1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



have taken it in mj' pockets for years, when 

 I went on hunting' and fishing' tramps, 

 scattering" it in places where nothing but 

 noxious weeds ever occupied the ground, 

 and, with the exception of places where the 

 soil was of a sandy, gravelly nature, none 

 of this seed has ever brought forth any but 

 sickly plants, which would g'ive up and die 

 a 3'ear or two later." 



"This is news to me. for I had been told 

 that sweet clover was classed as a weed bj' 

 the authorities." 



"Yes, I know it is so classed; but the 

 'why' of such a course has always puzzled 

 me, for here in York State it is far more 

 easy to kill, even on the sandy and gravelly 

 soils it will hold to, than any of the other 

 kinds of c'overs, none of it ever being" seen 

 in cultivated fields, while white and alsike 

 clover persist in growing" in fields and g"ar- 

 dens, with a tenacity which is often very 

 provoking, especially in beds of strawber- 

 ries." 



"Of the two clovers which you have men- 

 tioned, and the buckweat, which would you 

 prefer to sow?" 



"Each and all of them, as each one has 

 its place. But as all our farmers are fa- 

 miliar with, and often sow acres with them, 

 I have always thought it best to encourage 

 the farmers about me to sow these crops, 

 for it is only where they grow by the hun- 

 dreds of acres that much profit accrues to 

 the bee- keeper." 



"Do the farmers sow much white clover?" 



"Not in this locality, for it is not neces- 

 sary; for, after it once obtains a foothold, it 

 propagates itself, and the farmers do not 

 try to eradicate it, owing to its value in 

 pasture land and f jr hay. Alsike clover 

 does not hold to the land quite as well as 

 the white; but as it is more valuable for 

 hay than the white variety, it is so much 

 desired that very many of our farmers sow 

 it now, and the bee comes in for her share 

 wherever sown." 



"How about the buckwheat?" 



"Of late years the price of that grain has 

 been so good that the farmers need no coax- 

 ing to get them to sow it. At the close of 

 the honey harvest from this source, if a few 

 boxes of honey are handed out to those who 

 sow the largest acreage of this grain, tell- 

 ing them that there is a sample of the honey 

 that the bees secured while they were fer- 

 tilizing the buckwheat flowers so that the 

 good yield of grain they had obtained was 

 the result, it brings about a good feeling, 

 and causes a larger acreage to be sown the 

 next year. Buckwheat in most localities is 

 now a very paying crop for the grain it 

 yields, while the honey from it finds a sale 

 in market at remunerative prices, consider- 

 ing that it comes at a time of year when the 

 bees are all built up strong of themselves, 

 so that there is no need of stimulative feed- 

 ing and coaxing, which is often required to 

 get them in condition for the harvest of 

 white clover coming early in the season." 



"Well, ] will be going now, and not hin- 

 der you from ^our writing longer." 



From present indications the bees will 

 have a favorable spring. It is generally 

 known that it is moredil^cult to "spring" 

 the bees than to winter them. Since the ed- 

 itorial notice elsewhere, regarding winter- 

 ing, was written, we have received a few 

 more reports that are very discouraging; 

 but they are mainly confined to parts of 

 Ohio, Michigan, and New York, and al- 

 waj'S to outdoor-wintered bees. 



INDOOR vs. OUTDOOR WINTERING. 



This winter will force to the attention of 

 bee-keepers the question of whether or not 

 they should winter indoors. Doolittle has 

 always fallowed a very safe plan, putting 

 half of his bees on summer standi, packed, 

 and half in a cellar. If it is an extremelj' 

 warm open winter, the outdoor bees will 

 probably fare better. If it is very cold, 

 and continues to be so, with a bad spring, 

 the indoor bees will come out ahead. 



Every bee-keeper should study his own 

 locality, and then decide, by experiments 

 which he may make, which will give him 

 better results, year in and year out. A 

 good house-cellar, darkened and shut off 

 from the main cellar, will usually give very 

 good results— enough so for one to make a 

 comparative test between the indoor and 

 outdoor plans. 



E. F. PHILLIPS ON FERTILIZATION. 



I DESIRE to call special attention to a very 

 interesting article in this issue, by Mr. E. 

 F. Phillips, of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, the scientist who spent some time 

 here at Medina working on the general sub- 

 ject of parthenogenesis. He had previously 

 made a special study of the compound e3'e 

 and several other portions of insect anato- 

 my. At my request he has prepared a se- 

 ries of articles, the first of which is given in 

 this issue. He has the special indorse- 

 ment of Dr. Conklin, of the University, and 

 his work has been viewed with much inter- 

 est in scientific circles, more especially on 

 account of the original work he is doing in 

 unexplored fields. He recently read a pa- 

 per before the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Sciences. A representative of our company 

 was present, and he reports that Mr Phil- 

 lips was plied with a great variety of ques- 

 tions, showing that the scientific men were 

 greatly interested in the developments he 

 laid before them. 



In presenting these articles I have per- 

 fect confidence that Mr. Phillips has not 

 given us hearsay evidence, but carefully di- 

 gested thought-out science, based largely 



