470 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J. E. Crane 1 SITTINGS | Middlebury, Vt 



I have just opened several hives 

 that had European foul brood last 

 year, and were treated by making 

 queenless for a time. Some were 

 given a young queen at the proper 

 time. The brood in all looks 

 healthy and free from disease. 



That item in editorial, page 302, April 

 15, containing the experience of E. D. 

 Townsend in advertising, viz., that the ad- 

 vertising that brought best results was in 

 women's journals of national circulation, is 

 well worth remembering. 



* * » 



1 notice that 0. L. Woodward reports on 

 page 359, May 1, that European foul brood 

 spread to those colonies immediately adjoin- 

 ing the one first discovered. It looks more 

 and more as tho it spread from nursing bees 

 entering the wrong hive. 



* * * 



"Florida Sunshine!" Hurrah! A new 

 department in Gleanings! This will be 

 particularly enjoyable in that portion of the 

 year when we have little sunshine in our 

 northern skies. 1 spent nearly two days in 

 Mr. Baldwin's charming home among the 

 pines three years ago, and I believe no bet- 

 ter man could be found for this depart- 

 ment in all Florida than he. 



* * * 



A little cloth-covered book of 64 pages 

 has come to my table entitled " The Value 

 of Sweet Clover." It is, I believe, the best- 

 arranged treatise I have seen on this sub- 

 ject. It is by J. F. Sinn, of the Berry Seed 

 Co., Clarinda, Iowa. The price, however, 

 $1.00, seems quite too high when you can 

 get a well-illustrated bulletin containing 

 even more matter by sending our cents to 

 the International Harvester Co., Chicago. 

 » • • 



That little poem by Mrs. Allen, page 330, 

 is well worth reading — not once nor twice, 

 but many times, until we can catch its 

 meaning in something of its fullness. The 

 subject is one of the smallest objects in 

 which we are interested, and yet we cannot 

 comprehend the mysteries and wonders it 

 holds in its tiny shell. And then to think 

 that there are a thousand things all about 

 us just as wonderful. Surely wealth is not 

 altogether in gold and silver, or notes and 

 bonds, or other material things. 



* * * 



On page 167, Feb. 15, H. L. Case, F. 

 Greiner, and W. F. Marks recommend past- 



ing a label on each comb of honey, stating 

 that "this section of honey (14 oz.) equals 

 in food value 24 oz. of beefsteak, 30 oz. of 

 codfish, 20 eggs, 11.2 oz. cream cheese, 2 

 quarts of milk," the whole costing $1.52. 

 Now I have had a very high opinion of the 

 food value of honey; but this beats me. 

 Would it not be better to say, " This section 

 (14 oz.) of honey equals in food value any 

 one of the following " — 24 oz. of beefsteak, 

 etc.? or put it as it is in the American Bee 

 Journal, "14 oz. of beefsteak or 30 oz. of 



codfish," etc. 



* • » 



Our ■ friend Doolittle discusses drouths, 

 page 144, Feb. 15, in an interesting manner, 

 but does not tell us how they can be pre- 

 vented. Like the poor, they are likely al- 

 ways to be with us. One hundred years ago 

 this very year there was an unusual drouth 

 in this section, with unusual cold, ao it is 

 handed down as the cold dry summer of 

 1816. A good crop of winter wheat matur- 

 ed that kept the people from starvation, 

 and so it has been ever since — seasons of 

 drouth and seasons of unusual moisture. 

 In I860 we had little rain in this locality 

 until late in July, and stock had to be re- 

 duced to one-fourth the usual amount to 

 winter. Almost every colony of bees died, 

 and yet seed time and harvest have not 

 failed, and we seem to get along fairly well. 



* * * 



I see two editorials in Gleanings for 

 May 1, along the line of sweet clover. With 

 the eye of faith the editor sees our country 

 " from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from 

 Ihe Great Lakes to the Gulf," as a land 

 flowing with milk and honey. He says that 

 badly cured sweet clover fed to cows causes 

 them to give more milk than other hay. The 

 increase in the flow of milk from cows fed 

 on this once despised weed has been noted 

 in these parts, and it is a most important 

 fact. As the country grows older and our 

 cities larger, the demand for milk increases 

 by leaps and bounds. Already the city of 

 New York sends a daily train as far as 

 northern New York, and on down thru Ver- 

 mont, 350 miles, and ■ loads up with milk 

 packed in ice for the population of the 

 city. Large quantities of milk or cream are 

 used for ice-cream — a modern demand. 

 Large amounts of cream are separated and 

 sent to the cities daily, in addition to the 

 milk. It looks now as tho the value of sweet 

 clover would come quite as much from its 

 ability to increase the flow of milk as the 

 flow of honey. 



