1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



141 



Journal, and he and I felt as if we 

 were old acquaintances. 



That same evening Mr. Prevost and 

 I went on to Anderson, where he lives 

 and where I stayed over night in his 

 home, after making the acquaintance 

 of his wife, as nice a young woman 

 as I ever met, and who welcomed me 

 as if she had known me for years. 



It had been very cold that day — 

 that is, cold for South Carolina — and 

 my fur cap, brought from Illinois, 

 served very well, but was very much 

 laughed about among our friends, 

 though I thought they would have 

 been glad to have such headgear 

 themselves. 



Anderson is a fine city, up to date 

 in every reslp.ect, with water works, 

 paved streets washed every morning, 

 electric lights, trolley cars and inter- 

 urban connections. It has a popula- 

 tion of about 15,000. We had there 

 one of the most interesting meetings, 

 with some 50 people present. There, 

 as elsewhere, the County Agent 

 rounded up the beekeepers. We 

 talked bees and cotton, for cotton is 

 the staple crop, and is grown in ter- 

 races which follow the ridge of the 

 hills to keep the land from washing. 

 Those terraces, sometimes as many 

 as 20 or 30 in a 20-acre field, have a 

 very picturesque as'pect. Grass and 

 weeds grow on their edges and some 

 bee pasture is in this way maintained 

 among the plowed fields. 



There does not appear to be much 

 enthusiasm about the yield of honey 

 secured from cotton, whether floral 

 or extra floral, so I do not take it to 

 be a very important source of honey 

 production in that vicinity. Profes- 

 sor Conradi says their whitest honey 

 is gathered from the sourwood. 



Before leaving Anderson, I was 

 taken to an immense cotton mill, run- 

 ning 1,500 looms and 70,000 spindles. 

 Cotton mills abound everywhere and 

 the ne.xt city in which we met, Green- 

 ville, was comparatively as smoky as 

 Pittsburgh. 



An instance of what might be 

 called "local color" must be men- 

 tioned. On a cool morning, while tak- 

 ing a walk, I saw a darkey, driving a 

 team, who had a fire to warm hirn- 

 self, in a pan, on some ashes, in his 

 wagon. 



On the 21st, after four South Caro- 

 lina meetings, I took the train for 

 Asheville, N. C, to visit with Mr. and 

 Mrs. Elton Warner and take a couple 

 of days' rest, before going to the last 

 meeting of my trip, at Nashville. 



A NEW CLOVER 



I am sending a sample of clover 

 about which I would like some infor- 

 mation. There is a great deal of this 

 clover in the meadows of the valley. 

 Sometimes it seems to show a liking 

 for soils that are alkaline. Otherwise 

 it grows under the same conditions 

 as does timothy. It makes a good 

 grade of hay, growing from 12 to 18 

 inches in height. As a honey plant 

 it seems to be almost unequaled in 

 this locality — the honey being of 



lighter color than is either white 

 sweet clover or alfalfa. 



R. N. Sears. 



Alturas, Calif. 



The specimen is cow clover (Tri- 

 folium involucratum.) It is listed by 

 Jepson in his flora of Middle Western 

 California as "freciucnt along streams, 

 by springs and in salt marshes." The 

 plants have much the appearance of 

 the alsike clover common in the east, 

 except that the heads are more nearly 

 the color of the well-known i ed clo- 

 ver. 



Alturas is the county seat of Modoc 

 County, the extreme north and east 

 county of California. I can find no 

 record of this species of clover any- 

 where outside of California, where it 

 evidently is native, though no dou'bt 

 it must occur in Southern Oregon also. 

 There are more than 20 species of 

 clover found in California. Probably 

 all yield more or less nectar, although 

 some, like the red clover, have corol- 

 las so deep that the bees cannot read- 

 ily reach it. 



From the appearance of the sam- 

 ples received, this cow clover has 

 every characteristic of a valuable for- 

 age plant. Apparently it has never 

 been brought to general attention and 

 it may prove adapted to climatic con- 

 ditions over a wide range of territory. 

 Since it seems to thrive on alkaline 

 soils it may prove valuable in many 

 places where the better known varie- 

 ties do not succeed well. 



