THE AMERICAIS BEE JOURNAL. 



611 



Yellow Melilot or Sweet Clover. 



We observe on page GHi of this is- 

 sue, that Mr. Ed. Bertraiul, editor of 

 the Swiss Bulletin d'Apkidteur, pro- 

 poses to cultivate the yellow sweet 

 clover as well as the white. It may 

 be that in Switzerland the bees can 

 obtain nectar from this variety, but 

 we have never heard of its affording 

 bee pasturage in this country. In por- 

 tions of California, Texas and >Jew 

 York we have been informed it grows 

 spontaneously, but the bees do not 

 work on it. We have seen a few speci- 

 mens of it growing in our locality, but 

 always deserted by the bees. With us 

 it blooms some two weeks sooner than 

 tnelilolus alba, and would be quite 

 desirable if a honey-producer. 



abo\it her, but the reverse is a fact. 

 Wlien a swarm begins to issue, if the 

 bee-keeper will place liimself on the 

 sliady side of tlie liive and watch the 

 stream of bees which pour forth like 

 an army througli a gateway, he may 

 see the queen come out, and if in- 



foreign supply. Spain is the only 

 country from which the reports are 

 unfavorable. 



In summarizing tlie result, the 

 Tirties, say.s : "Never, during the 

 time since th<-se reports were collected 

 has tlie harvest in the northern iiemi- 



clined to prove our assertions he may spliere been so good all round. We 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Food for (^eeen Cages.— Speaking 

 of the food used by Mr. I. R. Good 

 and others in queen shipping cages, 

 consisting of honey and sugar, the 

 IndiaiHi, Farmer remarks as follows : 



We have been using tliis kind of 

 candy for several years with the very 

 best results, and have called attention 

 to the matter several times through 

 the Farmer. In the fall of 1S80, in 

 answer to some inquiries we said : 

 " Many of our friends seem to have 

 difficulty in making a candy for queen 

 cages whicli will carry them safely 

 for any length of time v^itliout water. 

 We make ours as follows and have 

 not had a single loss during the sea- 

 son, from this cause. We have 

 part of a barrel of granulated honey, 

 by digging down in the center of 

 which, that around the sides of the 

 barrel becomes very dry. To some of 

 this we add sufficient of • C ' sugar to 

 make a very stiff paste orcaiuly. We 

 add sugar so long as it will hold to- 

 gether. ' A ' sugar will not do so well 

 as the grain seems too hard and dry, 

 and seems more inclined to run, and 

 daub the bees." 



capture and cage her, and put her in 

 liis pocket while he watclies tlie pro- 

 ceedings of the bees. When the 

 throng is circling in the air he may 

 imagine that the bees are searching 

 for her. and will, perliaps, conclude 

 that as they cannot find her they will 

 return at once to the hive ; but no, 

 they will first congregate near a con- 

 venient tree or bush and make a great 

 noise sufficient to attract the atten- 

 tion of her majesty if she were abroad, 

 and tlien they will alight and form a 

 cluster and wait for some minutes, to 

 give her an opportunity of joining 

 them. If now she be taken to them, 

 she will join the mass and all will be 

 well ; if not, the bees, after a short 

 time, will disperse and return to tlie 

 hive. Now this kind of experiment 

 has been so .often proved that it may 

 be taken for granted when a swarm 

 of bees has alighted and afterward re- 

 turned to the hive that the queen vifas 

 not able to join them, or she would 

 assuredly have done so. 



usually have liad to report a deficiency 

 either in Europe or America. This 

 year there is absolutely none. Tlie 

 world has an over average harvest, the 

 year is likely to be one of cheap 

 abundance. 



Preparing 



Indiana Furiner 



Does the (Jiieeu Lead the SwarmI— 



The British Bee Journal says : 



There is an impression prevailing 

 among the uninitiated that the queen 

 of a hive leads off the swarm. but this is 

 by no means tlie ease with first issues, 

 for. as a rule, the queen does not 

 come forth from the hive until the 

 greater part of tlie bees are on the 

 wing. Another erroneous idea in ex- 

 istence is that tlie queen bee is the 

 first to alight upon a branch or a 

 bush, and tliat the bees congregate 



tJliioose from Rags. — The Bevue In- 

 dustrielle states that a German manu- 

 factory is turning out over a ton a day 

 of glucose made from old linen rags. 



