1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1499 



with the cover off. from which I took the 

 frame, gave us on an average of hve gallons 

 of extracted honey in six days during the 

 best of our clover season, and this was no 

 more than what we got from others that 

 worked freely out of the upper entrances. 

 While this may not seem like much to some, 

 yet it is good for this locality. We have one 

 chaff hive that will work only from the up- 

 per entrance. We run it for comb honey, 

 allowing them an entrance at the end of each 

 super. They gave me 84 sections of clover 

 honey this season, but we do not make a 

 practice of giving upper entrances for comb 

 honey. 

 Croswell. Mich., Aug. 20. 



A LOCALITY WHERE THERE IS NO 

 HONE^ FR03I WHITE CLOVER. 



A Reply to Dr. Millers Straw. Page 867; 



Only One Load of Honev to Five of 



«Pollen. 



BY ALLAX LATHAM. 



LBy turning buck to the July 1st issue, page 867. the 

 reader will see that Dr. Miller disag-reed with Al- 

 lan Latham, and had a " sneaking belief " that, during 

 a very light tlow from white clover, there may be but 

 one load of pollen to four or five of nectar. Mr. La- 

 tham replied at once, which reply, the doctor felt, de- 

 served a wider reading. This brief introduction, then, 

 will explain the following letter.— Ed.] 



My dear Dr. Miller: — If you would live 

 here in southern New England a year or two 

 your "sneaking belief" would sneak right 

 away. Let me state a few facts: 



I have kept bees 22 years, antl in all that 

 time I have seen bees come home heavily 

 loaded with clover honey but once. There 

 were two days last season when one of my 

 small out-apiaries enjoyed that rare privilege. 

 The combs were glistening with new honey, 

 and there was every prospect of a good crop. 

 There were scarcely any bees carrying pol- 

 len. The wind went into the northwest, and 

 no more honey came from clover. 



In 1896 I produced my only case of clover 

 honey. One colony that summer worked on 

 either red or white clover, and filled 18 sec- 

 tions with most delicious honey. It was just 

 at the time my second child was born: and 

 as 1 was not with, the bees much just then I 

 did not know any thing about the honey till 

 I found it in the sections. In all the 22 years, 

 I have never had even one section of pure- 

 clover honey except those 18. I have har- 

 vested many hundredweight of clover honey, 

 but it was variously blended with honey from 

 many other sources, rarely better than 50 

 per cent clover. 



There was once this past June when the 

 bees could be seen working on white clover, 

 and a few bees were to be seen without pol- 

 len. Again the weather changed, and since 

 then not one bee in 100. 1 venture to say, has 

 carried home nectar from clover without 

 carrying pollen. 



If one doubted this from watching the l)ees 

 as they entered the hive he could watch them 

 on the blossoms. I can tell as they enter the 



hive. It is a simple matter to an observing 

 person to tell approximately what Jjees ai-e 

 working on clover, and, by noting the pollen, 

 get at a good estimate of the numljer carry- 

 ing pollen. 



But, my dear friend, just go to the blos- 

 soms. If you see one hundred bees working 

 on clover and do not see one which is with- 

 out pollen, what say you? If you then re- 

 turn to the hive and see every third bee en- 

 tering with pellets of blackish green pollen, 

 what say you".' If you then open one of these 

 bees and find a drop of honey in the sac no 

 larger than a mustard seed, what say you? 



My kind friend, if 1 were to see one bee in 

 tive going home from clover without pollen, 

 I should gi) into the house and say to my 

 wife: "Well, the bees are getting honey from 

 clover. ■ ■ But four out of five ! Why. I should 

 sit down by the hives and watch the good 

 work go on, and feel happy. 



It may be all locality. I am envious when 

 I read of bees dropping on the ground in 

 front of the hive during a How from white 

 clover. I have seen that happen in the case 

 of maple, apple, hucklelierry, locust, mus- 

 tard, l)uekwheat, sumac, goldenrod. but nev- 

 er in the case of clover. In fact. I have been 

 tempted at times to think that such a thing 

 as a crop of honey from white clover is a 

 myth. 



I hope and pray that before I die I may en- 

 joy the blessing of one good ci-op of honey 

 from white clover: but my faith is so weak 

 that I do not think that my prayers will be 

 answered unless I move out of southern New 

 England. 



But we have the sumac, God bless it. In 

 July the bees revel on that, and the honey is 

 Ijut'slightly inferior to that from white clover. 



I am sorry that the prospects are so poor 

 with you this season. I hope that you will 

 see them better soon. Thus far. except for 

 a hundred pounds of apple- l^hjssom honey, I 

 have seen nothing but some almost unedi- 

 ble dark honey, probably from mustard. 

 Bees have stored from 10 to 50 pounds per 

 colony of this. 



Norwich, Conn., July 4. 



CANE SUGAR RESPONSIBLE FOR 

 MANY KIDNEY TROUBLES. 



A Valuable Point for the Honey-seller. 



BY FRANK W. MORGAN. 



Can somebody tell us through Gleanings 

 whether cane sugar is at all responsible for 

 the large amount of kidney troubles now ex- 

 isting? If it is so (which I think it is), that 

 it is the main cause of said disease, would we 

 not have in the fact a great power to use for 

 the sale of honey and the lessening of the su- 

 gar habit? We are indebted to the cotton- 

 wood-tree for most of the tormenting propo- 

 lis in our l)ee-boxes here. 



De Land, 111., Sept. 4. 



[Believing Dr. Miller to be best informed 