Perhaps if beekeepers living in that 

 region would gather the seed and 

 offer it for sale in small packets, it 

 might serve to introduce it into other 

 regions and increase the available 

 nectar for beekeepers of other sec- 

 tions.— F. c. p. 



NEWELL, DEAN OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE 



It gives us real pleasure to an- 

 nounce that Dr. Wilmon Newell has 

 been selected as Dean of the Florida 

 College of Agriculture, Director of the 

 Experiment Station and Director of 

 the Extension Service, to succeed 

 Dean Rolfs, who recently resigned. 



Newell is one of the leaders among 

 American entomologists and has al- 

 ways been much interested in bee- 

 keeping. As Plant Commissioner he 

 was successful in eradicating citrus 

 canker from Florida, work which at- 

 tracted wide attention. 



The Florida institution has recently 

 been giving serious attention to bee- 

 keeping, with a course at the college 

 taught by Frank Stirling and a force 

 of inspectors under Newell to eradi- 

 cate bee diseases. With Newel! in his 

 new position, we feel certain that 

 work in all lines of beekeeping will be 

 advanced just as fast as funds avail- 

 able will permit and interest on the 

 part of Florida beekeepers will just- 

 ify. 



R. Watson, indicates that this com- 

 mon impression is in error : 

 Composition of Venom in a Bee Sting 



By F. Fleury 



1. Compound of the indole series. 



2. Qu'inoline. 



3. Glycerine. 



4. Phosphoric acid. 



5. Palmitic acid. 



6. Unsaturated fatty acid of high 

 molecular weight. 



7. Volatile fatty acid, probably bu- 

 tyric. 



8. A non-nitrogenous fraction. 

 Jour, de Pharm. et de Chimie (7) 22 



December 1, 1920), p. 438. 



NATURE OF THE BEE'S POISON 



Formic acid has been popularly cred- 

 ited as the source of the poison in the 

 sting of the bees. The following 

 analysis, recently sent us by Mr. L. 



FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF 

 AMERICAN HONEY PRODUC- 

 ERS' LEAGUE 



By H. B. Parks, Secretary 



About thirty organizations were 

 represented at the first annual meet- 

 ing of the American Honey Produc- 

 ers' League. 



The President, E. G. LeStourgeon, 

 of San Antonio, Texas, called the 

 meeting to order and H. B. Parks, 

 Acting Secretary, reported on the ac- 

 tivities of the League up to the pres- 

 ent time. 



B. F. Kindig, of East Lansing, 

 Mich., Chairman of the Committee 

 on Education, gave a very full re- 

 port on the work done in Apiculture 

 in the various State Schools. Dr. J. 

 H. Merrill, of Manhattan, Kans., also 

 a member of this committee, assisted 

 Mr. Kindig in compiling this report. 



The Bureau of Legislation, repre- 

 sented by C. P. Campbell, of Grand 

 Rapids, Mich., gave an account of the 

 activities of this Bureau in compiling 

 and presenting a brief to the Chair- 

 man of the Ways and Means Commit- 

 tee of Congress, asking that a tariff 

 of not less 'than 48c and not greater 

 than 60c per gallon be placed on 

 honey. Mr. Campbell stated that he 

 had been assured by Hon. Rodney 

 Fordney, the Chairman of the above 

 committee, that there was but little 

 doubt that this item would be placed 

 in the regular tariff bill which will be 

 voted upon early this summer. A 

 number of minor activities of this 

 bureau were reported, especially one 

 in which there is a case between a 

 beekeeper aiid a smelter company in 

 Arizona. The League is planning, 

 through its committees, to assist in 

 the fighting of this case. 



The most interesting occurrence of 

 the meeting occurred the afternoon of 

 February 15, when Clifford Muth, 

 Chairman of the Special Advertising 

 Committee, reported on their activi- 

 ties. 



Mr. Wayne Calhoun, representing 

 Proctor & Collier Advertising Agents, 

 very briefly outlined an advertising 

 program for the League, advising the 

 papers in which the advertising mat- 

 ter would reach the greatest number 

 of housewives, and exhibiting samples 

 of the proposed advertisements. 



The subject of the American 

 Honey Producers' seal on each con- 

 tainer of honey was discussed. It was 

 the consensus of opinion that for 



