1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



22Z 



nutted to him before publication. Botii 

 sides of the matter are now before the 

 rt'.ider. — Editor. 



Ileplyinff to Mr. Horn's facetious 

 pliacelia talli, I am aware that there 

 are several varieties in California — W. 

 A. Pryal says eight — but I think there 

 can be little doubt that what I have 

 luul is tanacetifolia. I got the seed 

 t'vom Otto Liihdorf, labeled "tanaceti- 

 t'lilia," and it is the same that I culti- 

 vated years ago as a window-plant. 

 Mr. Horn says the tanacetifolia is not 

 fragrant there. Neither is it here when 

 grown in the open ground, but when 

 grown as a window plant. 



I have been very anxious to learn 

 the forage value of pliacelia in this 

 countrj% and am still anxious to be- 

 lieve in it if there is foundation for 

 that belief. As to this, Mr. Horn is 

 still "dumb as an oyster," jack rabbits 

 being the only thing he mentions as 

 ^'ating phacelia, but not a word as to 

 lomestic animals. Otto Lnhdorf is 

 very temperate in his estimate, hardly 

 jonsidering it worth cultivating beside 

 ilfalfa. 



That phacelia seed is largely adver- 

 tised in European bee journals hardly 

 proves that the plant is worth culti- 

 vating, even in Europe. Witness the 

 loom of the Chapman honey plant in 

 this country not so very long ago. 

 Nothing is heard of it now, yet it is 

 ■^tjll advertised across the water. 



:\Ir. Horn says reports from Ger- 

 nany are not unanimous, and not so 

 ^ood this year as last. He might also 

 lave added that protests are not 

 ivanting against deceiving the farmers 

 nto planting phacelia as a forage 

 ilant — as for example Pastor Eck in a 

 ate number of Praktischer Wegweis- 

 r, who says it will only redotmd to the 

 njury of bee-keepers. 



Tills year I had a bed of phacelia 

 iliout ten feet square. Bees did not 

 A ork on it as thickly as they ordinarily 

 lo on buckwheat. Horses would eat 

 t if they couldn't get anything else. 

 i'et they might learn to like it; and 

 lossibly the plant did not have a fair 

 ;how, as the bed was sown entirely 

 00 thick. 



Now, Mr. Horn, I hereby challenge 

 'ou in the most war-like manner — 

 nfficiently war-like to suit even so bel- 

 igerent a spirit as yours — to tell us of 



10-acre field of phacelia cultivated as 



forage crop in all California. Never 

 nind the "probably ten thousand 

 ores" in Germanj' (I wonder where 



you get authority for such a statement 

 anyhow V) never mind the jack rabbits 

 and skunks and things, but tell us of 

 just one farmer in California, the orig- 

 inal home of pliacelia, who cultivates 

 phacelia to the extent of five acres for 

 his domestic stock. If you can cite 

 a dozen of them with an aggregate of 

 a thousand acres, it will please me 

 well. C. C. Millei\ 



CONSULT THE RECORDS. 



Studious Research is Both Interesting and 

 Profitable. 



By Arthur C. Miller. 



AS THE LONG winter evenings ap- 

 proach, many a bee-keeper casts 

 about for something to take the 

 place of the bees or begins to lay plans 

 for the next season. At the risk of 

 repeating an old suggestion, I want to 

 point out the value of going over the 

 text books and back numbers of the 

 magazines. Some will say that it is 

 too dry, that they want to go ahead. I 

 know of no more helpful thing than a 

 knowletlge of what progress has been 

 made in the profession in the past. 

 Such knowledge will enable us to at 

 least begin where our ancestors left 

 off; will save many a needless experi- 

 ment and will not only help us ahead 

 more rapidly, but it will assure our 

 making real progress. 



Three hundred years ago Butler 

 knew as much as we do about the 

 possible value of drones as brood 

 warmers, realized the advantage of 

 curtailing tlieir numbers, and devised 

 a trap for catching them. He held 

 much the same opinion as we do ih 

 regard to location of hives, wind- 

 breaks, shades, etc. 



But one need not go so far back to 

 leani the history of the art. Text 

 books of today, as well as those of our 

 fathers, give a pretty complete history 

 so far as it relates to modern practices. 

 A perusal of these, supplemented by a 

 reading of the discussions of various 

 systems, will prove both interesting 

 and helpful 



It may interest some to know that- 

 phacelia, as a honey plant, was dis- 

 cussed fifty years ago; that divisible 

 brood-chamber hives were known and 

 advocated as early as 1803; that the 

 stingless bees of ^Mexico were imported 

 into this country in 1830; that venti- 

 lation, stimulative feeding, artificial 

 swarming, etc., etc., are almost as old 

 as the craft Itself. 



