604 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Beo JoumaL 



The Siiuflower for Houey. 



ARTHUR TODD. 



I have read with great aud increas- 

 ing interest many articles npon tliis 

 suDject, and there is an aspect of the 

 question that appears to me well worth 

 study, on wliicli I would say a few 

 words. The flow of honey from plants 

 being so largely dependent on climatic 

 influences, should bad weather come 

 at flowering time, tlie honey crop may 

 prove a totnl failure ; but, if the plant 

 chosen for the honey yield has a value 

 totally separate from any honey value, 

 then the failure of the honey crop will 

 not be so serious an item. In any case 

 then the bee-keeper would raise a crop. 

 This consideration has set me think- 

 ing, and liaving read some articles 

 lately upon sunflower cultivation and 

 the cultivation of green fodder plants, 

 1 made some research, and find tiiat the 

 sunflower, which is higlily extolled as 

 a bee plant has a large value in itself 

 as a grain-producing and forage-pro- 

 ducing plant. 1 have copied and sent 

 you herewith some information as to 

 its cultivation and yield that may not 

 be known to the majority of your read- 

 ers. There are plants that are suita- 

 ble for fodder that yield 100 tons and 

 over (when it is cut green) to the acre, 

 the flowers of which are admirable for 

 bees. The borage family produce 

 such. 



If the good farmer cannot consume 

 all his green fodder in the summer, he 

 has only to store it in silos to have his 

 crop available in midwinter, or if near 

 a town he can readily dispose of it as 

 cut. Any beekeeper that plants for 

 his bees, should, in my opinion look 

 well, first to the lioney value of the 

 flower of the plant he plants ; second- 

 ly, the honey crop over, what does he 

 receive from the plant itself V 



Tills subject is one well worthy of 

 ventilation', and as a result we will all 

 enjoy " more light." 



The Sunflower.— a light, rich 

 soil, and as unsliadowed by trees as 

 possible suits it best. It is now much 

 cultivated for its oil and as a food for 

 cattle and poultry. The following di- 

 rections for its culture on a large scale, 

 are applicable on a reduced extent for 

 the garden. . 



The earlier the seed can be got into 

 the ground the better, say the begin- 

 ning of April, as the crop will be ready 

 to harvest by the latter part of August, 

 which will be of the greatest impor- 

 tance to growers. The necessary 

 quantity of seed required for an acre 

 depends upon the condition of the soil, 

 and varies from four pounds to five 

 pounds ; but of course it is advisable 

 to sow a little more than is actually 

 wanted, to provide against accidents. 

 The seed should be drilled into the 

 ground, and the distance from row to 

 row 18 inches, the plants to be thinned 



out to 30 inches from plant to plant, 

 and the number of plants at this dis- 

 tance would be about 14,.500 per acre ; 

 at 18 inches from plant to plant 2-5,000 

 per acre, and at 12 inches from plant 

 to plant, 32,000. The produce of this 

 kind of grain, like that of most others, 

 varies considerably, according to the 

 state of the soil, climate, and the cul- 

 ture that is employed, but the average 

 quantity is about 50 bushels per acre. 

 This willproduce SOgallonsof oil, and 

 of oil cake 1,-500 lbs. The stalks when 

 burnt for alkali, give 1,120 pounds of 

 potash. — /o/wi.son's Dictionary of Gar- 

 dening. 



A well-known large composite plant, 

 yielding an abundance of seeds which 

 are excellent for feeding poultry. It 

 requires a good soil or a clay basis, 

 but it will grow on most tilled lands. 

 It is raised in France for oil, and 

 should be sown broadcast, and thinly, 

 or in rows IS inches apart. It soon 

 gi-ows sufficiently to cover weeds. An 

 acre will carry 2-5,000 plants 12 inches 

 apart, and yield -50 bushels of seeds, 

 and upward of -50 gallons of good oil, 

 valuable for the table, lamps, or soap 

 making. The cake is one of the most 

 nutritious fodders known. 1,-500 lbs. 

 will be obtained from the above crop. 

 Tlie leaves are also eaten by cattle, 

 and the young plants removed in thin- 

 ning, form good provender. The stalks 

 are rich in potash, yielding from eight 

 to ten per cent, of it in their ash. but 

 should be returned to the land as 

 manure. It also contains a large pro- 

 portion of nitre. 



