.1038 



West Virginia vs. Southern California for 

 Bees. 



I should like to get mformation about 

 West Virginia as a place to live in. How 

 much land in sweet clover would keep prof- 

 itably 40 to 50 hives of bees? 



BuVbank, Cal. A. H. Nash. 



[The climate of West Virginia, of course, 

 is a good deal milder than in the northern 

 part of the United States next to and above 

 the Great Lakes, but not as mild as it is in 

 Burbank, Cal. For the keeping of bees or 

 for a general mild climate you will not find 

 any place in West Virginia probably equal 

 to where you are. A good deal of territory 

 in West Virginia is mountainous. 



We are not able to give you a definite 

 estimate as to the number of bees you could 

 keep ill a given area of sweet clover. Some- 

 thing would depend upon the locality — that 

 is, the character of the soil and the climate. 

 Ordinarily we should say that an acre of 

 sweet clover would support a colony of bees. 

 In other words, it would take about fifty 

 acres of sweet clover to make very much of 

 a showing in the hives, and really a hundred 

 acres would give better results. — Ed.] 



Martin and Bee-martin Very Different. 



Page 717, E. G. Baldwin says ' ' the pretty 

 bee-martins are housed by my neighbors." 

 Surely he must be mixing up martins and 

 bee-martins. A bee-martin can 't be made to 

 live in a martin-house. It makes its nest out 

 on the end of a branch. A martin and a bee- 

 martin are no more the same thing than a 

 chestnut and a horse-chestnut, or wheat and 

 buckwheat. So far as I know, authorities all 

 agree that the bee-martin does not ordinarily 

 eat worker-bees, but eats drones, queens, 

 and rosebugs, and drives away the enemies 

 of small birds in general; so that it is a good 

 neighbor except where there is queen-rear- 

 ing, but a bad neighbor there. 



If we could all agree not to call it bee- 

 martin, but use the name by which I believe 

 it is better known to the general public, 

 "kingbird," there would be less danger of 

 getting it confused with martins in our 

 talk. Steven T. Byington. 



Ballard Vale, Mass., Sept. 7. 



Bee or Purple Martin. 



Some inquiry has been made in regard to 

 martins eating bees. The so-called bee- 

 martin, or king-bird (Tyr annus tyrannus) is 

 known to catch bees, and I have seen them 

 take them on the wing, but have never 

 thought they did as much harm as good. 

 They are easily recognized, as all of their 

 tail feathers are tipped with white. They 

 never nest in houses or boxes of any kind, 

 as they always build their own nest,' gen- 

 erally in a bush or low tree. Their eggs 

 are cream-colored, with brown spots. 



The purple martin (Progne subis) builds 

 its nest in box or house, often several in 

 one house, if it is divided into rooms. Their 

 eggs are white. The adult male is a deep 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



thiiiiug b'ue-black all over. Females and 

 younger males, probably including all un- 

 der two years old, are of a dull purplish 

 black above, and grayish beneath. I have 

 never known or heard of their catching bees, 

 and they are very useful. 



THE YIELD PROM ALFALFA AT HIGH ALTITUDES 

 I have made some inquiry here, and con- 

 clude that the yield is at best uncertain 

 above 5000 feet. Here in the valley, at an 

 altitude of 4300 feet, the yield is excellent. 

 Within twenty miles east of us the Sacra- 

 mento mountains reach a height of 10,000 

 feet. I am told that the bees up toward 

 the summit starved to death last summer. 



THE LONG-IDEA HIVE. 



I should like to say a few words in favor 

 of the Poppleton "Long-idea hive." I did 

 not know Mr. Poppleton, tho I lived within 

 about forty miles of him for many years in 

 Iowa. A near neighbor of mine, Mr. G. W. 

 Webster, who also went to Florida later, 

 knew Mr. P., and adopted his hive and sys- 

 tem, extracting most of his honey. From 

 him I learned the principle and adapted 

 it to my own use, building hives to take 

 L. frames, and using wide frames with sepa- 

 rators to hold sections. I think queen-exclud- 

 ing division - boards would make success 

 complete. In that climate we used these 

 hives with double walls, the outer wall ex- 

 tending several inches higher, to admit of 

 using a large chaff cushion in winter. I 

 also used ordinary section-cases on top of 

 frames. Burdett Hassett. 



Alamagordo, N. M. 



White of Egg with the Syrup. 



Some years ago a friend in Italy sent me 

 by mail to North Germany 1% lbs. of bees 

 with queen, the first of March, not consid- 

 ering that at that time, as a rule, winter 

 weather prevails there. I had an empty 

 hive on hand and put in it five or six pieces 

 of old comb (about an inch wide), as start- 

 ers in the brood-frames, and gave sugar 

 syrup — how thin it was I do not now remem- 

 ber; but at all events, the bees used no 

 water. If I am not wrong, I fed up to the 

 month of May, and gavQ every evening from 

 two to six teaspoonfuls of milk and the 

 white of an egg. It was very seldom that 

 a bee left the hive. In June and July it 

 was a very strong colony, and I had a rich 

 crop from white clover and basswood. 



Altho I have thought a good deal about 

 this matter since coming to this country, I 

 have not as yet had an opportunity to test 

 this matter fully. The bees found, however, 

 in this food all they required; and I think 

 that in any ease the plan should be tried out 

 fully. For the small beekeeper it is too cost- 

 ly and requires too much time. But the pro- 

 fessional queen-breeder will assuredly find 

 this scheme of great value. The milk and 

 egg should be renewed fresh every evening. 

 I have at times myself drank or eaten what 

 the bees left. Gustav Kohnke. 



Clio, Mich., Sept. 26. 



