340 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



June 1, 1899. 



wanted to know what he had in his wagon. His first 

 thought, the young man said, was to answer back it was 

 none of his business, and drive on, but he answered, " It is 

 honey," and the stranger told him it must be spilling out. 

 The young man lookt back, and there the barrel had turned 

 partly over, and was pouring the honey out of the bung- 

 hole into the wagon-bed among the straw, and it was leak- 

 ing in a stream thru the wagon-bed. He saved some of it, 

 what he could, in pails he had along for feeding-back, and 

 righted up the barrel, as it was not quite all spilled out. 



Warren Co.; 111. 



Planting" for Honey— The Clovors. 



BY F. A. SNELL. 



AT the close of fruit-bloom, at latest, the surplus recep- 

 tacles should be in readiness for the crop of surplus 

 honey which will usually come in with the opening of 

 the white and Alsike' clovers. Bee-keepers should see to 

 it that all available space along roadsides and fence-corners 

 is occupied with white, Alsike or sweet clover. Our pas- 

 tures for stock should be well seeded with white or Alsike 

 clover, or a mixture of these seeds. The pasture thus af- 

 forded gives an abundant amount of food, and that of the 

 very finest quality for cattle, sheep or hogs. For the dairy 

 it is an establisht fact, as it has been full)' demonstrated, 

 that a greater amount of milk will be secured from pasture 

 of either white or Alsike than from red clover. 



In an experience dating back into the 60's, I have tested 

 and observed quite closely as to the Alsike. My first pound 

 of Alsike clover seed was bought in 1867, at a cost of one 

 dollar. The seed was sown, and the little plat was a mass 

 of bloom the following season, and I was much delighted 

 with the plat, its beauty and utility. The bloom was cov- 

 ered with bees to an extent I have never seen surpast any- 

 where or any time. From this early planting I have han- 

 dled this clover as pasture and hay, up to the present time, 

 or 31 years. 



I may mention right here that in pasturing upon either 

 white or Alsike clover, I have never known any trouble 

 from cattle bloating, as is often the case when pasturing 

 on red clover. The hay from Alsike clover is of the finest 

 quality, and is relisht by all stock. The stalks are fine, and 

 not woody like red clover hay, so it is all eaten. This clover 

 may be grown alone for seed or food, or sown with timothy ; 

 when with timothy the latter prevents the clover from lodg- 

 ing to quite an extent. In g'ood seasons I have harvested 

 three good loads of Alsike hay per acre. This clover seeds 

 at first blooming, and yields well in seed, which usually 

 brings a good price. As honey-plants the white and Alsike 

 clovers are unsurpast, and every farmer bee-keeper should 

 grow all that can be u.sed to advantage on his farm. 



There cannot be too much done to give us a full bloom 

 for our bees; with the bloom secured, good crops of honey 

 may be had, but if we are negligent we hardly deserve such. 



If the Alsike is mown when just out in bloom, it will 

 bloom later in the season, and thus prolong the honey-flow, 

 which might be desirable when the white clover bloom is 

 profuse earlier. The Alsike is very hardy, and will winter 

 well when red clover is killed out almost wholly. I have 

 never known the Alsike to winter kill in the 31 years that I 

 have had experience with it, which is quite the opposite to 

 red clover, as any one of experience knows. Bee-owners 

 can and should induce their neighbors to grow this useful 

 plant. 



In many localities white and Alsike clover bloom is the 

 only source from which a surplus honey crop is secured, 

 and too much effort cannot be made to secure their growth. 

 The fertility of the land is improved by the growing of 

 clover, which is also of importance to the farmer. The 

 basswood bloom, where that tree is grown, follows that of 

 the clovers, or comes in before the clover bloom ends — in 

 our latitude, from June 25 to July S. 



Of all the honey-producing trees we have, the basswood 

 takes the lead. When conditions are favorable the yield 

 from its bloom is immense. The honej' this tree affords is 

 in quality not equaled, according to my taste, by any other 

 tree or plant. The planting out of the basswood tree along 

 streets, highways, and in groves on our farms, has been 

 sadly neglected. It is high time that all bee-keepers who 

 can do so should be doing this work. Our groves are dis- 

 appearing at a sad rate, and if nothing is done in this 

 direction soon, many of us who have in the past secured 

 good crops of this fine honey will have none at all, which 

 means a good deal, as in some seasons it has been our early 



bloom that gave a surplus. By early is meant during our 

 summer season, in this case. 



