1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



327 



way, why can't we have an excursion planned 

 specially for bee-keepers who ride wheels ? 



vines and tie them up once a year. They af- 

 ford shade to the hives, and the bees furnish 

 all the fertility needed. 



SWEET CLOVER IN GERMANY. 



Friend A. I.: — I send you a picture out of Central- 

 blatt to show you how sweet clover grows in the Ger- 

 man language. It was windy when the picture was 

 taken, so the plants don't show as well as they might; 

 but Herr Reepen says the average height of the stalks 

 back of the man and boy is !) ft. 10 inches, and the one 

 stalk that Herr Wegener is holding in his hand is 10 

 ft. 8 in. high. 



But what I wanted you more particularly to notice 

 is the growth of the potatoes this side the man and 

 boy. Those in the foreground, as you see, have made 

 a poor growth, while the three rows next the sweet 

 clover have grown most luxuriantly. And yet they 

 were planted with the same seed and at the same 

 time. Herr Reepen thinks the difference must come 

 from the nitrogen gathered by the sweet clover. It 

 seems as if there must have been some other differ- 

 ence, perhaps accidental, but still it may be worth 

 while to make some experiment to see whether any 

 thing like the same difference might be made in this 

 country. I commend the case to your consideration. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



I should be exceedingly glad to submit to 

 our readers the picture sent us. It looks to 

 me as though the ranker and stronger growth 

 of the potatoes close up to the sweet clover 

 may be accounted for partly by the shade. If 

 the soil was sandy or gravelly, the sun was 

 likely too hot for them out in the open field ; 

 and this great mass of sweet clover would not 

 only shade the potatoes, but if there was an 

 abundance of rain it might also help to keep 

 them damp longer than those stmding out in 

 the full blaze of the sun. I wish our German 

 people would tell us through Dr. Miller, or in 

 some other way, how much sweet clover is 

 worth for feeding stock in the " Fatherland." 



MANURIAL VALUE OF BEES, ETC. 



Having kept bees for five years at my present loca- 

 tion I have been led to notice the effect of dt ad bees 

 as a benefit to vegetation. For instance, in front of 

 my old hives, where for five seasons dead bees have 

 accumulated, the grass grows with a luxuriance not 

 noted am where else. Clean out a hive where bees 

 have died, and dump the mass of dead bees in a spot, 

 and note the result of increased fertility. My theory 

 is this : My apiary adjoins the garden; and daily, dur- 

 ing the working season, I find dead and disabled 

 workers lying about on the ground. Now, a few bees 

 every day dropped on the land is a small thing; yet in 

 a few seasons it amounts to quite a large amount. 

 Agricultural specialists agree that animal matter (de- 

 composed) is a fine fertilizer; hence I concluded that 

 bees in a few years are worth somt thing to their own- 

 ers as a result of the matter added to the ground from 

 dead bees. I shall clean up several hives this season, 

 and experiment by scattering the "corpses" in the 

 drill along with the seed, side by side with other fer- 

 tilizers, and repoit results. 



Another thing, my chickens, when about six weeks 

 old, eat drones, and seem to thrive on them — a "lean- 

 meat diet," you might call it What surprises me is 

 the instinct that teaches young chicks to eat drones 

 and let workers alone. They beat drone-traps badly. 



Murfreesboro, Tenn. Chip Henderson. 



I have often thought, friend H., that there 

 must be considerable fertility in the bees 

 thrown out of a hive after they have died in 

 wintering ; and even if they do not die in 

 wintering, if it is true that a worker-bee lasts 

 only about six weeks, there is quite a lot of 

 carcasses to go somewhere. Our plan of hav- 

 ing a Concord grapevine to shade each hive 

 utilizes this debris with very little labor. We 

 have beautiful grapes by the ton year after 

 year, with no expense except to prune the 



GROWING STRAWBERRIES AND CORN TO- 

 GETHER. 



I have given the subject a thorough trial, and have 

 abandoned the system as a delusion and a snare. My 

 first trial was exactly the same as Mr. Chapin's. Corn 

 was planted about 3J^ feet each way in hills, and one 

 strawberry-plant set out between hills of corn in the 

 row. The variety was Lenig's White ; and the season 

 being a good one I got a fair crop the following sea- 

 son. Subsequent trials proved comparative failures. 

 I have tried growing early sweet corn between every 

 other row of strawberries, and then again between 

 every fourth and sixth row ; and the further apart the 

 corn was planted, the more the system condemned it- 

 self. When the strawberries had the field to them- 

 selves there was a good stand of strong vines ; but al- 

 ways, without exception, the strawberry-rows adjoin- 

 ing the corn were feeble and stunted, showing that 

 the corn had taken the larger share of plant-food and 

 moisture. Our land being rich and high-priced (we 

 live in the citv) we have tried to get all we can out of 

 it. I have tried beans, cabbage, beets, and onions, 

 among my strawberries, and have now settled down 

 to early cabbage, early beets, and onions, as being 

 the only crops that can be grown among strawberry- 

 plants without injury to the succeeding crop. These 

 crops come off the ground early, and leave the mois- 

 ture for the strawberry-plants "in the fall, when it is 

 most needed. Corn, on the contrary, nee Is all the 

 season for maturing ; and with its Ion * feeding roots 

 reaching out every way for plant food and water, the 

 poor strawberry-plant has no show whatever. If our 

 old friend A. I. Root will plant one row of strawberry- 

 plants alongside a row of corn he will get the best 

 object-lesson of how a strong plant can rob a weaker 

 one. 



I am entirely agreed with you as to the value of 

 cornstalks for a mulching for strawberries; but I want 

 them grown by themselves, not nearer than 20 feet of 

 the strawberries. Cornstalks between the strawberry- 

 rows, and 2 inches of clean rye straw over all, is my 

 ideal of a perfect mulch. H. E. McGregor. 



Appleton, Wis. 



Friend Root: — In regard to what you say in March 

 1st Gleanings about planting corn with strawberries 

 to shade them. I most emphatically say, don't. Corn 

 is such a rank grower, especially on ground good 

 enough for strawberries, that the roots would absorb 

 more moisture than the shade of the stalks would pre- 

 ment evaporating. I have tried it, and know. 



Belleville, 111. E. T. Flanagan. 



THE CRAIG POTATO ; A FAVORABLE REPORT 

 FROM IT. 



I like the Craig potato for late the best of any vari- 

 ety I have yet tried, and I have tried a good many of 

 them. I have been able to get a fair crop of them 

 when (because of dry weather) many other varieties 

 failed entirely. I started with 3 lbs , and in four sea- 

 sons the increase amounted to between 600 and 700 

 bushels, or an average increase of over 50 fold; and 

 that too. without anv fertilizers or special culture. 



Mitchellville, la., Mar. 26. G. S. Fox. 



The above is exactly the way the Craig be- 

 haves on our grounds year after year ; and it 

 is a mystery to me why so many should fail in 

 making a success of it. I suppose we shall 

 have to conclude that, like many other things 

 in the vegetable kingdom, it succeeds nicely 

 in some localities and not in others. 



THE NEW SPRAY-PUMP FOR KEEPING FLIES 

 OFF HORSES AND CATTLE. 

 On page 288 you ask for information regarding the 

 use of kerosene spray on cattle, to keep off flies. Last 

 year, seeing on sale at one of our stores the Acme 

 atomizer, and thinking it wonld be handy for me to 

 spray my hand-fertilized potatoes, I bought one and 

 found it very convenient for that purpose. By keep- 

 ing it loaded I could go over my few short rows every 

 morning to make sure the bugs would not destroy the 



