236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



full growth and ripen Its seed in order to be of its 

 greatest fertilizing value to the soii, so this method 

 is better in every respect than plowing under the 

 first crop of the common red clover when in blossom, 

 and letting the ground lie fallow until sown with 

 wheat in the fall. 



On rich clay loam soils, a similar and much more 

 profitable rotation can be made with wheat and al- 

 sike clover, ivhich, of all the clovers, is undoubtedly 

 the best honey-producer, and, on suitable soils, the 

 best for any purpose. B. 



Neighbor II. adds the following to the 

 above remarks: 



1 can indorse all that friend B. says, only that for 

 ten years I have never known pea-vine clover to fail 

 to produce a fair crop of honey. I have had good 

 crops sown on oats in May. Drill the oats and throw 

 your clover seed back of the drill-hoes. It gives it a 

 good chance to grow on the ridge between the drills. 

 I consider the hay better than the common red clo- 

 ver. If the land is very poor, sow 13 or 15 lbs. per 

 acre; would prefer to sow the seed in April. In 1883 

 I raised 33 bushels of wheat on thin clay soil, without 

 any other manure than pea-vine clover plowed un- 

 der after the seed had been cut otf. H. B. H. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



THAT BASSWOOD YIELD. 



jN page 161 of March Gleanings, I see friend 

 Root is not prepared to indorse my statement 

 that Mr. Gallup had a colony of bees which 

 stored on an average 20 lbs. per day for 30 days in 

 succession from basswood, and says that he never 

 knew 30 good honey days in succession. It will be 

 seen, by turning to page 160, that I did not say that 

 Mr. Gallup had 30 good honey days in succession, 

 but, rather, that the average yield was 30 lbs. for 30 

 days in succession. But I will quote Mr. Gallup's 

 words, from page 161 of A. B. J. f.ir 1873. He says: 

 "Our first swarm came out on the 11th of May. We 

 hived it in one of our 33-frame hives, making use of 

 the division-board. As soon as the bees commenced 

 building drone comb we removed the division-board 

 and filled up with worker comb. When the bass- 

 wood began to bloom we had a bursting swarm in 

 that hive. The last of June we commenced extract- 

 ing, and extracted from that hive every third day. 

 In 30 days I obtained from the hive 50 gallons of ex- 

 cellent thick honey (a galloa will weigh twelve Ibs.l. 

 An average of 20 lbs. per day for 30 days ia succes- 

 sion is not bad for one swarm of bees." Mr. Gallup 

 then goes on to tell how much he took afterward, 

 and had left in the hive, till the total foots up to 738 

 lbs. surplus. Right here I wish to say, taking into 

 consideration that this was a new swarm of the 

 same year, and built a part of the comb used for the 

 storing of the honey, that I consider this the largest 

 yield of honey on record, from a single colony of 

 bees. That 600 lbs. of this was from basswood, shows 

 the great value of the basswood as a honey-tree, and 

 that it was over 13 years ago that this yield was ob- 

 tained, shows that we are not making such rapid 

 strides in bee-keeping as many seem to suppose. 



A WORD ABOUT THOSE AVIDE FRAMES. 



Brother Heddon seems to forget, on page 158, 

 When comparing his plan of working with mine, 

 that each of his extra colonies he puts in his field, in 

 order to secure the honey secretion from a given 

 area with but little manipulation, costs him at least 

 60 lbs. of honey each year to support. The question 



which will naturally arise here, is. Which is the 

 cheaper, a little extra manipulation, or the extra 

 colonies and the honey they consume? Suppose 

 that 100 colonies produce an average yield of 50 lbs. 

 each, and by so doing secure all the nectar in a field 

 year by year. This will give us 5000 lbs. of surplus 

 as our share of the field, while each of the 100 colo- 

 nies will us3 60 lbs., or 6000 lbs. as a whole as their 

 share, to get them through the year. Thus we fail 

 to get one-half the honey from our field, by employ- 

 ing to secure what Brother Heddon calls " the great- 

 est amount of income with the least capital and la- 

 bor." On the other hand, if we employ the economy 

 plan our English friends do, of getting the same 

 amount of produce off one acre of land that we 

 Americans do from three or four, we shall find our 

 statement thus: 11,000 lbs. is the product of one 

 field; 50 colonies are all that are needed with good 

 manipulation to get it. Then 50 colonies must use 

 3000 lbs. of this as food and fuel, leaving 8000 lbs. for 

 the manipulator. Thus it will be seen, that the 

 manipulator gets 3000 lbs. of honey for his manipu- 

 lation, and uses no more time than he would use on 

 the 100 without manipulation, so that from the stand- 

 point of overstocking of the Heddons, Grimms, 

 Hethf'ringtons, and Oatmans, Doolittle's system of 

 management is 3000 lbs. ahead. The same holds good, 

 be the number kept large or small. A man can 

 care for one-half the number of colonies on my plan 

 as easily as he can for double the number on Mr, 

 Heddon's plan, and this same one-half will give the 

 manipulator as good results in dollars and cents as 

 will the whole on H.'s plan, and save the extra honey 

 consumed by the extra one-half of the number of 

 bees as dear oain to the bee-keeper. This is not 

 mere fancy, but facts which the success of the two 

 plans proves. 



Bro. H. says that no large honey-producer in Amer- 

 ica is working upon my plan, and says I have alien 

 behind the times, as if that detracted from it I care 

 not whether I am behind the times or aheac* of them, 

 so longas my plans give me a larger yield of honey 

 for the colonies kept and labor performed, year aft- 

 er year, than do the plans of my more advanced (?) 

 brethren. 



I could quote the names of several whom I know 

 are working similar to myself, but that would not 

 help the plan any. I ask no one to use any of my 

 plans unless he chooses, for the matter of being 

 alone has little weight with me. I simply give the 

 plans I use to accomplish given results, and all are 

 free to use them, or let them alone, as they see fit; 

 neither do I give them because I have a supply busi- 

 ness back of them that needs bolstering up, for I 

 manufacture no supplies for sale, but I give them 

 to others as part payment of the debt I owe to those 

 who wrote years ago, and to whose writings I owe 

 my success in bse culture. My plans are often call- 

 ed expensive, and my hive andfixturescomplicated; 

 but I believe there is as little labor and cash outlay, 

 by my phm of producing $1000 worth of comb honey, 

 as any plan in existence. As proof I will say, that 

 from less than 53 colonies of bees (spring count) I 

 have cleared over $1000 each year for the last 10 

 years, on an average, as net profit. 1 have not hired 

 10 days' work in that time in the apiary, nor had I 

 any apicultural students to do the work for me, or 

 pay me a tuition to help swell the above income. 

 Besides my labor with the bees, I take care of my 

 garden, and small-fruit business; take care of a sick 

 and helpless father, living 30 rods from me; carry 



