224 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



I fed my cows alfalfa hay until the first 

 of December, when I began mowing the 

 sweet clover and feeding it to my cows. The 

 result was mo-^t gratifying, for the cows not 

 only ate it readily, but it increased the flow 

 of milk considerably. 



As a benefit to soil I would only repeat 

 what a professor in the college at the Kan- 

 sas Experiment Station said in a leading 

 Kansas paper. "As a soil inoculator, reno- 

 vator, and builder, I know of no other plant 

 or fertilizer that compares with sweet clo- 

 ver." 



Whitewater, Kan. 



DRAWBACKS TO BEE-KEEPING IN NEW 

 MEXICO. 



The Future of Alfulfa very Uncertain. 



BY O. B METCALFE. 



As a result of the publication of some 

 of my articles in Gleanings, letters of 

 inquiry have come to me asking about 

 New Mexico as a bee-keeper's j^aradise. 

 It requires some trouble to reply, so I am 

 going to give here a few facts which will 

 answer some of these inquiries in advance. 

 I do not mean by this, however, that I am 

 not willing to answer further questi- >ns. If, 

 after reading this, there is still some point 

 on which an interested party thinks I might 

 enlighten him, I shall gladly do so by let- 

 ter. 



As to yield per colony in the Mesilla Val- 

 ley, a yard of good colonies a few years ago 

 produced an average of about 50 lbs. of comb 

 honey or about double that of extracted 

 when the river did not go dry too early; but 

 for the past few years the amount of honey 

 yielded has not been as large, as the range 

 is becoming overstocked. The above aver- 

 age is probably about equal to that of any 

 other valley of New Mexico where enough 

 alfalfa is raised to make bee-keeping as a 

 business possible. 



As to quality, our honey grades light am- 

 ber to dark. We never get any water-white 

 honey equal to that of Colorado, Utah, or 

 the white sage of California; but it is of a 

 fine flavor, except the fall honey coming 

 from a plant similar to the goldenrod, which 

 grows wild here and blooms late in the fall. 

 The flavor of most of our honey is fine; but 

 that is a point of little merit to the bee-l?eep- 

 er, as it is color that sells honey in these 

 days, especially when it must be shipped 

 out, as we have to do. I think at least 90 

 per cent of the honey produced in New Mex- 

 ico is shipped, as we have almost no local 

 market. Another drawback to our honey 

 is that it candies quickly, so it can not be 

 bottled very well. 



As to price, our best comb sometimes 

 brings as much as $3 00; but that is for the 

 first few cases only, and the main crop goes 

 at $2.50 and $2.60. Extracted brings about 

 5 cts. in five-gallon cans, two to the case, 

 and the cases of cans cost about 95 cts. laid 

 down as local freight. 



We have a high freight rate on bee-sup- 

 plies, and the cost of living is much higher 

 here than in the East. 



Our principal nectar-producing plants are, 

 first, alfalfa, which is sure to bloom for at 

 least one cutting; and, second, mesquite, 

 which is quite uncertain, as it may get 

 frozen, or its bloom may be destroyed by 

 high winds, entailing at the same time loss 

 of a large per cent of workers which are also 

 blown away. Just before the mesquite 

 flow, the willow is a good honey-plant here 

 if one's yard is situated near the river. Late 

 in the fall it often yields nectar, especially 

 if there is not a severe drouth. 



Where an attempt is made to run for 

 comb honey, the swarming, perhaps, both- 

 ers more here than in any other State, as 

 the flow is so slow and so intermittent. In 

 fact, it is not a good locality to run for comb 

 honey at all, as there is such a large expense 

 in getting a lot of sections and mounting 

 them when the river may go dry, and the 

 alfalfa fail to bloom enough to fill more 

 than a few of them. 



As to the future prospect for the bee-keep- 

 ing industry here, nothing could be more 

 uncertain, as we depend absolutely on the 

 alfalfa for a successful yield, and there is 

 already much alfalfa being plowed up to be 

 replaced by such crops as onions, canta- 

 loupes, lettuce, celery, etc. All of the more 

 progressive farmers are saying that they • 

 must certainly find some other crop to grow 

 before the water assessments begin coming 

 in from the big dam. 



This had something to do with the fact 

 that I made a long trip last fall through the 

 highlands of Mexico, looking for a new lo- 

 cation to which to move our outfit. I did 

 not, however, find a suitable location, and 

 intend to stick it out here to the bitter end, 

 so far as being crowded out is concerned. 

 The same conditions would probably exist 

 in all irrigated sections of New Mexico. 



Lest some of my bee-keeping brothers 

 who are trying to sell out here should brand 

 me as a knocker I must sum up the best 

 features of the place. First of all, we have 

 mild winters, and do not have to put the 

 bees in the cellar. Then every few days 

 during the winter, sometimes every day, 

 the bees can have a flight, so a comparative- " 

 ly weak colony will winter here, making 

 the problem of increase easy because the 

 honey-flow is long. 



I have a scheme for helping myself and 

 my brother bee-keepers. Any one intend- 

 ing to buy or to move here may, if he likes, 

 write to me, tell me of the prospective loca- 

 tion, and I will send him a list of the bee- 

 keepers who would be his neighbors. From 

 them he can learn regarding the average 

 yield, whether or not American foul brood is 

 running riot in that particular spot, etc. If 

 he is thinking of shipping in a lot of bees, 

 he is apt to crowd some one, especially if the 

 location is worth having. If he is a fair- 

 minded man he will be glad to know just 

 how much he would crowd, and how his 

 neighbors would feel toward him. If he 