Tliese rags, which are composed of 

 hard vegetable fibers, are treated with 

 sulphuric acid wliich converts them 

 into dextrine. The latter product 

 thus obtained undergoes a washing 

 with milk of lime, and is then treated 

 with a fresli supply of acid stronger 

 than the former, when the mass is at 

 once transformed and crystallizes into 

 glucose, of whicli confections, honey 

 and jelly may be made. The process 

 is said to be a very cheap one, and the 

 glucose chemically identical with 

 grape sugar. 



Bees for Winter.— The 



gives the following: 



We should not lose sight of the fact 

 that the most essential point in safe 

 wintering is plenty of voung Ix'es. 

 More can be done in the monlli of 

 September to aid bees in prep.iring 

 for successful wintering than can sub- 

 sequently be done. Tliequeen should 

 be kept fjreeding all of this month if 

 possible. Bees bred after this lime 

 are perhaps the only ones that survive 

 the winter, thereftue, it is of the liigh- 

 est importance that the queen should 

 have plenty of room, to the end that 

 the colony will he strong in young 

 bees. When tlie season for honey 

 gathering is over and the weather be- 

 comes cooler, bees will not rear brood, 

 or but very little. If you ha.ve not 

 already done so, examine each hive 

 carefully and learn the exact condi- 

 tion in which it is, and if any are defi- 

 cient in stores feed at once and in 



sufticientquantitv to last them through 

 the winter. 



The Harvest of the World.— From 



the London J'i'mts we clip the follow- 

 ing summary of the harvest of the 

 World : 



As regards French wheat, the re- 

 sult is already known. Maize is good 

 in 2o departments, and very good in 

 two. as against good in seven depart- 

 ments only ladt year. Rye shows a 

 similarly favorable contrast. Barley 

 shows a slighter improvement. In 

 Great Britain 414 inquiries have been 

 sent to farmers, asking their opinion 

 on the growing crops. The replies, 

 taking 100 as representing an averge 

 crop, show the following result 

 Wheat, 92.2 ; barley, 95.4; oats, 105.1 

 roots, 107.1 ; potatoes. 96.4. This may 

 be compared with last year's hgures, 

 which were as follows: Wheat, 90; 

 barley, 110 ; oats, 00 ; roots, 80, and po- 

 tatoes, 98. The wheat crop will pro- 

 bably be 10,000,000 quarters for con- 

 sumption, leaving 14.000.000 quarters 

 for which we shall be dependent on 



Peculiarities of Bees.- The Gazette 

 des Animuiix publishes the following 

 about the sciology of bees : 



It appears that the monarchies of 

 bees, well-governed as they seem to 

 be, are afllicted nevertheless by organ- 

 ganized criminal classes— sneak-thief 

 and highway robbers. Some of these 

 robber bees go in strong bands to pil- 

 lage and are able to storm and sack a 

 hive. After the slaughter they carry 

 all the provisions home. Some colo- 

 nies of bees never work • they live 

 entirely by robbery and murder. 

 There are also sneak-thieves who 

 creep unperceived into strange hives 

 to steal honey. If successful they re- 

 turn afterward, with hordes of burglar 

 bees, break ojten the honey-safes, and 

 carry away the contents. 



The Honey Harvest in SwitzerlaiicL 



—The Bulletin d^ Apiculture, remarks 

 as follows on the subject : 



The season of 1882 will probably be 

 counted as a bad one by our bee-keep- 

 ers. The first crop was pretty good 

 in some of the valleys, small in others 

 and almost nollung in the cantons of 

 Fribourg and .Soleure, as well as is in 

 the Alpen Vaudoises. They write to 

 us from Lausanne that their gather- 

 ing IS very poor, and that the swarms 

 have been very few. We greatly fear 

 the second crop, where they generallv 

 have one, will still be worse than that 

 f July. 



