26 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 9, 1902 



like the locality that we inhabit, cider is too plentiful, and the 

 making of cider-vinegar too common to leave much room for u 

 large sale of honev-vinegar. Yet, we always have on hand a 

 barrel or so of vinegar, made from honey and wine mixed, to 

 supply a limited number of customers who have learned to 

 appreciate it. Hancock Co., 111. 



Questions and Answers, i 



CONDUCTED BT 



OR. O. O. AI2Z,Z,EH, Afai-ang-o, ni. 



(The Qnestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers bj mail.— Editor.] 



A Question on Breeding. 



I got a queen last summer and her bees were all fine look- 

 ing ones, and I reared several queens from her. Oneof mv ni'igh- 

 bors reared several from her. and 1 do not know wliether he got 

 a queen that seemed jiurely mated or not. but I got onlv one, 

 and he said that all of his that he had looked at were just as I 

 said mine was. Some of my liees had not a band oil them, 

 and some were nice bees, from the same queen. Only one 

 seemed purely mated: her bees were all dandies, and she was 

 the only yellow queen that liatched from the queen I got. Is 

 there such a thing as a bee cropping out of an old cross of 20 

 years back ? I did not rear any other queens last summer 

 hat were impurely mated. Iowa. 



Answer.— x\tavisni. or breeding-back, is well known to 

 exist in the human race and other animals, and I know of no 

 reason why it might not exist among bees. But going back 

 20 years would be going back anywhere from seven to twentv 

 or more generations, and that would be going back pretty far. 

 Neither is there anything, I think, in the case you mention 

 that cannot be accounted for without any atavism. 



Sowing Sweet Clover for Cattle, Bees and Seed. 



1. I am thinking <jf seeding 40 acres to oats and sweet 

 clover in the spring. I will keep the field pastured down un- 

 til the first of August, by cattle, then let it get a good fall 

 growth; only perhaps feed it down some in September and 

 Octolier. Could I reasonably expect to secure a good stand ? 



2. The following spring I will run cattle on the field until 

 June lirst so as to keep it fairly eaten down, so that it will not 

 grow so rank, but thicker : let the bees work it until ripe. 

 then cut for seed, binding with a common grain harvester. 

 Can you suggesVany better plan to pursue? 



a. How many bushels per acre of seed can I count on ? 



4. AVould not the tramping of the cattle insure a stand ? 

 The oats would make feed for the stock before the sweet 

 clover is big enough. 



5. Could I count on any surplus honey from these 40 

 acres of sweet clover with 100 colonies of bets to work it ? 



Sweet clover grows vei^ vigorously along roadsides here, 

 wherever it gets a start, and in places its seed blows over 

 fences and comes up in pastures, but cattle never let it even 

 get into bloom. Cattle are very fond of it when they once get 

 a start on it. ' Iowa Frank. 



Answers.— From what I know of you I should feel more 

 like asking tlian giving advice about sweet clover. Still I 

 don't object to telling you some of the things I don't know 

 about it. Tliere are really a few subjects that come in the 

 scope of bei'-keeping upon which I have studied and experi- 

 mented so much and yet know so little for certain. Especially 

 as to making a success of getting a stand. One year I had a 

 piece of ground put in as line condition as I knew" how, sowed 

 it with oats and sweet clover, had a line stand of clovi'r. al- 

 though it did not grow very strong: but the following spring 

 not a plant was left alive : all heaved with the frost. I think 

 the mistake was in having the ground too mellow, although if 

 it makes strong enough growth for the roots to grow deep 

 enough it may b<' all right. Still, I should prefer to have the 

 ground very hard, for I never saw a roadside that seemed too 

 hard to grow sweet clover. 



Another year I sowed sweet clover with oats, cutting it 

 with the oats, and it didn't wait for winter, but died right otT. 

 Tte fatal mistake was probably in cutting it too low, especially 







AX APIARY or ALEXANDER FOURIER, OP RUSSIA. — 



(See page IS.) 



as the cutting was followed by dry weather. Last season I 

 sowed several acres, and I failed still earlier, for not ten 

 seeds to a square rod ever came up. I don't know, but I 

 think it might have come up better if the ground had been 

 harder or the weather not so dry. But where there has been 

 any kind of a stand that has been left from season to season, 

 it seems to do fairly well. Now. if you haven't lost all faith 

 in my knowledge of sweet clover, I'll make a guess at the 

 answers to your questions. 



1. If I understand you, you will turn cattle on the field 

 after a fair growth has started, taking them off about August 

 1, and leturn them in September. My guess would be that it 

 will be a dead failure. And yet it is possible that it may b(^ 

 an entire success. Something depends on the cattle. If they 

 have been trained to eat sweet clover they will likely eat ft 

 down so close as to kill It. If they don't care for it, their 

 tramping it down may be its salvation. It is possible that it 

 might bi- a good thing to turn the cattle in when the seed is 

 first sown, so as to have it thoroughly tramped in. 



2. 7/" there is a stand the following spring, I should rather 

 keep the cattle off till it has a pretty fair start, and be on the 

 lookout not to let them eat it down too close at any time. And 

 yet I have seen it on the roadside where it seemed to have 

 been eaten down close all summer, and it grew but little 

 higher than white clover, but even at that height it kept per- 

 sistently coming up and blooming all summer and fall, making 

 really a pretty carpet on the side of the road. Your idea to 

 keep it down till June 1. or till it is ready to bud for blossom, 

 is all right. 



3. I don't know. I think I've seen a statement as to the 

 crop somewhere, but don't know where to turn to it now. Per- 

 haps some one may help us out. 



4. As I have already shown, I have great faith in the 

 tramping of the cattle, but there is the danger that they may 

 undo all the good of the tramping by too close eating. 



5. I don't know. It's too dangerous a question to guess 

 on, but if I were obliged to guess I would guess yes, for in all 

 probability there are oilier plants from which the bees would 

 at least get something, and at any rate I should count on con- 

 siderable value from that 4i» acres. Indei'd. if you force me 

 down to confession, I must confess that I'm not sure but 100 

 colonies might store surplus from 40 acres of sweet clover 

 without any other help. 



Now a word before we part. You'll sow that field, and if 

 It isn't a success you'll keep as still as a mouse about it. 

 Please don't do that way. Tell us all about your success, and 

 your failure, and tell us as nearly as you can how to make 

 the same success and to avoid the same failure. If you suc- 

 ceed in having 40 acres of it to come up good and strong the 

 second spring, you can crow over mi> like everything, and I'll 

 stand it like a major. 



Why Not Help a Little— both your neig-hbor bee-keep- 

 ers and the old American Bee Journal — by sending- to us the 

 names and addresses of such as you may know do not now 

 get this journal? "We will be glad to send them sample 

 copies, so that they may become acquainted with the paper, 

 and subscribe for it, thus putting themselves in the line of 

 success with bees. Perhaps you can get them to subscribe, 

 Send in their dollars, and secure for your trouble some of 

 the premiums we are constantly offering as rewards for 

 such effort. 



