884 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE UUETUliE. 



July 1 



disposed that the end-bars or top-bars will 

 radiate from a common center like the spokes 

 of a wheel are placed as shown in the illus- 

 tration, but in a way perhaps to secure a 

 more direct application of the centrifugal 

 force. 



Without trying the machine I should con- 

 clude it would handle extracted honey like 

 the other model we tested if it were not too 

 thick ; but it is a fact that the honey in the 

 cells nearest the center would have to trav- 

 erse the whole surface of the comb before 

 it could be released, and a great amount of 

 time would be consumed before the comb 

 would be rendered clean. In the case of 

 thick honey the result would be slow and un- 

 satisfactory. 



This machine might be a slight improve- 

 ment over the one that Dr. Miller and I tri- 

 ed, but it would be open to very much the 

 same objection. In the perfected automatic 

 reversible extractors of to-day there would 

 be no particular advantage in having a ma- 

 chine where it is unnecessary to reverse the 

 combs. Even if the principle were practical 

 a 10, 12, or 15 comb machine would be decid- 

 edly awkward and expensive— more so than 

 the present model.— Ed.] 



INCREASING THE PASTURAGE BY SOW- 

 ING SWEET CLOVER. 



The White and Yellow Varieties; Artificial 

 Pollen; How to Feed. 



BY MRS. A. L. AMOS. 



Last October there appeared in Gleanings 

 an illustrated article by John Bodenschatz 

 telling how much he had increased his honey 

 yield by scattering sweet- clover seed on 

 waste land in his vicinity. Gleanings call- 

 ed for a show of hands from those who could 

 give testimony along that line. My own ex- 

 perience is similar to his, in a smaller way, 

 as I have fewer bees. My yield of honey is 

 much greater, and the quality of the honey 

 is very much improved since sweet clover 

 has become an appreciable factor in the 

 honey crop, 



Mr, B. did not say what kind of sweet 

 clover he had; but it is not difficult to infer 

 that his is the white kind, since he spoke of 

 its following white clover. That is the kind 

 to have for those who want it to follow white 

 clover. There is so little white clover here 

 that it cuts no figure in honey production, 

 so I have been busy every spring increasing 

 my acreage of the yellow kind. I grow that 

 instead of white clover. The first few blos- 

 soms usually open near the end of May, and 

 it yields freely all through June. It slack- 

 ens up in its blooming then; but after ma- 

 turing a big crop of seed it begins to bloom 

 again. Putting the time a month later, one 

 might say the same of the white as I have 

 said of the yellow. The bee-keeper here 

 who has abundance of these two clovers is 

 practically independent of any other honey 

 flora, since they supplement each other, and 



together yield honey untiFkilled off late'by 

 freezing weather. 



The honey obtained here from sweetj clo- 

 ver is fine, and I have no trouble at all in 

 selling it at top prices, both comb and ex- 

 tracted. I have these clovers growing on 

 my own farm here around the orchard, and 

 wherever there is a piece of ground availa- 

 ble. And I have also some flourishing patch- 

 es along the roadsides. 



Sweet clover bears transplanting well if 

 taken in early spring. I like to start out 

 armed with a spade and a pailful of plants 

 as well as seed when I try to establish it in 

 new places. I have spent hours that way, 

 and thought the time well spent. 



FEEDING ARTIFICIAL POLLEN. 



My colonies are strong and in good condi- 

 tion this spring. I have been feeding arti 

 ficial pollen for over two weeks. The elms 

 have not yet yielded pollen, but surely will 

 in a day or so. Apropos of this meal- feed- 

 ing, I think I have struck quite an improve- 

 ment on the shallow pan usually recommend- 

 ed. There are objections to that here. We 

 are seldom without a good stiff breeze that can 

 blow the meal, if not the pan, and the place 

 is overrun with these alert foragers the 

 White Leghorn chickens, which are good at 

 finding meal- pans; so this spring I feed in 

 the bottom of a salt-barrel. I feed corn 

 meal and flour, and the bees have used a 

 lot of it. The same meal does quite a while. 

 I sift flour over the top, and stir lightly. I 

 leave the barrel out, simply turning a gal- 

 vanized tub over it at night or during rain. 

 It has been eminently satisfactory to me 

 and the bees. 



Comstock, Neb. 



[Our own observation corroborates the 

 above, to the effect that yellow sweet clover 

 is three or four weeks earlier than the 

 white. Right under our office window are 

 some thrifty sweet-clover plant? two or 

 three feet high. While the white shows no 

 blossom- buds at all. a stock of yellow is in 

 full bloom. While I am on the subjef.t of 

 clovers, several have inquired about Japa- 

 nese clover— whether bees work on it, etc. 

 We have not been able to learn so far that 

 bees are seen on it at all; but our seed-cata- 

 logs tell us it grows all over the South; is 

 valuable for horses and cattle, and also for 

 plowing under. The seed is offered for sale 

 at from 25 to 30 cts. per lb. -A. I. R.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN IDAHO. 



E Schultz's Apiary; the Irrigating Flumes and 

 Sweet Clover. 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



The photos shown are of the Idaho ap'ary 

 of Mr. E. Schultz. The location is a hue one. 

 as there is considerable alfalfa seed raised 

 near by, and the country is cut up by gulch- 

 es which receive the waste water from irri- 

 gation, and support a wonderful growth of 



