AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



273 



double brood-chamber hives, and it left 

 me with 200 or BOO full brood-chamber 

 hives, some of which had been in use, 

 but many were new. I do not expect to 

 ever manufacture many more hives, but 

 these surplus hives that I did not want 

 to use myself, I wished to sell to my 

 trusting friends who would buy any 

 style of hive I recommended, so I de- 

 liberately burned all these closed-end 

 frames — some o,000 of them — and am 

 making new wire-end frames to take 

 their place, as I did not want to go out 

 of the hive business by selling my friends 

 hives that I would not, after much ex- 

 perience, use myself. 



I have never commended the Hoffman 

 style of frame in full brood-chambers, 

 after becoming acquainted with them in 

 actual use ; to this effect I have written 

 many times during recent years, and 

 now to let this seeming contradiction of 

 all I have said for years, go uncorrected, 

 would leave me in a most unenviable 

 position before the bee-keeping world. 



I know that this is not a very favor- 

 able report for closed-end frames, but It 

 is a true transcript of my mind and feel- 

 ing after much experience, and I believe 

 the bee-keeping world will be benefited 

 by hearing this flnal report. I write it 

 in no spirit of self-interest, and with no 

 shadow of hostility to any living person's 

 interest. 



Forestville, Minn. 



[We are glad Bro. Taylor has thus set 

 himself in what he considers his proper 

 light, for we certainly would not will- 

 ingly have any one's views misrepre- 

 sented in these columns. Evidently his 

 usually sharp pencil slipped a little, and 

 hence the error. Now, however, all will 

 know just what Mr. Taylor's views are 

 on the subject. — Ed.] 



Sweet Clover— Putting Bees Out, Etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DK. C. C. MILLER. 



Friend York : — The following letter 

 I received from Friend M. M. Baldridge 

 some time ago, and thinking it might be 

 of interest to the readers of the Bee 

 Journal, I send it to you : 



St. Charles, Ills. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller — 



Dear Friend : — Some time ago one of 

 my bee-correspondents in Arizona wrote 

 me that he did not dare to scatter sweet 



clover seed in his neighborhood because 

 yoii had stated that the " English spar- 

 row is a daisy compared with it." I 

 wrote him that I had seen no such 

 statement in print, and requested him 

 to tell me where he saw it. He says 

 now that he has tried to find the state- 

 ment, but has not been able to do so, but 

 thinks it was among the "Straws" in 

 Oleanings. He says he has surely seen 

 it in print somewhere, and that it was 

 credited to you. 



I now write you to know if what my 

 correspondent says is true, and if you 

 can give me directions for finding the 

 statement, and will do so. 



Chas. F. Muth has tried in print to 

 discourage the growing of sweet clover, 

 but I was not aware that you had done 

 so, but perhaps you have. 



In reply to Friend Muth, I can say 

 that if sweet clover can be grown so 

 plentifully and successfully within the 

 flight of my apiary, as to cover up, 

 smother out, or destroy white clover en- 

 tirely, that 1 should gladly make the 

 exchange. Sweet clover is a success 

 with me, and I would rather have one 

 acre of it for my bees to gather honey 

 from than to have ten acres of white 

 clover ! And I can find more bee-keep- 

 ers to say the same. 



putting bees out in spring. 



My bees were put into my house-cellar 

 on Nov. 15th — a trifle earlier than I 

 wanted to put them in. The fall of 

 1892 I put them in some two weeks 

 later. I took them out on March 10th 

 — the very first day in March the bees 

 could fly with safety. I would have put 

 them out at an earlier date had the 

 weather suited me. I then left the bees 

 out and went to Arizona. On my re- 

 turn, the last of April, all my bees were 

 in fine condition, and were ready to 

 swarm the last of May and the forepart 

 of June. They were black bees. None 

 were lost in the cellar, but two colonies 

 became queenless in the spring, and 

 were broken up when I came back from 

 the West. 



For a number of years past I have put 

 my bees out early, and I like the plan 

 better than the late putting out. This 

 same plan has been adopted for several 

 years past by Geo. Thompson, of Geneva, 

 and S. M. Way, of Batavia. By this 

 plan we think we get rid of considerable 

 spring dwindling. We start the bees to 

 breeding by this early flight, and there- 

 by secure young bees to take the place 

 of the old ones. Some bee-keepers ob- 

 ject to the early-putting-out plan, but 



