54 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



was little inclination with the queen to enter 

 the extracting-chamber. The result might be 

 different in a good honey-flow and with young 

 and prolific queens. 



The few Langstroth hives in the apiary were 

 better filled with brood, and produced at least 

 15 per cent more honey than the Harbison 

 worked either for comb or extracted honey, 

 and still they were well filled with honey for 

 winter. 



Having in mind the discussion about large 

 hives I was particularly interested in a couple 

 of 12-frame L. hives. These large hives were 

 provided with supers of the same depth, and 

 the bees seemed to require the entire summer 

 to get into them, and then only the center 

 combs were filled with honey. I can readily 

 see that a shallow super would have worked 

 better. 



There were also about the sime number of 

 hives with frames the length of the L. , but 12 

 inches deep, and 10 to the hive. The result 

 from these hives was excellent, and would 

 have been better with a shallow super. I 

 think location has much to do in settling the 

 question, and it will hardly do to put down an 

 iron-clad rule as to size for all localities. 



The results of our season's work were 11,683 

 lbs. of honey and 160 lbs. of wax, or about 50 

 lbs. of honey to each of the 233 colonies that 

 were worked for honey. Our gross sale of 

 honey was 8628.40. For the small amount we 

 sold in the home market we obtained 7^ to 

 10 cts. The greater portion we sent to San 

 Francisco. It was nearly all best grade, and 

 brought 6 cts. per lb. The 2,% tons of lower 

 grades brought b% and 5^c. Our 160 lbs. of 

 wax was sent to Tacoma, and netted us 25 cts. 

 per lb. at our station. 



Now I will show the disadvantage of work- 

 ing an apiary 27 miles from a railroad, and 

 several hundred miles from a market. Our 

 five-gallon cans cost us 50 cts. per case in San 

 Francisco, and it cost 28 cts. per case to get 

 them put down in the apiary; total, 78 cts. 

 per case. In moving our honey out to the 

 railroad it cost us % cent per lb., and l, 1 ^ cts. 

 more to get it to San Francisco, or a total of 

 $1 41 per 100 lbs., while car lots can be sent 

 from terminal points to Chicago for 75 cts. per 

 100. In the above case the railroad men ap- 

 ply their rule of charging all the traffic will 

 bear, and there is no competition to prevent. 



The late Mr. Levering sol 1 all of his honey 

 in the home market a few years ago. His 

 comb honey sold for 30 cts. per lb. , and the 

 price gradually dropped to 8 and 10 cents. 

 Mr. L. would take the entire year to work off 

 his honey. He also had a team with which 

 to reach distant markets, such as Ashland in 

 Oregon, 25 miles away. Our only resort in 

 a similar sale was to hire teams to take the 

 honey out, not only into Oregon but into the 

 various mining towns. The trip would take 

 several days, and with a load of one ton of 

 honey, and a week of teaming at 82.50 per day, 

 the price would be diminished to less than we 

 could get in the city markets. The only way 

 to work up these local markets is to stick by 

 them all the year round, and have a good 

 team to take you hither and yon over the 



steep grades. I have described this matter 

 minutely, for I have received several inquiries 

 about this country for a permanent location, 

 and shall have something to say about the 

 matter, and what other bee-keepers in the 

 valley say, in my next. 



MP. 



$SSmBSSM 



SWEET CLOVER, ONCE MORE. 

 [On page 893, Dec. 1, I gave place to an at- 

 tack on sweet clover that I felt sure at the 

 time was very severe and one-sided. On page 

 19 of our last number we gave a reply to it 

 that may seem a little severe. But this thing 

 is getting to be a matter of some importance. 

 If the efforts to have sweet clover classed 

 among the noxious weeds come from only 

 a few who seem to have an unreasonable spite 

 against the plant, the sooner these people are 

 straightened up the better. Here is some- 

 thing from another friend in regard to the 

 same matter : — A. I. R.] 



Dear Mr. Root: — If the controversy on 

 sweet clover is not over I offer a little more 

 testimony in favor of it. Mr. D. Danielson, 

 of this vicinity, is a wide-awake farmer and 

 bee-keeper. He raises melilotus right along, 

 and cuts it \^hen in bloom, for hay. He con- 

 siders it excellent feed for horses, as well as a 

 good bee plant, and does not deem it a nox- 

 ious weed in this fertile soil. Mr. C. Jantz, of 

 Marion, a farmer and bee keeper, has been 

 raising sweet clover for several years. He 

 tells' ine that he tried to get a stand in his 

 pasture, hoping the cows would leave enough 

 so as to reseed it ; but they, instead, hunted it 

 and kept it cropped down close to the ground. 

 He also sa\ s that the milk and butter from 

 sweet clover have a most delicious flavor. 



I saw a patch of it at Mr. Jantz' last sum- 

 mer, that was, without stretching it an inch, 

 ten feet high. I have tried to make it choke 

 out unseemly patches of sunflower and rag- 

 weed ; but this, I think, it can't do in this 

 country. The great leaves of these plants 

 cover the ground so completely that nothing 

 else can come through. Though we have 

 some nice fields of alfalfa hereabouts, I fear it 

 is a little dry for this kind of clover ; and I 

 think that, when sweet clover shall become 

 better known, it will prove an excellent plant 

 for this region. S. J. Harmeeing. 



Marion ,'S. D., Dec. 27. - 



And here is still another : 



The honey crop in this part of the country 

 was very light. My crop was 1500 pounds of 

 comb, 160 extracted. The only nice honey I 

 got was in plain sections, from 114 colonies. 



Sweet clover is one of the best honey plants 

 that I have. I am glad that some people 

 don't know how to kill it. I have no trouble 

 in killing it where I don't want it to grow. 

 Stock eat it here. When pastures are short 



