138 



I notice with satisfaction, wliat you 

 say on page 106; whicli is a fair re- 

 port, but really, altliougli tameuess 

 and hard working are good points, I 

 consider their non-swarming — when 

 given plenty of room— and their being 

 proof aafflinst foul brood, of greater 

 value to honey producers. Just fancy 

 the difference between an apiary of 

 100 stocks, all swarming at once and 

 one you know will work without the 

 least watching. 



Sheffield, England, May 20, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



July 



PHACELIA AS A 

 PLANT. 



FORAGE 



Bv Dr. C. C. Miller. 



I HAVE just read with much inter- 

 est Henry E. Horn's communica- 

 tion, page 53, and hope it may be 

 the indirect means of obtaining the 

 much needed information as to the 

 value of Phacelia tanacetifolia as a 

 forage plant in California. Mr. Horn 

 is not entirely correct in thinking that 

 the value of phacelia as a honey plant 

 was first discovered in Germany anil 

 that only ten or twelve years ago. 

 Long before that time it was men- 

 tioned in Tick's seed catalogue as a 

 great favorite with bees — I think the 

 only plant thus mentioned. Perhaps as 

 much as forty years ago I was famil- 

 iar with the plant, as no doul)t many 

 others were, and en.ioyed seeing the 

 unusual nunil)ors ©f bees attracted by 

 it. I also cultivated it as a window 

 plant in winter for the beauty of its 

 flowers, as also for their fragrance. 

 I think the flowers are not fragrant 

 when grown in the open. 



It never occurred to me to plant it 

 on a large scale, because I knew of 

 no value attached to it except as a 

 beautiful flower and a honey plant. 

 Mr. Horn is right if he gives to the 

 Germans the credit of discovering its 

 value as a forage plant, if indeed it 

 has any such value. I suspect that 

 what he says as to its forage value has 

 been gleaned from the reading of for- 

 eign bee .journals. In them it has 

 been uninterruptedly boomed for many 

 moons. As to its honey value there is 

 but one voice. The song iu its praise 

 as a forage plant, however, has in it 

 discordant notes. The reports of some 

 give it high praise; others contain 

 "its'' and "buts." 



So far as I know, no one yet has 

 ventured to come forward in this 

 country to give any testimony as to 

 its value for forage. The authorities 

 at Washington disclaim any knowl- 

 edge of it. So I am skeptical. I here- 

 by challenge Mr. Horn or any other 

 Californian to produce evidence that 

 stock of any kind care for phacelia, 

 either green or dry as forage. If a 

 number of them will come forward 

 with such overwhelming proof as to' 

 convict me of being a presumptuous 

 ignoramus, it will please me well. But 

 1 have thrown out much the same 

 challenge more than once within the 

 past two or three years, and every 

 one of those California chaps has 

 been dumb as an oyster on the sub- 

 ject. 



It AVould l)e a great thing for bee- 

 keepers if it could be proven that pha- 

 celia is a valuable forage plant on 

 American soil, but — but — 

 Marengo, 111., March 11, 1904. 



INTRODUCING LAYING QUEENSJ 



By Jacob W. Small. 



AS far as my observation and ex- 

 perience go. it is not alone the 

 fact of a new queen being a 

 stranger, that causes the bees to at-j 

 tack and ball her. The more import- 

 ant cause is the smell of the nev 

 queen. 



I have taken a laying queen from a 

 swarm of bees, caged her with some 

 half a dozen of her own bees for a 

 few minutes, and upon liberating her 



