434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June L 



while. I have hauled bees with a pint or more 

 on the outside of the hive, and I have never 

 had any stinging after getting started a little 

 way unless I stopped and disturbed the bees. 

 Therefore, if you are hauling bees, and many 

 of them begin to escape, keep your team going 

 at a lively gait, even in a trot, unless the road 

 is very rough. In that case, stop, unhitch, 

 and drive your team away very quickly; but I 

 have never had to do this. 



Your hot-water treatment is all right, I sup- 

 pose. I never have tried it on bee-stings, 

 although I once had a great many stings in 

 my head and face — I should judge more than 

 a hundred at one time. Let me correct your 

 therapeutics a little. Although hot water acts 

 momentarily as a stimulant, its curative effects 

 are not those of stimulation. It combines in 

 itself the action of a sedative, astringent, and 

 anodyne — that is, it contracts the capillary 

 vessels, blunts the sensibility of the nerve, and 

 reduces the excessive activity of the parts to 

 which it is applied. Hot-water fomentations 

 are indicated as remedies in local congestions 

 and inflammations, and when desirable to 

 induce suppuration ; but poultices are better 

 in the latter case. Congestion and inflamma- 

 tion are the result of some cause which induces 

 excessive stimulation in the parts attacked, 

 and a therapeutical agent is indicated which 

 will act generally or locally { as the case may 

 require) as a sedative and anodyne. Stimu- 

 lants are indicated only where the action of 

 the system or an organ is too feeble to per- 

 form its normal functions, and then only to 

 tide over the crisis. Sometimes stimulation 

 acts beneficially when applied locally to a part 

 at some distance from the seat of disease, in 

 which case a revulsive effect is sought. 



Both farm and honey crops are a failure here. 



Dove, Cal., May 11. 



[I do not know that I know, friend A., to 

 what you are referring in your first paragraph. 

 You say you differ with Dr. Miller and me 

 about raising a hive after a sudden stoppage 

 of the honey-flow. I assume that you mean 

 off irom the bottom-board; but as I read over 

 the next paragraph or two I am more mysti- 

 fied, because I agree with about all you say. 

 I do not quite like your fling, where you give 

 us the advice not to take a " think-so " but a 

 "know-so." I like it less because I don't 

 know what you are talking about. 



With regard to hauling bees, your experi- 

 ence is quite in line with my own. If a single 

 bee escapes before the bees have been hauled 

 any distance, it is liable to make trouble. 

 But several times on the road I have had the 

 bees get out all over the hives. But they were 

 so disconcerted by the jolting that the fight 

 seemed to have been all taken out of them, 

 and their sole desire seemed to be to keep 

 close to their own entrance. The condition is 

 somewhat the same in the case of taking a 

 bee-tree. The moment it is chopped down, 

 the bees are ready to attack every thing in 

 sight; but after the log has been hammered 

 by repeated blows of the ax to open up the 

 cavity they are so disconcerted that they are 

 as peaceable as flies. Continuous jarring will 

 make a colony reasonably peaceable. 



I am glad my hot-water treatment is all 

 right, even if my therapeutics is not. — Er>.] 



SWEET CLOVER. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK 



Dear Ernest: — I gave, as the result of my 

 own experience, the opinion that sweet clover, 

 while a very excellent honey-plant, was of lit- 

 tle worth for hay or pasturage. I am glad if 

 it is found valuable for stock, and rejoice that 

 so many find it eaten with a relish by horses 

 and cattle. That it has great value for green 

 manuring, and, like all leguminous plants, will 

 draw largely from the atmospheric nitrogen, 

 and combine this in available form to supply 

 the most expensive of our fertilizer elements, 

 there can be no question. There is no quicker 

 method to restore lost fertility than to plow 

 under a rich vigorous clover crop, and surely 

 melilot is just that. The yellow species of 

 sweet clover grow abundantly about here. 

 It is vigorous, and is an annual. I do not 

 think it attracts the bees so greatly as does the 

 white, and I notice that it is not eaten readily 

 by stock — at least by some stock. I am very 

 glad that to many report 3Ielilotus alba, or 

 the white sweet clover, as furnishing appetiz- 

 ing food for cattle and horses. 



In last Gleanings you speak of our beau- 

 tiful graceful pepper as though it and the 

 eucalyptus were one. They are very different. 

 The pepper is difuse, or spreading the foliage 

 — delicate; and the whole habit of the tree 

 is wonderfully graceful. The eucalyptus is 

 tall, the foliage coarser, the leaves simple, 

 and the blossoms much larger. The pepper 

 is from South America, the eucalyptus from 

 Australia. I have some eucalyptus honey, 

 which I think is pretty nearly unmixed. It is 

 very nice, and has no flavor that would sug- 

 gest its origin; in fact, the flavor is exceeding- 

 ly pleasant. I think it is rare that any peculi- 

 arity of sap is met in the nectar or honey. 

 Pepper is said to be an exception; yet I am 

 doubtful whether this is true. I should like 

 to see or taste of pepper honey that showed 

 the peppery taste. I can believe that this 

 might come in the pollen which was convej-ed 

 in the honey, as the bloom seems as peculiar 

 in its pungent qualities as is the foliage. 



The eucalyptus is peculiar in its rapid 

 growth, great number of speci^es — nearly 200 — 

 and its ability to resist severe drought. The 

 numerous species bloom at various seasons, 

 so that, in a large park of varied species, the 

 bloom may be found in every month of the 

 year. Some of the flowers are of a rich red 

 color, and very showy, while all are beautiful 

 and attractive. In December and January the 

 red gums may be seen swarming with bees as 

 the large white blossoms are flung out to the 

 breeze and to the bees. 



Claremont, Cal. 



[As to the eucalyptus, see answer to Mr. R. 

 Wilkin, in this issue. I am glad to know that 

 you do not hold to your former opinion. I 

 was sure you would change your views upon 

 the presentation of reasonably good evidence. 

 —Ed.] 



