928 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



part in the past in booming the town, and are 

 yet patronized to some extent. I did not see a 

 single sample of choice honey in the town. 

 It was dark with honey-dew, and very inferior. 

 Hearing of some bee-keepers a few miles out 

 I again mounted my wheel, and, in company 

 with Ida, my niece, who kindly consented to 

 act as pace-maker, wheeled out and made the 

 acquaintance of Mr. Seely and his wife, both 

 fine intelligent people. In the yard was an 

 apiary of about GO colonies in a rather neg- 

 lected condition. The bee-master was cutting 

 up corn. Both the ladies, Mrs. Seely and Ida, 

 volunteered to go down to the field and help 

 me interview Mr Seely. 



" I have come on purpose to talk with you 

 a few minutes about your bees," I said, after 

 being formally introduced by the ladies. " I 

 am trying to learn something about the busi- 

 ness. ' ' 



" You have come to the wrong place to learn 

 any thing about bees," he replied. 



"Have your bees been doing pretty well 

 this season ? " I asked. 



" I don't know." 



" How much honey have you taken off ? " 



" None " 



" But haven't the bees gathered any surplus 

 at all?" 



" I don't know," he answered again. 



"Well," I said to myself, "he beats Dr. 

 Miller." But I said, in one last effort to get 

 a little encouragement, " You have some sur- 

 plus on your hives now, I suppose ? ' ' 



" I don't know — haven't looked at them at 

 all. I put on the sections; and when they get 

 done making honey I am going to take them 

 off. Bees don't seem to do much with me, 

 any way." 



" Do you take any bee-journal ? " 



"No, I don't take any bee-papers. The 

 fact is, I don't find time to look after the bees. ' ' 



His wife said she had tried hard to have 

 him either take better care of their bees or sell 

 them and go out of the business entirely. I 

 wanted very much to give him the same good 

 advice that his sensible wife had, but I thought 

 I'd better not on so short an acquaintance. 

 These slipshod methods furnish an explana- 

 tion for the inferior honey everywhere on the 

 market. 



A mile further on we stopped at another 

 bee-yard. The " bee-man " was not at home. 

 His little daughter said they had taken off 

 some honey. 



"Does your pa take any bee-journals? " I 

 asked her. 



"Oh, yes!" and she brought me several 

 copies of' GivEANiNGS ; and as I opened one 

 and looked upon its familiar pages I could not 

 but feel it was a sort of guarantee of better 

 methods in the subscriber. 



This concludes my adventures and experi- 

 ences with the bee-keepers of Michigan. I 

 have been treated with the utmost kindness 

 and consideration everywhere. I have been 

 really surprised to receive so much considera- 

 tion among strangers, at the hotels, the rail- 

 road depots, and everywhere. 



Something of a drouth has prevailed dur- 

 ing the season over a considerable portion of 



Michigan, and the outlook for a crop of honey 

 next season from the clovers is not promising. 

 It would not be surprising if Ohio furnished 

 the honey next season instead of Michigan, as 

 the outlook was never better in Ohio. 



As I sped along through the great cornfields 

 in Norlh western Ohio on my way home, and 

 saw the fresh green fields, well-filled barns, 

 and stacks of grain, and gardens of vegetables 

 in great variety and abundance, all indicating 

 bount}' and abundance, a feeling of pleasure 

 came over me, and I said to myself, " I am 

 proud of Ohio after all," and felt in my en- 

 thusiasm like taking off my hat and giving 

 three cheers for the Buckeye State. 



East Townsend, Ohio. 



SWEET AND CRIMSON CLOVER, AGAIN. 



A More Encouraging Report. — See Page 837. 



BY THADDEUS SMITH. 



There seems to be some disagreement in re- 

 gard to the quality of sweet-clover honey. As 

 I have had an opportunity of fairly test- 

 ing it this summer 1 will give my experience. 



The sweet clover that I have sown, and that 

 which grows wild near me, afforded my bees 

 good pisturage during a very dry spell in 

 July and August, when there was absolutely 

 nothing else tor them to work upon, and ena- 

 bled them to keep up their breeding, and 

 store some in extracting-combs. They were 

 to be seen thick upon the fragrant bloom 

 from early morn till night for several weeks. 

 One of my guests wished to see some sweet- 

 clover honey, and so did I. We found some 

 stored in extracting combs just beginning 

 to be capped. It was thick, and of a dark 

 color and strong taste that was not very agree- 

 able. Not satisfied with this I opened a hive 

 with a new swarm in it, and found nearly all 

 the frames filled with comb and brood, with 

 some unfinished beautiful white comb in the 

 outside frames, containing a dark honey of 

 the same unpleasant taste. We concluded 

 that the quality was so poor it was not worth 

 taking, and felt disappointed in not getting 

 some nice new honey. 



In September and October we had a fine 

 flow of honey from heartsease, and probably 

 some from goldenrod. Extracting-combs and 

 comb-honey supers were rapidly filled with 

 honey equal in quality to basswood or white- 

 clover honey. The sweet-clover honey con- 

 tained in some of the combs in small patches 

 appears to have been all capped over before 

 the fall flow came on, as the cells containing 

 the fall honey projected some quarter of an 

 inch beyond those containing the sweet-clover 

 honey, and it was easy to compare the two by 

 scooping out some with a spoon or knife. 

 Some one has said that sweet-clover honey 

 would improve by age. I found that this had 

 improved sonic, but there was room for still 

 more improvement. But it was not so easy to 

 extract two kinds of honey from the same 

 comb without getting it mixed, and the sweet 

 clover hone}' has left its mark in color and 

 taste. 



