American ^ee Journal 



Jan. 10, 1907 



clover appear to be dead now. What do you 

 think of this yellow sweet clover? Do you 

 believe it to be the genuine articled' 



I wrote my friend that I did not know 

 what he had gotten hold of unless 

 what I have heard called "yellow blos- 

 somed alfalfa.' " Melilotus officinalis"' 

 it certainly is not. That is a biennial, 

 and does not bloom the same season it 

 is sown. Besides that, it grows much 

 higher than this plant described by my 

 friend. 



I spent an hour or two lately in look- 

 ing up about " yellow sweet clover" — 

 what others have said of it in years 

 gone by. To me it was very interest- 

 ing reading. 



In the first number of the American 

 Bee Journal for 1897, Mrs. Lambrigger, 

 of Knox Co., Nebr., writes of "yellow 

 sweet clover '" with great enthusiasm, 

 ranking it far ahead of the white kind 

 for bees ?L.D6./orJorage. 



I got my first seed from Mrs. L,. years 

 ago, and I say that she did not over- 

 rate the merits of this clover. For 

 myself, the longer I have it the more I 

 appreciate it. 



Mrs. L.'s article started M. M. Bald- 

 ridge — a sweet clover expert in Illinois. 

 He said : 



"I don't believe the yellow sweet clover is 

 a better variety than the white, but thert: may 

 be more than one kind. I have seen the yellow 

 growing in this city for years, but never saw 

 many bees on it," etc. 



I am really curious to know what Mr. 

 Baldridge thinks of yellow sweet clover 

 ?iow. 



John McArthur, of Ontario, another 

 sweet clover expert, was also aroused. 

 He said that in writing of " Melilotus 

 officinalis,'' his experience dated back 

 17 years. Here is a quotation from his 

 letter : 



"I would say, emphatically, that the yel- 

 low is not equal to the white in many re- 

 spects. It blooms at a time when we have an 

 abundance of White Dutch andaleike clovers, 

 and very few bees will then be seen upon it." 



The letter is quite a lengthy one, 

 and I don't feel at liberty to quote it 

 all here, but there is something to 

 which I must call attention, because it 

 would seem to show that he has not 

 my kind of yellow sweet clover — not 

 "Melilotus officinalis.' He says : 



"Examine the seed-pod and you will find 

 that it contains from one to tliree seeds— dif- 

 ferent entirely from the white in this respect, 

 which carries only a single seed in each pod." 



" Gray's Manual of Botany," which, 

 by the way, mentions the yellow meli- 

 lot A>5/, says the seed-pod is one and 

 two seeded. I find this to be so with 

 both of the^n. The pod has usually one 

 seed, but occasionally two. 



I took pains to examine the seed- 

 pods minutely. In no case did I find 

 three seeds. 



The seed of the two varieties is 

 almost identical in appearance, but 

 that of the yellow is a little smaller. 

 That was 9 years ago. It would be in- 

 teresting to hear from Mr. McArthur 

 again. 



In this same volume of the American 

 Bee Journal there was an account of a 

 beekeepers' convention in which Edi- 

 tor York read a letter from the late 

 Mrs. L. Harrison, which is worth re- 

 publication at the present time, when 



there is renewed interest in yellow 

 sweet clover. 



Bee-keepers, I know there is great 

 interest in it just now, or I would not 

 be getting letters from all over in re- 

 gard to it. Mrs. Harrison says : 



"It blossoms a month earlier than the 

 white, and is more profuse, looking like a 

 yellow sea. It makes finer hay than the 

 white, and is a greater favorite with the bees." 



In the Bee Journal for 1900, there is 

 a long, interesting article on yellow 

 sweet clover, by John R. Schmidt, of 

 Hamilton Co., Ohio. As to its time of 

 blooming, he says : 



" This year about the middle of May, which 

 is at least /oMr vieeka aheael of the white variety 

 of sweet ciovor." 



Now, I have by no means tnade an 

 exhaustive study, nor called all the 

 witnesses, but I have given enough to 

 show that the American Bee Journal 



has done its part toward giving light 

 on this subject. Bee-keepers, give us 

 the facts, and don't let me do all the 

 talking ! I like to stir things up a bit, 

 and then take a "back seat," and 

 watch the fray ! 



