12 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[JtJLT, 



we commenced feeding a syrup made of ten 

 pounds extra C sugar, dissolved in four quarts 

 of water, with cream-tartar or cider-vinegar to 

 prevent granulation, boiling and skimming 

 the syrup before use. Fed from two to four jjounds 

 per day to each, thus enabling the queens in 

 every hive to fill two to three frames well with 

 brood, and also giving time for evaporation and 

 capping over the same. We fed them from 

 fifteen to twenty pounds of sugar each. These 

 hives were, housed in my cellar on the 16th day 

 of November last, together with my twenty- 

 five other hives, and at this date, February 14th, 

 appear to be as healthy and with as few dead 

 bees as any one in the cellar. 



This, Mr. Editor, is our test of the sugar- 

 syrup principle, and, if it succeeds, we will not 

 hesitate in future to use the extractor most free- 

 ly, late in the season as well as early. 



Jesse Oatman. 



Dundee, Kane Co., III. Feb- 14th, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



More About Eape as a Honey Plant. 



Mr. Editok. — I am daily receiving letters 

 (my brother being absent) in regard to the cul- 

 ture of rape. So, herewith, I enclose you a 

 circular that will give the desired information ; 

 and, if it will not occupy too much of your 

 valuable space, you would, I think, do the bee- 

 keepers a great favor by publishing it in your 

 next number. My brother referred bee- keepers 

 to the Report of Agriculture, but they do not 

 seem to heed it. A detailed report is there 

 given of its culture, but as many bee-keepers do 

 not possess a copy of that work, this circular 

 will be of value to them. Bye-thebye, I hope 

 Mr Hunt, of AiDpleton,Wis., will giveus a word 

 on the subject, he having lived right where it 

 is raised. 



I see that Mr. Gallup has " come out " on my 

 •' lamentations " in the April number — at least, 

 I suppose he means me, by giving me the name 

 of "Drusche." Well! well!! I have seen my 

 name undergo many changes, as if under the 

 control of a magic wand, but this is the greatest 

 contortion it has ever been called upon to 

 sustain. Still, "what's in a name?" Mr. Gal- 

 lup says " forty-six stocks of bees are rather a 

 bad burn." Nay, nay, friend Gallup, it was 

 rather a bad freeze, at about seven diflferent 

 times, of more than twenty-three degrees below 

 zero— not much burn with the thermometer in 

 such a weak condition. 



He speaks about cautioning bee-keepers in 

 the back numbers of the Journal, etc., but the 

 caution was useless to us, as we did not have 

 the A. B. J. at that time; consequently, did not 

 hear or heed his warnings. I did not particu- 

 larly intend to give reasons whj my bees died ; 

 I only endeavored to express the idea that they 

 could not have died because there was not 

 enough young bees, as Mr. Hosmer says, but, if 



Mr. Gallup knows, he will do us a great favor 

 by imparting the much desired information to 

 us, and we will hold perfectly still while he 

 beats the knowledge into our somewhat thick- 

 shelled cranium. 



I should like to make many more remarks, 

 but I suppose, Mr. Editor, you are already 

 grumbling at the length of this letter. I can- 

 not, however, forego the pleasure of stating 

 that the bees we bought are doing well. Who 

 cares for the past, so long as the present and 

 future looks bright ? 



Yours in good hopes, 



J. D. Kruschkb. 



Berlin, Wis , May 16th, 1873. 



[''ircular.] 

 A WORD TO FARMERS. 



The experience of the past year, not only 

 with respect to the price, but especially the 

 long settled fact, that growing wheat year after 

 year on the same land impoverishes the soil, 

 ought to have led thinking farmers to the culti- 

 vation of other products, which would put a 

 stop to the total enervation of the soil. There 

 are various products of agricultural industry 

 which not only do not weaken, but, on the con- 

 trary, strengthens the soil and secures to the 

 farmer just as good, and even a better return, 

 than wheat. Among these, and best understood, 

 are the breeding of cattle and the production of 

 butter and cheese, than the raising of leaf crops, 

 such as clf)ver, peas and rape seed, which, by 

 covering the ground in mid-summer with a 

 tliick cover of leaves, mcreases the fertility of 

 the soil. It may be said that all localities are 

 not adapted to the breeding of stock, esijecially 

 in newly settled regions. But clover, peas and 

 rape see can all be raised in new ground as well 

 as wheat, and with equal or greater profit. It 

 is the cultivation of rape seed in particular, to 

 which I wish to call the attention of my fellow 

 farmers, for this branch of agriculture has not 

 as yet received tiie attention which it deserves. 

 The reason for this may be partly found in a 

 want of knowledge of the method of cultiva- 

 tion, and partly in the belief that soil and 

 climate are not favorable ; but soil and climate 

 are favorable, as mav be seen in the town of 

 New Holstein, Calumet county, where many 

 thousands of bushels of rape seed are grown 

 yearly. The cultivation of this crop is also 

 extending in the neighboring towns. The 

 price of rape seed has remained steady at from 

 two dollars to two and a half per bushel, and 

 the average yield per acre varies from ten to 

 eighteen l)ushels, at times reacliing from twenty 

 to twenty-five bushels. It seems to me that ruy 

 fellow-farmers will be pleased at having their 

 attention called to a product whicli always 

 finds a ready cash market, for the reason that 

 the jjroduction is insufficient for the demand, 

 and must be for many years. Again, it is a 

 product which does not weaken the soil, and 



