254 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 22, 1906 



same fellow. Whether (in this locality) we have any field- 

 mouse apart from No. 2 — I'm at sizes and sevens on that 

 question. But the mouse that quickly dies of terror when 

 caught in a trap that doesn't hurt him a bit — can he be of 

 the same species as the mouse that has no thought of dying 

 — that spitefully gnaws up everything within reach, and 

 royally fights you to the last ? It hardly seems possible 

 notwithstanding they look so much alike. My impression 

 is that we have here another burrowing mouse apart from 

 No. 4 ; bigger, and also plentier ; not so much resembling 

 the mole ; about the same size as the house-mouse, but with 

 a stub-tail instead of a long one. 



Doolittle is usually accurate, but I am unreasonable 

 enough to entertain some doubts whether he is perfectly 

 sound on mouse diet. I think the house-mouse rarely eats 

 honey except when near to starvation — but sometimes peels 

 mappings off for pastime when time hangs heavily on his 

 hands. However, poor mousie does face starvation at close 

 range pretty often, in which condition he naturally has to 

 •eat anything he can get. I also suspect that more than one 

 species will pull dead bees out of combs— at least when hard 

 up for something to do. I wish Prof. Bigelow would tell us 

 what he knows about mice. 



Right that the choker-trap is best to reduce numbers 

 quickly when mice are plenty ; but for getting the last one, 

 when he's old and wise and wary, the wire-box with a door 

 that snaps down is better. Feed him round the outside 

 every day (careful not to give quite so much as he could eat) , 

 and sooner or later his suspicions will fade away, and he 

 will be caught. Page 120. 



Apiarian Rbadbks and Reading. 



Our Editor, on page 117, makes bold to give readers a 

 little advice on how to read. Right. Give 'em some more 

 of it. The few who read all, and the larger few, who dip 

 into every article and finish all they find interesting, don't 

 need much advice, but the others do. Half of them waste a 

 good share of the little time that they do spend at reading. 

 No acquaintance with its different departments ; and no 

 idea where to find what they want. No method or plan at 

 all except to dip in at random and read till time expires, or 

 till " that tired feeling " comes. Hope it's a small one, but 

 it's to be feared that there is a still worse class of readers — 

 the proud-of-their-martyrdom class. Vain of not needing 

 to read bee-literature at all, because they know all about 

 bees — but take a paper just to be a good example to the 

 brethren. Never open the paper except they first whistle 

 for all the languid and bored feelings which human shift- 

 lessness is capable of, to come and keep them from getting 

 either profit or pleasure. What will they get, pray ? The 

 answer to this query and the solution to the doggerel lines 

 below are one and the same word : 



I am, and yet in sober truth I'm not. 

 A deep, deep riddle's what I am, I wot. 



I cause, oft and again, girls giggling glee. 

 A certain brand of man gets mad at me. 



Because of me the jealous husband slays; 



And jealous wives spend frowning, weeping days. 



On festival evenings fair shoulders they don me. 

 When God made the world he hung it upon me. 



There, now ! That's what you'll get if you don't read 

 the American Bee Journal with proper zeal, gumption and 

 respect. 



Southern 

 * 23eebom * 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl. New Braunftls, Tex. 



J 



What Line of Work Shall We Take Up? 



Who is not interested in the welfare and the progress 

 of our industry— bee-keeping ? I am well aware of the fact 

 that every bee-keeper who is in the business for the " bread 

 and butter there is in it," has this matter at heart, and is 

 ever ready to find or devise something that will make his 

 work less and easier, yet increase his returns from the api- 

 ary. And we do not blame him. That is just what all of 



us should be doing — study a little more the things we are 

 going to do. 



But how shall we begin to improve upon our old ways 

 and methods ? or what line of work shall we take up ? There 

 are many, to be sure ; for instance, "Short cuts, and their 

 application," could be made into valuable discussions. 

 There are many ways of doing things. Every bee-keeper 

 has his or her way, and these are just the ones we want to 

 hear about. How to cut off the corners, how to " get there " 

 quicker and easier, and then make more money, is what all 

 of us want to know. 