Sweet clover is an important honey and pollen produc- 

 ing plant, and is well worthy of culture. There are hun- 

 dreds of acres in every township where worthless weeds now 

 grow, that could be sown to sweet clover, and be of much 

 value to apiarists at least. The farmer bee-keeper would 

 be well rewarded by sowing this for his bees and stock. 

 When stock are turned on it to pasture when young it is 

 fed down and thus kept tender and sweet for the entire sea- 

 son. Were enough sweet clover grown near an apiary 

 the crop of surplus hone)' from this source would, with good 

 weather at blooming time, pay a nice profit. With us not 

 very much is grown, but it helps to keep up brood-rearing. 

 In some localities it is quite extensively grown, and good 

 crops of honey realized. All who can do so should extend 

 their planting of the sweet clover. Carroll Co., 111. 



Italian Bees" Honey vs. that of the Blacks— Bee- 

 Pasturag-e. 



BY G. H. ALLEN. 



I WAS greatly amused when I read Mr. Bates' article, on 

 page 19, on " Why Italian Bees Store Better Honey than 

 the Blacks," and more so when " Stenog," in Gleanings, 

 went so far as to say that it is pretty hard to prove he (Mr. 

 Bates) is wrong, and follows with a long train of reasons. 

 However, I think Cogitator, on page 82, gives the article 

 about its right weight when he admits that Mr. Bates has 

 made some headway, but concludes by saying, " Now, if 

 some one will tell us why black bees store better honey 

 than the Italians — why, then we'll have a mitten on each 

 hand." Now, I am not going to put that mitten on the 

 other hand, but just want to have my say from a practical 

 stand-point,and leave the theory to Mr. Bates and "Stenog." 

 I commenced to keep bees in 1890, all blacks. In 1891 I 

 introduced Italian blood, and since then I have had blacks, 

 Italians, and almost all grades of hybrids, with a sprinkle 

 of Carniolan blood. Now when the honey is capt over be- 

 fore extracting there is no difference in the honey of either 

 strain or mixture. I have never succeeded in getting pure 

 Italians to finish up comb honey equal to the blacks, in 

 color. The Carniolans were fully up to the blacks, and 

 usually high-grade hybrids do first-class work. 



EXPERIENCE WITH HONEY-PLANTS. 



But there are other questions which interest me more 

 than the above, which are discust in the " Old Reliable " 

 from time to time, and none more so than pasturage. I will 

 give my experience with a few of the leading honey-plants. 

 I have tried crimson clover for three seasons, and for this 

 section it is a success, and coming just after fruit-bloom it 

 has proven a great boon to ray bees. I practice sowing in 

 corn at the last cultivation, or with buckwheat. I prefer to 

 have it sowed from June 20 to July 1, as it is not so liable to 

 winter-kill sown this early ; but I have sown as late as Aug. 

 15, with a good stand the following spring. 



Sweet clover yields abundantly here, but grows success- 

 fully only on rich land. (I am just out of the lime-stone 

 belt.) I find the seed propagates best when sown during 

 the winter, and when thus sown it will hold its own in all 

 waste places, provided the ground is rich. Italian and 

 sweet clover I have made pay from a dollar-and-cent point 

 of view. 



I have realized considerable satisfaction in experiment- 

 ing with a few other honey-plants. Alfalfa is a failure 

 here, growing luxuriantly until commencing to bloom, 

 when it turns yellow and dies ; if cut, it will start up green 

 again. 



Spider-plant yields abundantly if the weather is just 

 right, but the care in raising will outweigh the profits. 



I failed to mention Alsike in the above, for aside /rom 

 its honey I would not think of discarding it, for here in 

 mixtures with other grasses it is fully equal to the red, 

 while as a honey-plant it has no equal in this section, ex- 

 cept cottonweed, which here exceeds linden in the amount 

 of nectar secreted, when linden is at its best, and is a much 

 more certain yielder, with a longer period of blooming. I 

 have wondered why it is not more spoken of as a honey- 

 plant ; probably it does not yield in all sections as it does 

 here. 



Pleurisy-root yields scantily here, while Mr. Heddon 

 prizes it highly as a honey-plant. 



Monroe Co., W. Va. 



