170 



G-LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1917 



convention) was that given by E. R. Root, 

 editor of Gleanings^ entitled ' Establish- 

 ing a Trade Name in Honey.' Our read- 

 ers know that The A. I. Root Co. has done 

 a great deal of advertising of honey under 

 the trade name of ' Airline Honey.' They 

 liave spent enormous sums, paying as much 

 as $6000 for a full-page advertisement in 

 the October number of the Ladies' Home 

 Journal. But the increase of demand for 

 honey is well marked." 



In a recent lettei* received from a larg^ 

 producer this was said : " Why didn't your 

 company call on me for honey? I could 

 have spared you one thousand barrels at 

 (30 cts. F. 0. B. ; but the Avay you have 

 stirred up the market, 65 cts. F. 0. B. would 

 not get much honey of a fine class." 



The perfectly apparent fact is that today 

 thei-'e is a better market for honey, more 

 competition among buyers, and a better 

 financial prospect before American honey- 

 producers than ever before. 



Has not national advertising of honey 

 and the systematic and busiiiess-like han- 

 dling of honey in new ways by big dealers 

 contributed largely to this happy result? 

 We believe that evei'y beekeeper, every- 

 where, is coming to see this to be the fact. 



THERE HAS been a general impression, 

 Ijartly supported by some investigation 



work, that bees 

 are not necessa- 

 ry for the prop- 

 er p o 1 lination 

 of alfalfa, 

 true that in some 

 some conditions a 



BEES AND 

 ALFALFA 



While it 

 localities 



is possibly 



and under 

 proper seeding can be obtained without 

 bees, the very constniction of the l)los- 

 som itself seems to argue that nature 

 intended that the species Apis meUifica 

 should play an important part in the 

 development of alfalfa seed. An ili3m 

 in a recent issue of the Orchard and Farm, 

 which certainly cannot be said to be preju- 

 diced in favor of the honeybees, goes to 

 show that thev play an inii)ortant part in 

 the work of pollination. 



It has been discovered that the honeybee is of even 

 more importance to the alfalfa than the alfalfa is to 

 the bee. The wonderful strength and speed of the 

 bees take them long distances for their food, and they 

 have recourse to a great variety of ])lants. But the 

 peculiar construction of the alfalfa blossom renders it 

 unable to fertilize itself, and its shape makes cross- 

 fertilization very difficult. In the marvelous " bal- 

 ance of good" in nature, alfalfa, like thousands of 

 other plants, is aided in its lease on life by the insect 

 world. 



It is not known just how many insects or birds 

 assist this remarkable plant ; but the honeybee is the 



mo.s^t conspicuous, the most industrious, the most 

 eager, and, certainly, the most useful. 



Mr. Coburn, in his book " Alfalfa " says that care- 

 ful ob.servations have been made of seed pods grown 

 near colonies of bees, and also of those so far from 

 any bee colonies that it was safely assumed no bees 

 had visited the fields producing the pods. In every 

 case it wus found that those from nearby fields had 

 from 50 to 75 per cent more seeds than the others, 

 and that they were larger and more perfectly de- 

 veloped. In Colorado and Western Kansas, where 

 bee culture has been greatly developed in recent 

 years, it is found that the alfalfa seed crop in fields 

 nearest to bee colonies is much heavier and of better 

 quality than that of fields but a few miles away. 



At the Kansas experiment station a small plot of 

 vigorous alfalfa was covered just before coming into 

 bloom with mosquito-netting supported on sticks. It 

 was, therefore, known that no bees nor other insects 

 could come into contact with the blossoms. Later a 

 careful examination disclosed that the pods which 

 had formed were entirely without seeds. 



When any one makes the statement that 

 one can get se?d without bees he is probably 

 acting under the impression that there are 

 no bees in the locality. But if there is any 

 place in the alfalfa country where there 

 are no bees, where seed is being grown, we 

 should like to have it pointed out. The 

 beekeepers of the country are watching the 

 opening-up of new bee territory every- 

 where ; and as soon as alfalfa is well un- 

 der way bees are rushed into that territory. 



We have run across localities where fruit 

 and seed growers say they do not need 

 bees, becaus?, they aver, there are no bees 

 there ; but in every case we have been able 

 to find them in abundance and proved their 

 presence. The only possible exception 

 would be PejarrO' Valley, California ; and 

 yet even there we found numerous colonies 

 of bees. The apples grown, tlie Bellflower 

 and the Downing, are self-pollinating; but 

 no one can deny that colonies of bees 

 scattered in this valley do have some in- 

 fluence. We cannot get away from the fact 

 that nature, when she builds her flowers so 

 tJiey are just right for the visitation of 

 honeybees, does seek or invite their atten- 

 tion. The special construction of the bees 

 and of tlie flowers themselves shows that 

 slie plans that many of the fruits and prac- 

 tically all the legumes require bees for the 

 proper developiucnt of the seed or fruit. 



SO FAR, this has been an old-fashioned 

 winter. In most localities in the North 



there has been a 



steady c o 1 d — 



neither very cold 



nor very warm. 



There was some 



severe Avinter weather along the last of 



January and first of February; but in all 



probability there will be no great winter 



WINTERING 

 PROSPECTS 