The young plants form as good a 

 crop to" plough in as the Jerusalem ar- 

 tichoke which is indeed of the same 

 genus as the sunflower. — Gardner's 

 Farmers^ Dictionary. 



vSome of the uses of this now popular 

 flower may be enumerated. In France 

 the leaves are used as forage for the 

 cattle, who are said to eat them with 

 great relish and avidity. The stalks 

 make an excellent fuel, and yield a 

 large quantity of potash after they are 

 burned; or if not wanted for that pur- 

 pose, the ashes maybe used as manure 

 by sowing it over the land, or mixing 

 it in the manure heap. 



In Portugal the seeds are used to 

 make a wholesome and nutritious 

 bread, and when roasted, tliev form 

 an excellent substitute for coffee ; in 

 some parts of the Continent a kind of 

 houilli is made of them, which serves 

 as food for infante. They also yield, 

 by expression, a fixed oil, little, if any, 

 inferior to olive oil, which is used in 

 some parts of Europe, both for burn- 

 ing in lamps, and for other domestic 

 purposes to which olive oil is applied, 

 and for making soups. As food for 

 poultry they have been found to be 

 very nutritious. 



One acre will produce .50 bushels of 

 seed, yielding .50 gallons of oil ;ind 

 about 1,-500 lbs. of oil cake, and the 

 stems will yield about 10 per cent, of 

 potash. The pith of the sunflower has 

 been recommended by M. Perry for 

 the preparation of Moxa, for which it 

 is well adapted by the nitre it contanis, 

 enabling it to burn witliout being 

 blown upon. — Journal of HortiaiUwe, 

 London, England. 



Bee- Keepers' Exchange. 



Non-Swarming Strains of Bees. 



E. E. HASTY. 



Some years ago it seemed to me 

 very desirable to develop a strain of 

 bees that would not swarm. The idea 

 was to have them prolific and ener- 

 getic, so ihat anv reasonable iucrease 

 could be obtained at will by dividing, 

 and yet have them so averse toswnrm- 

 ing that all the progeny of a queen 

 would remain and work together, 

 when that course seemed best. Is this 

 practicable V Is it desirable V 1 have 

 come to doubt a little in both points. 

 As it is best to be sure we are right 

 before we go ahead, it may be well to 

 have the matter a little more thor- 

 oughly talked over than it has been 

 heretofore. 



On the second query just let me 

 talk heresy a little. I have been so 

 much at home in the Exchange, almost 

 ever since its commencement, that I 

 believe the boys will bear good-na- 

 turedly with just a little heresy Non- 

 swarming means colonies of immense 

 size, and I do not more than half be- 

 lieve we want them, except for pur- 

 poses of brag. I think that immense 

 hordes of bees, like great masses of 

 men, get in one another's way and 

 waste time. I would expect 40,000 

 bees to store more honey, working as 

 two colonies, than the same bees 

 would working together. I cheerfully 

 confess, however, that I may be utterly 

 wrong in this. And my doubts only 

 extend to the warm season ; in winter 

 and spring 1 am quite willing to have 

 all the bees together we are likely to 

 get together. It is also plain that 

 where there is biitoue principal honey 

 harvest, we do not want the bees to 

 swarm right in the midst of it. Swarm- 

 ing, if allowed, should be reduced to 

 some sort of control. 



As to practicability, it looks at first 

 very simple to get a colony that has 

 not swarmed for many years, and di- 

 vide them and sub-divide them and 

 build them up, until a whole apiary of 

 non-swarming bees is obtained. I 

 have not tried this, nor can I put my 

 finger on any other man who has tried 

 it; but, using the best light that is in 

 me, I should predict that, when such 

 an apiary was once built up, the owner 

 would find his bees swarming almost 

 as bad as other people's l»ees. Success 

 is probably possible in this line ; but 

 it will take a great many years to 

 reach it, I fear. Stirring the lire 

 makes things " bile over." Increase 

 an old, neglected, unprofitable, stag- 

 nant, non-swarming colony to a hun- 

 dred, and perhaps only two or three 

 of that number will show any disin- 

 clination to swarm whatever. These 

 few would then have to be taken as a 

 new starting point, and the apiary 

 built up afresh from them. The sec- 

 ond result woiM probably be the same 

 as the first, except there might be a 

 little increase in the number that were 

 slow to swarm. Asrain, and again, 

 the process would have to be gone 

 tiirough with, gaining the desired re- 

 sult only little by little. Then new 

 blood would have to be brought in, or 

 allowed to come in, else the whole es- 