(Mrs.) a. L,. Amos. 

 Custer Co., Nebr. 



Money for the Hands 



Until some one is bright enough to 

 invent a machine to wash dishes, here 

 is an item, taken from Vick's Maga- 

 zine, that will always be timely for 

 most of the sisters : 



Rub the bands well with corn-meal and 

 vinegar after washing dishes, etc. ; it will 

 then clean them ; then put a few drops of 

 honey in the palm, add a little water, and 

 rub it well into the skin; it will make them 

 soft and white. Do not use honey enough to 

 make the hands sticky. 



^^ 



■1)ocfor Millers 

 %estion-Bax 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 



Dr. C. C. Millbr, Marengo, 111. 



J[^° Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Dummies in Place of Comlis 



What do you use for dummies in hives 

 when taking out combs? Texas. 



Answer. — Simply a pine board about 5-16 

 of an inch thick, with a top-bar. Formerly I 

 had them about the same depth and length as 

 the brood-frames, but it is easier handling 

 them if they are an inch or so shorter; that 

 is, l-i inch or so shorter at each end, and at 

 the part of the hive where they are used the 

 the bees don't fill up the vacant space with 

 burr-combs. I like shortened ends for top- 

 bars of brood-frames, depending upon staples 

 driven into the end-bars just under the top- 

 bars to space the frames endwise, but that 

 doesn't work well for dummies. The top-bar 

 of a dummy should be nearly long enough to 

 fill up the space; l-lii of an inch being play 

 enough. There is less danger of the dummy 

 warping if it is cleated at each end, the cleat 

 being fastened not on the side, but on the 

 end, so that the thickness of the dummy is 

 not increased at that part. 



time to see a little water trickling out of a 

 hive-entrance, and of course when it is cold 

 enough such water will freeze. In most cases 

 no serious harm is done. The vapor from the 

 bees, or the bees' breath, condenses, settles 

 on the cold walls of the hive, and when there 

 is enough of it it trickles down. There is, 

 however, danger in two directions. If the 

 moisture should settle over the bees, and then 

 trickle down upon the cluster, harm would 

 follow. To avoid this, see that there is plenty 

 of packing on top. Another danger is that 

 the ice may fill the entrance entirely and 

 smother the bees. Keep occasional watch, 

 and clean out the entrance. Too small an 

 entrance may favor condensation of moisture. 

 A strong colony may have an entrance equiva- 

 lent to 3 or 4 square inches. The honey run- 

 ning out looks a little like too small an en- 

 trance, as the moisture probably settled on 

 combs of unsealed honey, thinning it so it ran 

 out of the cells. 



'Testing Swarms Before Hiving 

 Them" 



Dampness in Hives 



1 have 13 colonies of bees under a shed, 

 opened only to the east, or front. A while 

 ago I made a case of heavy building-paper, 

 put this around the hives and filled up the 

 space between with shavings to protect the 

 bees from cold, leaving the entrance open. In 

 looking them over to-day I found a little ice 

 on the alighting-board, and also a small icicle 

 in the entrance of one of the hives, showing 

 moisture inside. I would like to know if 

 this will do any damage. If so, how can I 

 help it? I have noticed on two of the alight- 

 ing-boards a little honey. What is the cause 

 of that? The hives all have flat covers. 



Vermont. 



Answer. — It is nothing unusual in winter 



On page 931 (1906), C. W. Dayton gives an 

 article with the above heading, that I have 

 studied carefully, and it seems as if at least 

 some of the views he holds are not in accord 

 with generally received opinion. Which is 

 right, the old view or the new? Kindly give 

 your own view in detail. Illinois. 



Answer. — Your question is a very broad 

 one, as you do not say to what part of Mr. 

 Dayton's paper you refer. There are some 

 things in it that I am not sure whether I un- 

 derstand correctly ; and without a full under- 

 standing it is not always safe to express an 

 opinion. 1 feel very sure, however, that Mr. 

 Dayton will be willing to correct any misap- 

 prehension on my part. 



If I understand correctly his first paragraph, 

 I think many experienced bee-keepers will be 