" Breeding and improving our bees " would be a good 

 thing to discuss thoroughly, devising some good plans of 

 procedure for the average honey-producer as well as the 

 specialist breeder. A better grade of bees in our apiaries 

 would mean more money for us. 



A subject that has been of much interest to me has been 

 the planting for bee-forage — such plants that will yield nec- 

 tar during times of scarcity or entire dearth. These need 

 not necessarily yield a crop of surplus — for it is almost cer- 

 tain that very few could be found that would do such a 

 thing — but in many localities only a light flow to tide the 

 colonies over successfully during the honey-dearths from 

 the spring flows to the fall honey-flows would mean thou- 

 sands of dollars for the bee-keeper in such localities. 



At the Texas State Experiment Station a test of over 30 

 different kinds of honey-yielding plants were experimented 

 with for a period of 3 years in succession. Small plots of 

 each were planted, and at intervals of one month apart 

 throughout the season, making 4 plantings a year. Among 

 these were the clovers — red, mammoth red, alsike, white, 

 sand, Japanese, suckling, yellow trefoil, white and yellow 

 and yellow sweet, and alfalfa ; Japanese and American 

 buckwheat ; Desmodium, Euphorbia, Astragalus (2), mus- 

 tard, sage, borage, cowpeas (4), velvet beans, Japanese 

 Dolichos, Australian salt-bush, Resedas (2), catnip and a few 

 I do not recall just now. Many of these did not grow, espe- 

 cially the clovers. Apparently the atmosphere and the sea- 

 sons did not agree with them. Besides, it gets too dry in 

 the summer in most Southern sections for clovers to do 

 well, except the sweet clovers and alfalfa. Some of the 

 other plants grew, and a few bloomed, bees working on 

 them, but they were of little importance. 



The experiments, sifted down, left white and yellow 

 sweet clovers for planting and scattering in waste-places 

 and along roadsides and fences ard for forage ; Japanese 

 buckwheat and the cowpeas for cultivation, both for honey 

 and forage, preferably drilled and cultivated in rows here 

 in the South ; and alfalfa for irrigated districts. The latter 

 yields some honey where not irrigated, but is then not im- 

 portant as a honey-yielder. 



Buckwheat does not always yield, sometimes only spar- 

 ingly, depending a great deal upon the season and atmos- 

 pheric conditions. The average hot summer is too dry for 

 it to yield, as warm, moist weather conditions are most 

 favorable for it. I have cut buckwheat for hay just about 

 the time the majority of the seeds in the heads were begin- 

 ning to harden, and cured it. When fed to stock, especially 

 if a large amount of kernels have been matured, they eat it 

 greedily ; also green. 



The cowpeas yield abundantly just at a time when 

 needed, for they gave the bees something to do during 

 June, July and part of August, when nothing else was to 

 be had for them. These can be planted at intervals of a 

 month apart, which would give a succession of bloom dur- 

 ing the season. As drouth does not affect them as much as 

 most other vegetation, they should be given a further trial. 

 It will be well for me to state, in this connection, that of 

 the different varieties tried, the one known commonly as 

 the " whip-poor-will pea " is the best. The others form more 

 vine and a denser growth, to the detriment of the bloom 

 that the beekeeper seeks most. I might also say that it is 

 not necessary for the cowpea plant to be full of blooms to 

 yield nectar, as this is mostly secreted by external nectar- 

 glands on the terminal flowering stalks, and the nectar can 

 be plainly seen in large quantities within reach of the bees. 



My preference has been a strong leaning toward sweet 

 clover. As it can be sown in waste-places and along fences 

 it seems to be the cheapest and most practical for the bee- 

 keeper. Cultivated land is rather expensive in most locali- 

 ties to be devoted to honey-yielding crops, and then, too, 

 many a bee-keeper hasn't any land. 



Any or all of these honey-yielders I have mentioned 

 should be given a thorough trial in the different sections 

 of the South — on a small scale at first, then if they prove 

 successful for cultivation, and of value to the bees, larger 

 areas can be devoted to them. As the soils 'and climatic 



