318 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 15 



give it a chance. I tried starting it in other 

 yards without moving the chickens away; 

 but they kept biting off every green shoot 

 as fast as it appeared, and it was not a suc- 

 cess. Before coming away this spring our 

 chickens were all removed from our five 

 acres; and I suppose Wesley is now busy 

 planting Bermuda sod all through the yard, 

 on which the chickens can run next winter. 



My attention was called to this matter of 

 Bermuda grass by a government bulletin 

 entitled "Suggestions for Setting Perma- 

 nent Pastures, with Bermuda Grass as the 

 Basis." If you are interested in the matter 

 it will pay you to send for it. Address the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, 

 D. C. 



By the way, it would seem that Bermuda 

 grass is something like our northern sweet 

 clover, which has been only recently appre- 

 ciated. See the following extract from the 

 bulletin mentioned: 



BERMUDA GRASS. 



Bermuda grass Is, without question, the most use- 

 ful of the pasture grasses for all southern States. It 

 is nutritious, a persistent grower, and delights in 

 the hot sunny exposure of an open field. It will 

 stand unlimited grazing by stock, holds up during 

 severe drouth, and grows continuously until a kill- 

 ing frost occurs in the fall. It will do well on almost 

 any type of soil, but is especially adapted to sandy 

 loams and the hill lands throughout the South. On 

 fertile lands it makes a rapid growth, attaining a 

 height sufficient for mowing, and may be cut sever- 

 al times during the season. The hay from Bermuda 

 grass has been found fully equal in food value to 

 the best timothy. On washed soils, or on lands 

 that are broken and would soon wash ofif under cul- 

 tivation, no other plant has been found so valuable 

 either for checking the erosion already made or for 

 preventing it on sandy hill lands. Its value for pre- 

 venting washes and holding lands may be illustrat- 

 ed from the fact that all railroads take particular 

 care to get it set thoroughly on new embankments 

 as soon as they are made. The same use is made of 

 it on all new levies and other embankments where 

 washing is likely to occur. 



I do not know how far north Bermuda 

 grass will stand freezing and thawing; but 

 it seems to flourish finely through Missis- 

 sippi and other southern States. 



Health Notes 



By A. I. ROOT 



WELL-RIPENED HONEY, ETC. 



Well, friends, although I have not had 

 any thing to say in regard to honey for a 

 long time, I want to take it up once more. 

 Of late I have been rejoicing that I could 

 eat good well-ripened honey twice a day, for 

 breakfast and dinner, without any incon- 

 venience. I am still eating apples, and 

 nothing else, for supper. By the way, down 

 in Florida, after the apples were gone that I 

 carried from our Medina orchard, I paid 40 

 cents a dozen for Oregon Ganoes. That is 

 at the rate of 3 for a dime, as you will notice. 

 Well, these apples are so large and fine — no 

 wormy ones, no imperfections — that two big 

 Ganoes make a very fair meal; and two ap- 

 ples costing six or seven cents is not a very 

 expensive supper after all. When I got 



back here to Medina I thought that apples 

 would be cheaper of course; but here they 

 are getting a nickel apiece for these same 

 Oregon Ganoes. By the way, where in this 

 whole wide world is there a better chance to 

 make money than by growing nice apples 

 for a nickel apiece? Why, with the miles 

 and miles of hills and mountains through 

 Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, why 

 don't somebody take hold of it and cover 

 these hills with apple-orchards? It is a burn- 

 ing shame that apples should be a dollar a 

 peck, or even more, when they bring only 

 a dollar a barrel or a little more during the 

 fall and early winter. Where are our cold- 

 storage people? Now , to get back to the 

 honey. 



Just as soon as I reached the Home of the 

 Honey-bees, Mrs. Root dispatched me for 

 some nice well-ripened honey. I got a jar- 

 ful in the honey-room where they put up 

 little pieces of comb honey for the Pullman 

 Car Co. Well, this honey (alfalfa), while 

 it is as clear as crystal {amber crystal) it is 

 so thick we can turn over a jarful or a tum- 

 blerful without spilling a drop. In fact, it 

 has to be cut out of the jar with a knife — 

 that is, during cold weather. Now, this 

 thick honey is ever so much more whole- 

 some, as I have proved repeatedly, and I 

 think most people will call it ever so much 

 more delicious, and would cheerfully pay 

 double price for good well-ripened honey 

 like this. And now comes a point that has 

 never occurred to me before. It would make 

 a tremendous saving in freight when ship- 

 ping honey if all the useless water were 

 evaporated out of it — yes, worse than use- 

 less. Thin honey, if it does not spoil by be- 

 coming sour on the surface, deteriorates to 

 a certain extent, especially in hot weather. 

 The thick, well-ripened honey suffers no 

 such deterioration. It has been stated be- 

 fore in these columns and other bee-journals 

 that, when candied honey is permitted to 

 drain so as to get rid of every thing that will 

 run out, the quality is greatly improved. 

 That which drains off it can be used for 

 vinegar, or sold to bakers for making honey- 

 cakes; and if the remaining candied honey 

 has been well drained and dried out before 

 it is melted up, being careful about over- 

 heating, it will be very much like the thick 

 honey we are now using on our table every 

 day. When I questioned our people in our 

 honey department they said they were sell- 

 ing this very thick alfalfa at the same price 

 as the other. I entered a protest. Let us, 

 each and all, get to work and produce gilt- 

 edged honey, and then insist on having a 

 gilt-edged price for it. 



OF INTEREST TO BEE-KEEPERS WHO OPERATE AU- 

 TOMOBILES. 



Automobile Dealer and Repairer is the name of a 

 monthly journal said to be the only publication In 

 the world especially devoted to the practical side 

 of motoring. Bee-keepers who own and operate 

 automobiles, or any of our readers who may be in- 

 terested in this subject, should send to the Motor 

 Vehicle Publishing Co., 24 Murray St., New York, 

 for a sample copy. The yearly subscription price is 

 SI. 00; which may be sent direct or through the pub- 

 lishers of Gleanings. 



