1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5:-i7 



tongues long enough to reach clear to the bot- 

 tom of the red-clover cells, we might get tons 

 of honey where we now get only hundreds 

 of pounds. Then artificial pasturage in the 

 Eastern States would reach a degree of im- 

 portance that it never has yet, and never could 

 have otherwise. It is a difficult undertaking 

 to induce farmers to grow alsike clover in 

 preference to the red, notwithstanding the 

 former makes better hay. The farmer looks 

 for quantity, and there can be no question but 

 red and peavine clover do yield more hay to 

 the acre than alsike. 



As Grover Cleveland said, "we are con- 

 fronted with a condition and not a theory." 

 That condition is that farmers will grow red 

 clover in preference to alsike. The only way 

 to meet the condition is to breed bees with 

 long tongues. That there is a great difference 

 of bees in this respect has been proven over 

 and over again. 



No concentrated effort has thus far been 

 made on the part of queen-breeders in general 

 to breed long-tongued bees. J. P. Moore, of 

 Morgan, Ky., has for years offered to his cus- 

 tomers what is known as his "red-clover 

 strain," and I have seen good reports of the 

 performances of these bees. Years ago we 

 had what we called our red-clover queen. Her 

 colony during the red-clover season, and dur- 

 ing the time when all others were robbing, 

 would literally pack her hive full of hon- 

 ey. The reason was, they had long tongues, 

 and could get the honey. We sent one of 

 her daughters to Doolittle, and he pronounced 

 the stock something remarkable. At the 

 time we had her we did not realize her value ; 

 but to-day, if we could duplicate her we would 

 give $500 for her, because we doubt if her like 

 lias ever been known before. 



Now, then, if we can get queens with long 

 tongues we can, to a certain extent, control 

 our honey seasons. Suppose, for instance, 

 we have long-tongued bees, we could well af- 

 ford to furnish all our farmer neighbors ^vithin 

 a mile and a half of us all their red-clover 

 seed free. Yes, we could afford to pay them a 

 little bonus, for the sake of getting them to 

 grow a clover rather than a hay crop. Twen- 

 ty-five or fifty acres of red clover within the 

 range of bees having long tongues would show 

 some wonderful results in the way of big hon- 

 ey-yields. 



Now, Dr. Miller, trot out your glossometer 

 and your long-tongued bees; and to prove our 

 faith by our works we will pay !?25.00 to the 

 bee-keeper or queen-breeder who can produce 

 the longest-tongued bees this season ; and 

 $10 00 to the one who can furnish the next 

 longest. Contest to close by the 1st of 

 October. 



As yet I have said nothing about Apis dor- 

 sata. In the first place, their tongues are but 

 little longer than the tongues of ordinary Ital- 

 ians, and no longer, if measurements already 

 recorded are correct, than the tongues of red- 

 clover bees. As ^Ipis dorsata probably could 

 not be domesticated — that is, work and be 

 handled in ordinary hives, I think we must 

 look to the species Apis niellifica, our com- 

 mon worker-bee. 



Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 

 righteousness, for they shall be filled. — Matt. 5:6. 



Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come 

 unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. — 

 Matt. 19 :U. 



I suppose our readers have all read, or at 

 least nearly all, Sheldon's book, "In His 

 Steps ; " for probably no other book since 

 Uncle Tom's Cabin has made such a stir in 

 the world, and has been read so universally. 

 If you have not read it, get it at once, let the 

 children read it, and lend it to the neighbors. 

 When it is worn out and lost, get another and 

 keep it going. Of course, the book is not 

 perfect. Sheldon would not be human if his 

 book were without faults. But never mind 

 the faults. Consider the good things in it. 

 When I first read it I remarked to Mrs. Root, 

 " This writer has undertaken a tremendous 

 task. His conception is a wonderful one ; 

 but, as I suspected from the start, he is not 

 equal to the task, and, for that matter, ro liv- 

 ing human being, nor any that ever has lived, 

 is really able to say what Jesus would do in all 

 emergeneies. " Notwithstanding, Sheldon has 

 done a wonderful thing for humanity ; for not 

 only has the book attracted the attention of 

 the whole wide world, but a great part of this 

 wicked world has been trying to put its teach- 

 ings into practice. We may err just as Shel- 

 don did in our crude conceptions of what Je- 

 sus would do ; but I am sure the dear Savior 

 is pleased, even with our bungling efforts in 

 trying to follow " in his footsteps." May the 

 Lord be praised, he has not only promised to 

 guide those who are hungering and thirsting 

 after righteousness, as we have it in our text, 

 but he is guiding us. 



One of our religious papers has seen fit to 

 take exceptions to the way in which the ex- 

 pression " What would Jesus do?" has been 

 brought into common every-day use ; and they 

 objected because it was dragging down a sa- 

 cred name in an irreverent and almost blas- 

 phemous way. One of the instances they 

 mentioned was that different tradesmen, in 

 their advertisements, declare they would treat 

 their customers ' ' as Jesus would do, ' ' and they 

 went on to say that even a barber had put up 

 a sign saying customers would be shaved just 

 as Jesus would do it. Now, I think the relig- 

 ious editors are wrong. I am glad to know 

 that the grocer and the barber had found out 

 that there was a strife among business men to 

 be fair and right. After some of the experi- 

 ences I have had with barbers, I should be 

 very glad indeed to find one who is even try- 

 ing to conduct his business as Jesus would 

 have him do it ; and when this spirit gets 

 among the small matters of daily life, you 

 may be sure it will ultimately get among the 

 great ones. 



Last week I felt like taking a wheelride. 

 Mrs. Root and the rest of them declared it 

 was out of the question so short a time after 



