not, after the re- 

 moval of the queen, be used "for queen -raising, 

 as has been recommended; as the risk of spread- 

 ing the disease is thereby greatly enhanced. 

 Young queens can much more certainly and 

 safely be raised iu healthy colonies, because in 

 fnulbroody stocks the larvae in royal cells very 

 generally perishes by that disease soon after the 

 cells are capped. 



After the bees, brood, combs and honey have 

 been removed from hives in which foulbrood is 

 detected, the hives, bottom-boards, honey- 

 boards, frames, &c., should be well washed with 

 a strong solution of chloride of lime, before 

 using them again. — Tresor. 



Esparsette or Sainfoin. 



In Germany this is a favorite forage crop with 

 farmers and bee-keepers, and the latter regard 

 the success of their business assured wherever 

 this plant is extensively cultivated. It will not 

 thrive in every kind of land, though it will 

 grow and flourish in a greater variety of soils 

 than is generally supposed. It deserves to be 

 fairly tested in this country, especially by those 

 who are in a position to turn to account both 

 its fodder and honey producing qualities. We 

 copy the following description of it from Col- 

 man's European Agriculture, trusting that 

 some of our bee-keeping friends may be induced 

 to make trial of it. Seed can probably be pro- 

 cured from the principal seedsmen in the cities. 



14 Sainfoin. This plant is cultivated in lo- 

 calities where a chalk or calcareous soil pre- 

 vails, both for soiling and pasturage. It is 

 sometimes likewise made into hay, and forms 

 an excellent fodder. It is universally under- 

 stood that a calcareous or limestone soil is most 

 congenial to its growth, and one must hesitate 



in distrusting the lessons of experience; but the 

 best crop which I have ever seen of it — and an 

 admirable crop it was — I found upon an ex- 

 ti'i mely rich loam, which, from its high cultiva- 

 tion, might be called a vegetable garden mould, 

 and to which no lime had been applied, and 

 none certainly was apparent. 



It is a highly productive plant, with small, 

 pointed leaves, rather coarse branches and stem, 

 and bearing a small blue flower. It, maybe cut 

 twice in a season, and then fed, and will yield, 

 under good cultivation, from one and a half to 

 two tons of dried fodder per acre ; but it is not 

 so productive as lucern. It is not so apt to be- 

 come heated as clover, not being as succulent. 

 It will grow where clover will not grow ; and, 

 deriving its nourishment from a greater depth, 

 it is less liable to suffer from drought. It may 

 be cut, and afterwards fed off by sheep the first 

 year of its growth ; but it is not in the best con- 

 dition for mowing until about the third year af- 

 ter planting, and then it will continue for eight 

 or ten years. I have said one of its principal 

 uses, is for soiling, and for this it is much es- 

 teemed. Though it may not be so valuable as 

 lucern, clover, Italian rye grass, or Indian corn, 

 where the latter can be grown, yet there is an 

 obvious advantage in a variety of foo'l ; it is 

 more agreeable to the animals themselves, and 

 some plants will flourish in some seasons and 

 some soils, iu which others would fail. I have 

 seen it cultivated in New England in or,e case 

 only, and that not with mu -h success. The 

 winter there was deemed too severe for it. 



The amount of seed sowii to an a re is ftrir 

 bushels in the chaff; and it may be sown with 

 barley, or alone. The seed is of a very uncer- 

 tain quality, and should be tried in a pot. Sain- 

 foin is a great exhauster of the soil, when suf- 

 fered to ripen its seed. 



Lord Essex gives an account of curing a crop 

 of Sainfoin, which was cut on Monday and 

 Tuesday of the last week in June, when in full 

 flower. It was once turned oa Wednesday, and 

 carried and stacked on Thursday and Friday. 

 The weather was dry and hot, but the hay was 

 still so green, that much mo'sture exuded upon 

 pressure. It was stacked with alternate layers 

 of oat straw. It came out in the finest condi- 

 tion, and the interleaved straw was much im- 

 proved. It is well known that, with us, clover 

 is often cut in the morning, turned once merely, 

 in a hot sun, and then packed away, the differ- 

 ent layers being well salted, at the rate of more 

 than a peck of salt to the load. In this way, 

 where the moisture proceeds from the sap, and 

 not from rain coming upon it, I have known it 

 effectually preserved, and furnishing an excel- 

 lent fodder. 



There are different kinds of Sainfoin, some of 

 them distinguished from others by greater easi- 

 ness. I saw in the same field, side by side, and 

 where both kinds had been sown at the same 

 time, a second crop coming on, where, iu one 

 case, the plant was in full flower, and, in the 

 adjoining land, the plants showed no signs of 

 flowering. I know no means of distinguishing 

 one from the other in such a case, but by actual 

 trial. The farmers who cultivate this crop suc- 

 cessfully, esteem it very highly. Messrs. Law- 



