514 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The "Gap" in the Honey Season. 



O, for forty acres of sweet clover (melilot) now. 

 to till lip the gap between basswood and the au- 

 tumn flowers that come in August and September. 

 The acre we have tells the true story of what we 

 ought to have.— JAMES IlEIJDON. 



If it was not for the sweet clover, bees would be 

 idle. Still, they keep up their hum of rejoicing 

 from sunrise until dusk, bringing load after load 

 of transparent nectar, that God, in his all-wise 

 providence, causes to be secreted in the bloom of 

 raelilot or sweet clover.— H. W. Garrett. 



We give in this luimber two coni- 

 niunications of especial interest to 

 bee-keepers, either of which will be 

 worth many times the subscription 

 price of the Bee Journal to any 

 apiarist who will protit by the in- 

 formation contained in them. One is 

 by Dr. G. L. Tinker, with "Notes on 

 honey plants," page 517 ; the other by 

 J. G. Steer, subject, " Cultivation of 

 Simpson honey plant (figwort)," page 

 518. Both are highly practicable, and 

 come at a time to allow of the fullest 

 preparation to profit by them. 



In this connection it may be well to 

 remark this season lias been a peculiar 

 one, and just now is the time when 

 the " gap " is occurring between bass- 

 wood bloom and fall honey flowers. 

 In a few localities, particularly Dr. 

 Tinker's, this gap is not so noticea- 

 ble, but, as a rule, tliere is a serious 

 break in the natural bloom wliich is 

 quite damaging to the fullest possi- 

 bility of a honey yield. Fortunately 

 for us, we are in the vicinity of an 

 abundant sweet clover pasturage, 

 which not only supplements the wliite 

 clover harvest, but curtails it by rea- 

 son of enticing the bees from it be- 

 fore tiie nectar has ceased to flow, 

 and even renders basswood scarcely 

 desirable. Wherever sweet clover 

 prevails this season, we anticipate 

 there will be no cessation in the 

 honey yield till closed by tfie advent 

 of winter. With even a moderate 

 amount of it, bees will still keep up 

 their breeding as vigorously as ever, 

 and be in the strongest condition to 

 take advantage of tlie more plentiful 

 fields of buckwheat, goldenrods, as- 

 ters, heartsease, Spanishneedle, ber- 

 gamot, etc. 



We introduce this article with two 

 extracts from this paper. Tlie first, 

 written by James Heddon, gives evi- 

 dence of a deep sense of duty, and a 

 carefully formed opinion, wliich will 

 carry conviction to thousands of read- 

 ers who have been deliberating and 

 waiting for some just such practical 

 authority as Mr. Ileddon to endorse 

 the feasibility of planting for honey, 

 and to suggest what to plant; and 

 thousands will adopt his excellent 

 hint, and in the future thank him for 



his earnest expression. Mr. Ileddon 

 we think will, with the assistance of 

 liis initial acre of sweet clover, have 

 a very satisfactory season's report to 

 make at its close, especially should 

 the weather be favorable for gather- 

 ing from the late flowers. 



Tlie second extract is from a letter 

 by Mr. H. W. Garrett, in New York. 

 His is an expression of gratitude for 

 bounties which are within the reach 

 of all, with the expenditure of a little 

 time and less money. His report comes 

 from a State which lias been peculiarly 

 unfortunate in its realization of a good 

 honey crop. He does not tell us wheth- 

 er his sweet clover was planted es- 

 pecially with a view to the yield of 

 honey or whetlier it is a semi-spontane- 

 ous yield, being a survival and self- 

 seeding from former cultivation for 

 other purposes. 



We feel grateful to Dr. Tinker for 

 demonstrating the value of his golden 

 lioney plant, and especially for the in- 

 formation that if propeny and sea- 

 sonably sown, it will grow and bloom 

 the same season sown. In this, and 

 perhaps this only, it is superior to 

 sweet clover, for many apiarists are 

 too impatient or thoughtless to put in 

 a crop, even with the assurance of 

 large profits, where they have to await 

 the second season before realizing 

 from it, because their profits have 

 heretofore been large and their re- 

 turns speedy. With honey-producing 

 as a specialty, however, the metliods 

 formerly prevailing will all, or nearly 

 all, be clianged ; and in nothing will 

 the change be so radical as in bee pas- 

 turage. To make of bee-keeping a 

 specialty, it will be necessary to pro- 

 vide against the probability of crop 

 failures, and in no way can this be 

 done except by providing a certain 

 and continuous honey flow. It is 

 gratifying to know, that through the 

 efforts and persuasions of the Bee 

 JouuNAL, there are hundreds of 

 shrewd, discriminating, intelligent 

 apiarists in America at the present 

 time experimenting with honey-pro- 

 ducing fiowers, and observing the 

 effects of climate and soil not only on 

 foreign plants, but also on those in- 

 digenous to our own country, and tlie 

 next ten years may see as substantial 

 improvement in this direction, as the 

 past ten have witnessed in quality and 

 appe;irance of product. Not until 

 there are four months of continuous 

 flow will bee-keepers be satisfied, and 

 tills we believe to be as possible as a 

 continuous season of life-sustaining 



vegetables. No bee-keeper is worthy 

 to be styled o)i apiarist, who cannot in 

 the not far distant future point to his 

 cherished bee-pasture, and reckon 

 with some degree of certainty on his 

 season's yield. 



Henry Alley, reports from Massa- 

 chusetts as follows, dated Aug. 9 : 



For 17 days in succession my ther- 

 mometer has been up to 90^ in the 

 shade, and on several days it indicated 

 990 and lOO'J. About everything in 

 the shape of vegetation was dried up. 

 Last night distant thunder showers 

 brought us some rain , and all is clianged 

 this morning. Goldenrod is coming 

 into bloom, and I look for plenty of 

 fall flowers for my bees to feed on. 



Last season we experienced a pro- 

 tracted drought here, but tlie sweet 

 clover never failed us, and tliis sea- 

 son, although wet and cold weather 

 has prevailed, the bees can recognize' 

 no "gap" in the honey flow, but are 

 working merrily when the sunshine 

 allows them to do so. 



i^Just a year ago this week, a 

 small bee paper was started in New 

 England and for .3 montlis it was issued 

 weekly — struggling for an existence. 

 It was then suspended, ' with the 

 promise that after a rest of 2 months 

 it would resume as a monthly. A few 

 were inveigled into subscribing for it 

 for 1882, but only one number has been 

 published this year— and that not un- 

 til April or May. It is therefore safe 

 to conclude it "dead," and this will 

 serve as its "obituary notice." It 

 leaves a few subscribers who have been 

 swindled out of the money advanced 

 for subscription, and sundry debtors 

 "mourn" because of misplaced confi- 

 dence in trusting the publisher. Be- 

 ing one of the "mourners," last men- 

 tioned, we "speak that we do know." 



i^°We notice an advertisement in 

 the Empire Slate Agricidturist which 

 should please even the most ardent 

 cheap queen advocate— offering to 

 "sell" a "beautiful untested Italian 

 queen for fifteen cents!" If cheap- 

 ness in queens is all that is desired, 

 every one should now be happy 1 

 Wonderful bargains ! Prodigious 

 economy ! ! Only 15 cents for a "beau- 

 tiful Italian queen" ! ! ! 



^ Our new location, No. 925 West 

 Madison St., is only a few doors fron> 

 the new branch postofHce. We have 

 a telephone and any one in the city 

 wishing to talk to us througli it will 

 please call for No. 7087— that being 

 our telephone number. 



