All"-. 24, 1S99. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



537 



forage-plants. Its rank then is as a useful plant, capable 

 of increasing fertility of land. 



How shall sweet clover be treated '.' The plant is the 

 farmer's friend, to be utilized and not to be outlawed. The 

 plant grows and spreads rapidh'. So do red clover, white 

 clover, timothy, blue-grass and other forage-plants, but 

 sweet clover grows where they do not. Its presence indi- 

 cates lack of condition for the others. Viewed in this way 

 it is to be treated as preparing unfitted lands for other 

 crops. It may be mowed a short time before coming int^i 

 bloom and cured for hay. Stock will thrive upon it if con- 

 fined until accustomed to it. The roadsides, if taken when 

 free from dust, may be made almost as profitable as any 

 other area in clover bj- cutting- the sweet clover and curing 

 for hay. If this is regularly attended to while stock is kept 

 from other lands that it invades, sweet clover will be found 

 doing always the good work for which it is adapted. 



We welcome the aid of the farm papers in the eft'ort to 

 acquaint the agricultural public -ivith the many values of 

 sweet clover. Some have been foolish enough to call it a 

 "■ weed."' Pretty good sort of weed, isn't it ? 



In many localities this j-ear no honey at all would be 

 harvested were it not for the sweet clover. It is not only 

 the bee-keepers' chief dependence, but the farmer's ever-pres- 

 ent and reliable friend. It will pay to cultivate its ac- 

 quaintance, as well as the plant itself. 



Serenading Swarms with Tin Pans. — A correspon- 

 dent says that the old custom of serenading- swarms with 

 tin pans originated from an old act of the ISnglish Parlia- 

 ment, giving- a person a right to follow his swarm i^rovided 

 he rang- a bell, or drummed on a tin pan, to give notice that 

 he (the owner) was after the bees. This old act was past 

 something like a thousand years ago, and during the cen- 

 turies since it is evident that the original purpose of the 

 drumming was lost sight of, and that subsequent genera- 

 tions came to the conclusion that the serenading induced 

 a sort of spell on the bees, causing them to cluster so they 

 could be captured. — Glesnings in Bee-Culture. 



The Philadelphia Convention, to be 



held Sept. .?, 6 and 7, in Franklin Insti- 

 tute, 15 South 7th Street, between Market 

 and Chestnut Sts.. promises to be the best 

 ever held bj' the United States Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, if we may judge b_v the 

 excellent program arranged for the occa- 

 sion. Also in view of the low railroad 

 rates guaranteed to every one going- to 

 Philadelphia, Sept. 1 to 4 inclusive, there should be a verj' 

 larg-e attendance. The editor of the American Bee Journal 

 and Dr. C. C. Miller, with other bee-keepers, will g-o over 

 the Pennsylvania Lines, beautiful illustrations of whose 

 entrancing scenery and elegantly equipt coaches we had 

 the pleasure of showing on our first page last week. With- 

 out doubt the Pennsylvania Lines run thru the finest coun- 

 try for .scenic beauty to be fou3id in all the East. 



The Grand Army of the Republic holds its 33rd animal 

 meeting in Philadelphia, Sept. 4 to 9, inclusive. Many bee- 

 keepers are also old soldiers, and likely members of that 

 splendid national organization of war veterans: all such, 

 as well as other bee-keepers, should take advantage of the 

 low rates secured by the G. A. R. people, and be in Phila- 

 delphia during the week of the Grand Army meeting and 

 the bee-keepers' convention. The round-trip rate from 

 Chicago, over the Pennsylvania Lines, is only .flh.4.5. That 

 means you will be given a ride of 1,645 miles. 



The best trains over the Penns5-lvania Lines leave Chi- 

 cago daih' at 3;00 p.m. and at 11:30 p.m. Grand Army rates 

 going are in effect Sept. 1, 2, 3 and 4. We expect to leave 

 on the 3:00 p.m. train Monday. Sept. 4, which arrives in 

 Philadelphia the evening of the next daj' at about 6:00 

 o'clock. We should be pleased to have anj' bee-keepers or 



others west of Chicago go with us on that train. If you 

 desire it, we will be glad to make any advance arrange- 

 ments for )'OU that yovi may wish, so that you can be sure to 

 make connections with the train that leaves Chicago at 3:00 

 p.m.. Sept. 4, or on the one starting at 11:30 p.m. 



Mr. G. M. Doowtti^E, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., reports, 

 as follows for the season of 1899, in the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper for August : 



" Honey crop from basswood short this year. Honey 

 not all oif, but enough so that I can estimate pretty 

 closely that the average will be from 40 to 50 pounds of sec- 

 tion honey per colony." 



# « « « • 



Messks. W. E. H.\tterman and Chas. Beck are two 

 bee-keepers living about ten miles north of Chicago. We 

 called on them Saturday, Aug. 12. Mr. Hatterman has 22 

 colonies run for both comb and extracted honey, and Mr. 

 Beck about 30 colonies for comb honey. He expects to aver- 

 age SO pounds to the colony, and retail it from house to 

 house. The principal honey source this year is sweet 

 clover. Mr. Hatterman thinks he will work for extracted 

 honev exclusively hereafter. 



Mk. R. F. Hor.TEKiMAXN, for many years editor of the 

 Canadian Bee Journal, feeling that he has received a 

 '■call " to go into religious work as an evangelist, has sev- 

 ered his editorial connection with that paper, and will " go 

 wherever there appears to be an open door, to preach the 

 word of God." He so announces in the August issue of the 

 Canadian Bee Journal. We wish him abundant success in 

 his future eft'orts, in a field which likely is not altogether 

 a new one for him. A man can usually do his best work 

 along the line to which he feels specially drawn. 



Pkof. a. J. Cook, of Los Angeles Co., Calif., spent 

 Monday, Aug. 14, with us, when on his way back to his 

 home in the sunset land. We fairly envy tho,se California 

 bee-keepers in having such a man as Prof. Cook among them. 

 We wonder if they really appreciate him. We never before 

 had a good opportunity to get acquainted with him, but 

 now— well, it was a feast to be with him, and we only re- 

 gretted his stav was necessarily so short ; but he had to get 

 back as soon as possible to take up the farmer's institute 

 work which mu.st be done before the term opens at Pomona 

 College, where he is one of the honored instructors. What 

 a pity he could not stay in the East long enough to attend 

 the Philadelphia convention, and thus meet many of his old 



friends ! 



♦ ♦ * * ♦ 



Bargains in Incubators.— It is well known to readers 

 of newspapers that prices generally have been advancing- 

 steadily of late, including those for labor, lumber and 

 metals' of all kinds. As a result, the prices of all manu- 

 factured articles must soon follow suit, including the prices 

 of incubators and brooders. This simply cannot be helpt ; 

 there is no way of getting around it. The Cyphers Incuba- 

 tor Co., Wayland, N. Y., therefore hereby give notice to 

 interested persons that so soon as their new catalog and 

 price-list for 1899-1900 is issued (which will be about Nov. 1 

 to 15) the prices of their incubators and brooders will be in- 

 creast fully 20 percent. All vrho think favorably of buying 

 a strictly first-class incubator this fall or next winter will 

 find it much to their advantage to immediately correspond 

 with the Cyphers Co., in order to obtain what is wanted at 

 the present low prices. The fact is that the Cyphers Co. is 

 in a position, just now, to save a limited number of custo- 

 mers from S7 to $18 net cash, depending on the size of ma- 

 chines bought. For full particulars, address the Cyphers 

 Incubator Co., Box 50, Wayland, N. Y., not forgetting to 

 say you saw their advertisement in the American Bee 

 Journal. 



