July 1. 1911 



observed. There is usually little odor in 

 European fovil brood, but sometimes a sour 

 odor is present, which reminds one of yeast 

 fermentation. This disease attacks drone 

 and queen larvae* almost as quickly as those 

 of the workers. 



European foul brood is more destructive 

 during the spring and early summer than 

 at other times, often entirely disappearing 

 during late summer and autumn, or during 

 a heavy honey How. Italian bees seem to 

 be better able to resist the ravages of this 

 disease than any other race. The disease at 

 times sjneads with startling rapidity and is 

 most destructive. Where it is jirevalent a 

 considerably larger percentage of colonies is 

 affected than is usual for American fovil 

 brood. This disease is very variable in its 

 symptoms and other manifestations, and is 

 often a puzzle to the bee-keeper. 



THE TRUTH ABOUT ALFALFA IN NEW MEXI- 

 CO. 



Why New Home-seekers should Investigate be- 

 fore they Invest. 



BY O. B. METCALFE. 



On page 257, April 15, Mr. H. Robinson 

 states that alfalfa is a sure thing around 

 Roswell, because there is an abundance of 

 water from the artesian wells. No one 

 made the statement that alfalfa would be 

 likely to die out in New Mexico for lack of 

 water. While we used to grow little else 

 here in the Mesilla Valley than alfalfa, be- 

 cause of a scarcity of water, now every farm- 

 er who can get the money to i)ut in a punip- 

 ing-plant is plowing up as much alfalfa land 

 as his plant will water; and the more pro- 

 gressive are saying that, when the assess- 

 ments from the big dam come in, some oth- 

 er crop must be found which will pay more 

 per acre than alfalfa. If this statement 

 brands me as a knocker, all right. I want 

 to see this country developed and advertised 

 for what it is, but I do not want to see it 

 boomed until it is like a balky horse that 

 every man has to sell for three times his 

 worth in order to get his money back. 

 Land shoved up to this point is close kin to 

 watered stock; and the bad part of it is that 

 that kind of water will not make crops grow 

 on the land in exact jiroportion to the 

 amount applied. 



The articles on Florida lands, by Mr. 

 Root, are just what I wish the editors of all 

 the good journals could take the pains and 

 time to get out for New Mexico. I was very 

 glad to see the article in the April 29th, 1911, 

 issue of the Saturday Evening Post, by 

 Emerson Hough, on "Irrigation as It Is." I 

 hope the article will not keep eastern home- 

 seekers from coming out and taking the 



*The tendency of this disease to attack queen lar- 

 vae is a serious drawbaclc in treatment. Frequent- 

 ly the bees ol a diseased colony attempt to super- 

 sede their queen, but the larvae in the queen-cells 

 often die, leaving the colony hopelessly queenless. 

 The colony is thus depleted rapidly. 



407 



land for what it is worth. It is all right at 

 that, and we want them all as neighbors 

 and fellow-workers; but I for one wish that 

 they might all come with their eyes open. 



A DASTARDLY WAY OF FIGHTING PARCELS 

 POST. 



W'hile in Las Cruces a few days ago I was 

 talking to a friend who keeps a store there, 

 when a man came in with a i^etition which 

 he was taking around to all the merchants 

 in town to be signed. My friend refused to 

 sign it, and told me, after the man had 

 gone, that it was a petition to be used in 

 fighting parcels post, and that some of the 

 merchants in Las Cruces were signing it. I 

 wonder if this kind of work is being done in 

 the East also, and what organization is foot- 

 ing the bills to have such a petition circu- 

 lated. 



Mesilla Park, N. M. 



[Gleanings has always tried to state the 

 facts about any new territory — especially to 

 tell all the bad things — so that the unsophis- 

 ticated will not rush into a new locality 

 only to experience bitter disai)pointment 

 and the loss of every dollar they ever had. 

 It is an awful thing for one to find himself 

 stranded in a new country among strangers, 

 the victim of real-estate men who ought to 

 be serving a term in the jienitentiary. 

 Many and many a time have we seen these 

 poor "people with their families on the verge 

 of starvation, scarcely able to get the neces- 

 sary food to hold body and soul together, 

 without a penny to get back home again 

 where they might have their old job among 

 their friends. It is cold comfort to be told 

 that they were just ordinary suckers — that 

 they should have known better. 



On the other hand, there are vast areas of 

 undeveloped country under the stars and 

 stripes where thousands can find health and 

 wealth. We know of a number who, under 

 the doctor's orders, were just barely able to 

 make a living in the North, sold out 

 every thing they had, and went down to 

 Florida and obtained a new lease of life, and 

 enough to live on. Generally these lucky 

 .ones feel that they have "struck God's 

 country," and they are grateful to the great 

 Father because he has made for them a land 

 flowing with milk and honey, where they 

 can live and prosper. 



As we have said repeatedly in these col- 

 umns, no one should go into a new territory 

 with his family and all his belongings until 

 he has gone there first and investigated. If 

 he has no money he should be sure to get 

 hold of a steady job and thus have some 

 means to support his family that can come 

 later. If one is in ill health, and can not 

 live long in the North, and has neither 

 money nor muscle, he may jierhaps get 

 some friend who is already located in the 

 South to find something for him that he can 

 do. If he can not make such connection he 

 had better die north among his friends than 

 to starve to death among people who do not 

 know him, and who might shun him if he 

 is afflicted with the white plague. — Ed.] 



