114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



5. To all farmers who keep bees largely, the 

 crop would be of great value, as bees can work 

 upon the flowers equally as well as upon 

 white clover, as they are about the same size, 

 and precisely the same habit, as the latter, but 

 arc much more abundant in honey ; bees appear 

 as fond of the flowers as of mignonette, and, in 

 its season of flowering, which lasts about six 

 weeks, are continually upon it, from dewy 

 morn until dusky eve. 



6. To those farmers raising clover seed for 

 market, the Alsike Clover, in our opinion, 

 would be of great value, as it seeds enormously, 

 and the seed threshes easily, by flail or machine, 

 leaving a beautiful quality of hay, the stalks 

 retaining their greenness, when most of the 

 seed is quite ripe. 



7. It holds many weeks in bloom, thus giving 

 the farmer lee-way of time and weather, in 

 regard to securing the crop. 



In the past three years we have spent about 

 sixty dollars for Alsike Clover seed to sow 

 upon our lands; we have tried it upon a variety 

 of soils. We like it so well, that should all cir- 

 cumstances favor the enterprise, we think of 

 seeding, next spring, in considerable cpiantity 

 to this grass, and, if practicable, it is possible 

 we may import pure seed from Germany for 

 that purpose, not raising enough of our own 

 seed to sow; as we find, on trial, that much of 

 the seed of this plant, which has been imported 

 into this countrj^ otherthau through the Patent 

 Office Department, has been largely adulterated 

 with other clovers, daisy, &c., &c , either before 

 or after entering this country; possibly we may 

 not be able to obtain it p;M-<?, even in Germany, 

 but we hope to do so. We mention this inci- 

 dentally, as much futile inquiry has been made 

 by farmers, apiarians, and seedsmen, where 

 pure seed could be obtained, and we fear it is to 

 be obtained only in Germany. A party in 

 Vermont has affected to distribute much Alsike 

 Clover seed to apiarians within the past three 

 years, five dollars worth of which we tried, and 

 found it did not contain one-thousandth part of 

 Alsike clover seed, but was quite pure white 

 clover seed. 



Again, we would say to farmers that we have 

 found it to be necessary, in order to be sure of 

 seed, to order it in the fall, or early winter, as 

 the demand is generally such that it is all sold 

 off before sowing time in the spring. If we are 

 successful in sowing in larger quantity, we will 

 again report, and we propose to try it on a 

 greater variety of soils." 



M. Ejiile DrcHEMiR states, in a communi- 

 cation to the Paris Academy of Sciences, that 

 he has discovered a new parasite of the honey 

 bee. It is a microscopic mite which is found on 

 the common sunflower, attaches itself to the 

 body of the bee, and finally kills it. We are 

 not aware that it has yet been observed in this 

 country. 



Schiller, the celebrated German poet, was 

 a great admirer of bees. 



Poiilbrood. 



Mr. Eugster, of Constance, communicates tha 

 following to the editor of the Baden Journal for 

 Bees and Bee-culture : 



" You request me to give j'ou my experience 

 of foulbrood. I will do so fully next fall or 

 winter, and meantime say only that for four 

 weeks past I have not found a trace of foul- 

 brood in my apiary, now numbering more than 

 fifty stocks, and that during the last six years I 

 liave carefully studied this pestilential malady, 

 having in that period had more than forty dis- 

 eased stocks, not one of which were destroyed 

 by me, but all were preserved for observation 

 and experiment. I have even fed healthy 

 stocks with honey taken from colonies suffering 

 from the disease in its worst form. In short, I 

 used all conceivable means to ascertain how the 

 disease is diffused, and to discover some effectual 

 cure. At the beginning of last March I still had 

 five infected colonies, and now these are healthy 

 and populous, not the slightest symptom of dis- 

 ease being perceptible; and all the rest of my 

 stocks have remained unaflfected. If there is 

 no return of the evil this fall, I will send you a 

 narrative of my experiences." 



The editor proceeds to remark: "Thus it 

 seems that this dreadful and devastating malady 

 is about to be stripped of its terrors, and a large 

 number of worthy bee-keepers relieved from 

 what seemed a never-ending struggle. We 

 fought it for years in our apiary at O., and now 

 dread it no longer. But we subdued it only by 

 resorting to extreme radical means. As soon as 

 we observed traces of the disease in a colony, 

 Ave contracted the entrance, used the queen for 

 forming an artificial colony; and if the stock was 

 still populous, we permitted it to raise another 

 queen, which was likewise removed as soon as 

 she became fertile, and then applied the brim- 

 stone. After the bees, brood, combs, and honey 

 were removed and destroyed, the hive was 

 thoroughly washed with a solution of chloride 

 of lime, as recommended in the Bienenzcitung 

 No. 5, for 1864, and it could then be used again 

 without risk of communicating the malady. 

 The cure proposed by the Rev. Mr. Schieberle 

 has been tested at Pforzheim, and its eflicacy 

 seems to be no longer doubtful. But how is a 

 knowledge of such processes and remedies to 

 be communicated to the mass of common bee- 

 keepers in districts Avhere foulbrood prevails ? 

 Apiarian Conventions rarely meet ; of Bee- 

 keepers' Clubs and Associations few exist, and 

 Bee Journals are seldom read by that class pre- 

 cisely to whom they would be most useful. 

 That's the misery !" L. Huber. 



July, 1866. 



'^M^ From an advertisement in this number 

 of the Bee Journal, it will be seen that the 

 Egyptian bee has already been brought to this 

 country by the enterprise of the Rev. Mr. Lang- 

 stroth. It is in good hands, and a short time 

 will now suffice to test its value. 



