548 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



running. Theoretically it ought to work very 

 nicely, but the bees didn't propose to confirm 

 our theory.] 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



WHAT PKOF. COOK THINKS OF THAT HALF-TONE 

 GROUP ON PAGE .503, .7ULY 1. 



Dear Mr. £?r7ttor;— May I congratulate yon 

 on that excellent photographic reproduction of 

 the group that sat for their pictures at the Los 

 Angeles convention last January? It is rare to 

 see even an original photograph where each 

 person shows so distinctly. How is it that all 

 look so pleased and amiable? Of course, we had 

 just had our dinner, and were having a superb 

 time at the convention. That I should be in 

 good spirits between two such royal good fel- 

 lows as brothers Mclntyre and Hunt, is not 

 strange. Mrs. Cook. Bert, and I visited the lat- 

 ter at his home in that incomparably beautiful 

 Redlands, where we got better acquainted with 

 him and his delightful wife: and as I read your 

 own and Rambler's descriptions I regret that we 

 had not gone up to Ventura Co. and greeted 

 President Mclntyre under his own vine and 

 pepper-tree: looked upon the beautiful coun- 

 try, and bathed in the springs. It is easy to 

 see why Rambler is happy. He couldn't help 

 it. sandwiched in as he was. Put Rambler be- 

 tween two nice ladies, and yon may always 

 count on one satisfied person: and I say. "Good 

 for Rambler." Perhaps the best reason of all 

 was. that we were all of one accord, and were 

 piloted by snch a grand fellow as G. \V. Broad- 

 beck. It was a grand company. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich.. Jnlj 5. 



ANOTHER METHOD OF PRESERVING COMBS. 



Many bee-keepers like myself have not a 

 suitable cellar to hang up our empty combs in, 

 as represented in last Gleanings. The way I 

 care for them is as follows: I use the Bristol 

 hive. I put a sheet of tarn-d paper, one inch 

 larger than the top or bottom of the brood -bo .\, 

 or floor of the honey-house: set a brood- box on 

 it, and fill it with combs, and then another 

 sheet of paper, and then a l)rood-box of combs, 

 and so on, and on the upper brood-box put a 

 honey-board to hold the paper down tight to 

 the brood-box. The above is for combs I know 

 are free from moths, or have been exposed to a 

 temperature of zero — combs, as I bring them in 

 from the yard, that are liable to have some 

 moth-eggs in. I put only 8 combs in a brood- 

 box 1}4 in. apart, and then look them over in 

 about a week: and if I find any moths in the 

 combs I put them into some of the hives for the 

 bees to care for, and clean them out. Should a 

 moth chance to hatch in any of the combs be- 

 tween the tarred paper, it can not get out. I 

 have combs I have thus taken care of for three 

 years that I have not looked at except the first 

 year, to see that the tarred paper would pre- 

 serve them, packed in brood-boxes, from mice, 

 moths, bugs, dust, and ants, till I want to use 

 them. H. B. Isham. 



New Haven, Vt., June 22. 



GOOD PROSPECTS FOR FLORIDA; OVER 1200 

 COLONIES IN ONE LOCALITY. 



So far as I can learn, bees have done quite 

 well in Florida so far this season. Black man- 

 grove is just coming into bloom, and gives 

 promise of a full yield. Over 1200 colonies are 

 now collected in a space about two miles wide 

 by six miles long, nearly half of them having 



been moved in from outside localities for the 

 mangrove season only. O. O. Poppleton. 



Hawks Park, Fla., June 23. 



[We hope you will give us further particulars.] 



SWEET CLOVER AS A FODDER; WHEN TO SOW 

 AND WHEN TO CUT, ETC. 



I should like to be enlightened upon the fol- 

 lowing points: 



1. How and when to plant sweet clover. 



2. How and when to cure it. 



3. How and in what quantity to feed it. 



4. Will stock, especially sheep, thrive upon it, 

 or eat it at all ? 



5. What per acre ought it to yield as hay upon 

 comparatively poor land? 



6. Has it any virtue as a soiling plant, for 

 enriching sandy land? 



This portion of Nebraska will have to find 

 some new fodder jjlant. or revert back to graz- 

 ing land — the ranch in turn replace the farm. 

 Wild hay is becoming scarce. It requires too 

 many acres to produce a little fodder. Millet 

 r quii'es planting every year. and. besides, ex- 

 hausts the soil. That fodder is good, but re- 

 quires great care and experience in feeding. Red 

 clover and timothy have been tried, but with 

 indifferent success. White clover and blue 

 grass catch easily, and do well for pasture, but 

 do not grow rank enough to make a meadow. 



Bee-keeping will succeed and follow the in- 

 troduction of the white and sweet clovers, but 

 not till then. J. S. Dart. 



Orchard, Neb.. June 2.5. 



[Sweet clover is not a success with us for fod- 

 der or feed at all, although stock will eat it to 

 some extent if cut at just the right time. 

 Neither does it succeed with us under cultiva- 

 tion nearly as well as it does on barren hill- 

 sides and roadsides. It would yield an im- 

 mense quantity of hay, or a sort of hay, if we 

 could get a good stand and have it cut exactly 

 the right time. I am quite certain it would be 

 very valuable as a soiling plant if we could se- 

 cure a good stand of it as we do of other clover. 

 Some of the bee-fi'iends around Salt Lake can 

 answer all of your questions for their locality, 

 for it is really a desert plant, and will grow 

 through dry seasons when almost every thing 

 else is killed out by long drouth.] A. I. R. 



A GOOD report; are FIVE-BANDED BEES 

 GOOD WORKERS? 



Bees are just booming. I hived a swarm May 

 31st on 10 L. frames, with 4-inch starters. At 

 this date the body of the hive is so " full it can't 

 get no fuller."' and I have taken off one crate of 

 28 sections 434x414x1X1 of the finest honey I 

 have handled in .30 years. The bees are " low- 

 down hybrids "' at that. Please let me know 

 what your five-banded bees are doing. My 

 bees are working on red raspberry. 



Rev. James Andrews. 



Red House, N. Y., June 20. 



[See editorial column.] 



bees booming on honey. 



June has been a grand month in Northern 

 Michigan for bees. The increase has been sur- 

 prising, and white-clover honey is coming in 

 fast, of which I am now extracting. At this 

 time last year we had no swarms and no honey; 

 now I have two or three a day, and one day five 

 from 40 colonies, spring count. 



Chef, Mich.. June 27. Walter Harmer. 



MRS. Harrison's crop. 



Unite with me in singing " Praise God, from 

 whom all blessings flow," for we are removing 

 cases of white-clover honey. 



Peoria, 111., July 9. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



