182 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



statement that they cannot be distin- 

 guished the one from the other, after 

 the bees have handled them and stored 

 them in their combs, I wish to make 

 this proposition : 



I will agree to deposit $100 with 

 Thomas G. Newman, the General Mana- 

 ger of the National Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 or with the editor of the Bee Jouknal, 

 Geo. W. York ; and Prof. Cook, or any 

 one else, to deposit $50. Then there 

 shall be furnished a sample of pure 

 honey gathered from white clover, 

 Spanish-needle and heart's-ease stored 

 separately in new combs' and capped 

 over ; together with a sample of pure 

 cane-sugar syrup that has been furnished 

 the bees and stored by them in new 

 combs and capped; and if I cannot dis- 

 tinguish the sugar syrup thus stored 

 from either of the samples of honey, I 

 will forfeit the money deposited. Should 

 I succeed, however, in making the dis- 

 tinction, I will "take down the pot," 

 and present the Professor with the sam- 

 ples of honey and sugar syrup. 



Camargo, Ills. 



|"krf*^rf'■^■'^.^%./^./^> 



Do not write anything for publication 



on the same sheet of paper •with business 

 matters, unless It can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



4kAi 



Bees "Wintering Well. 



The winter is rather hard on bees, 

 that is, outside, in this locality. I have 

 100 colonies in the cellar, and they are 

 doing well. J. R. Eskew. 



Shenandoah, Iowa, Jan. 21, 1893. 



"Purple" or Italian Clover. 



On page 117, Mr. O. P. Miller asks 

 about " purple clover." The name is a 

 humbug, but not the plant. It is noth- 

 ing but Italian clover — crimson trefoil, 

 or scarlet Italian — Trifolium incarna- 

 tum. It is an annual or biennial plant, 

 according to the time when it was sown 

 — in fall or spring. I tried to sow it in 



the fall (as it is mostly practiced in my 

 native country), but it did not stand the 

 American winter, here in central Illi- 

 nois. I will try it again as an annual. 

 It resembles red clover, but the spikes 

 of flowers are long — as long as 6 or 7 

 inches — which open successively in 

 about 4 weeks, and give an immense 

 quantity of seed, far larger than red 

 clover. The flower-tubes are much 

 shorter than those of red clover, are 

 perfectly accessible to bees, and fre- 

 quented with unusual zeal. Ten dollars 

 per bushel is exorbitant. 

 Sigel, Ills. Wm. Leeks, M. D. 



Queens Showing Their Age. 



Queens do not show their age all alike. 

 A queen's looks do not always indicate 

 correctly her age. They vary in their 

 outward appearance the same as man- 

 kind. Some queens live to be five years 

 old, and some only one year. Queens, 

 as a rule, the first year look very nice 

 and bright. A good queen, the second 

 year, looks about as nice as the first 

 year ; the third year her beauty begins 

 to fade. As a rule the fourth year the 

 wings get short, and they get short all 

 over — a good deal like you will look 

 when you get old ; you will show your 

 age. Those queens that Dr. Mott spoke 

 of on page 45, put me in mind of buff 

 Coachin hens — they lay a while and then 

 want to set. I never had a queen act as 

 his did. I have had some start out 

 slow, but after they got started they 

 sent the eggs out like shot from a 

 double-barrel shot-gun. Practice makes 

 perfect. G. W. Nance. 



Peiro, Iowa, Jan. 19, 1893. 



Feeding Bees in Winter, Etc. 



In tlie swarming season of 1891 I ac- 

 cidehtally found a swarm of bees settled 

 on a bush by the roadside late in the 

 evening, as I was coming home from 

 work. We got a hive and hived them, 

 and brought them in. They worked 

 nicely and stored honey. When winter 

 came on, I placed them in a cave. I was 

 very anxious about them, fearing they 

 would not winter all right, as my pre- 

 vious experience with bees was that they 

 always died ; but this time they went 

 through all right. 



On July 10, 1892, they sent out a 

 nice swarm, which I hived, and they 

 filled the hive full of honey. Again on 

 July 19th they sent out another swarm, 

 which died about with the old year, 

 having no stores. I failed to see after 



