246 



THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



liquid substance I believe to be lioiiey. 

 After all, it may be that pollen is the 

 cause. Bees are badly diseased in 

 this section. If bees could be win- 

 tered on clover, basswood or rasp- 

 berry honey, they would not be af- 

 fected withdysentery. 

 Ubly, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Cuba. 



A. W. OSBURN. 



On page 2-5, is a most worthy article 

 from the pen of Samuel Simmins, on 

 " The Coming Bee, Pure Mating, etc." 

 While I agree with Mr. S. upon the 

 sources that we are to look for, for 

 the "coming bee:'' yet, I am obliged 

 to state how widely different has been 

 my experience, in relation to the dis- 

 tance queens usually go, to mate. I 

 will give one year's experience as 

 evidence: In ISSl, while in Califor- 

 nia, we had 270 colonies of bees ; 27 

 pure Italians, 243 blacks and hybrids. 

 I reared, that summer, 243 Italian and 

 Syrian queens, and introduced one to 

 every hive, that had formerly had 

 black and hybrid queens. 



About 2>2 miles from our apiary, 

 were 280 colonies of all Italian bees. 

 Remember in onr own apiary there 

 was 243 black and hybrid colonies 

 against 27 Italians. Now, for the 

 mating of our queens. 'When, in the 

 fall, the progeny of all the young 

 queens were old enough to fly. I took 

 pains to count all queens that pro- 

 duced bees that were not 3 banded : 

 and iust 3 queens, only, had mated 

 with black drones : 240 producing as 

 fine 3-banded bees as any one would 

 wish to see. Now, is it natural to 

 suppose that the 27 colonies of Italians 

 produced all the drones ; and ihat the 

 243 black and hybrid colonies produced 

 none at all '? I think not ; if it proves 

 anything, it proves that queens, when 

 all conditions are favorable, that for 

 choice, they go away from their own 

 yard to mate. 



In my opinion, the important con- 

 dition to be considered, is the climate 

 in which the bees are located. As it 

 is conceded, by all close observers, 

 that bees are good judges ot what the 

 weather is to be for the next few 

 hours, with me. it is natural to sup- 

 pose that " her majesty," wlien she 

 wishes to go on her bridal tour, has 

 not the slightest objection to traveling 

 a mile or so further, if, in her judg- 

 ment, there is no danger of l)eing 

 caught in a thunder storm, before she 

 could return ; and in no country, that 

 I know of, could the last named con- 

 ditions be more favorable than in Cal- 

 ifornia. For they seldom have any 

 rain there from April to November. 

 "Whether my suppositions, as to the 

 real cause of our queens going away 

 from home to mate, is correct or not. 

 the result was precisely as I have 

 stated it. 



But this is only one instance. I 

 never have been located since then, 

 so I had not as good an opportunity 

 to test this question of queens mat- 

 ing, as I had that summer. In my 

 last article, I made a statement, that 



I am forced to retract. I said : "I 

 never expected to see honey flow in 

 Cuba as I had seen it flow in the 

 North, and in California." Now, I 

 am disposed to give Cuba credit for 

 all that is justly her due, and in doing 

 that, I am compelled to say that, in 

 my opinion, there is no country tliat 

 can equal this for bee-keeping. 1 have 

 been here a little over 3 months, and 

 it has been one continual honey flow, 

 and the end is not yet ; for there is no 

 " let up " to the flowers, or to the 

 amount of honey coming in. 



I assure you that when colonies 

 store their -30 pounds of honey a week, 

 continually, it is no mean country for 

 beekeeping; and that is what our 

 strong colonies have been doing, and 

 are still doing. But we are rearing 

 queens and dividing now, and from 

 this on, there will be an end to storing 

 honey for surplus. 



It is the intention to ran this Home 

 Apiary to 600, if not 1 ,000 colonies ; 

 and after the last three months ex- 

 perience, I cannot see how it is possi- 

 ble to exhaust the supply, even with 

 1,000 colonies in one yard. "We are 

 making calculations to that effect, 

 with one 4-frame extractor on hand ; 

 and the proprietors have ordered 

 another with capacity for 6 frames : 

 sheets, honey-house, and evaporating 

 tank in the same proportion ; of the 

 evaporating tanks, they have two that 

 hold 400 gallons each. The pioneers 

 and owners of this great enterprise, 

 are two brothers, J. and P. Casanova, 

 Americanized Cubans, who have 

 amassed large fortunes by their en- 

 ergy and integrity ; and with progres- 

 sive views as broad as their wealtii. 



San Miguel, Cuba, Jan. 24, 1884. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Sweet Clover for Stock Pasture. 



C. L. GAY. 



Several miles from the city of Mont- 

 gomery, Ala., on what is known as 

 the " old Tarver Plantation," we find 

 the origin of this valuable plant in 

 America. The seed being first im- 

 ported and deposited there, these in 

 turn producing their seed, and being 

 borne by the wind until traces of it 

 can be found in almost any portion of 

 the prairie belt of Alabama. Yet, 

 the interest which long since should 

 have been turned to it. is just now de- 

 veloping itself. Our farmers are be- 

 ginning to realize the fact that large 

 advances and no cotton, in return, is 

 unprofitable. Their attention is more 

 directed to diversified farming, and to 

 all farmers— prairie farmers especially 

 — this subject of melilot is one of im- 

 portance. Early in the fall this plant 

 may be seen to be putting in its ap- 

 pearance for the winter, attaining to 

 the heiglit of several inches by Jan- 

 uary, Tf left unmolested. In this 

 climate it being the only green plant 

 to act as food for stock during our 

 severe winters. 



An enterprising farmer sees his 

 chance for an early spring hay cut- 

 ting, and preserves it ; even after 

 once being cut at its best, the rem- 

 nants are sufficient to volmitarily re- 



plant the spot. Yet. to keep a good 

 stand it should be replanted every two 

 or three years. In fertile, or poor 

 prairie spots, I have seen tliis plant 

 reach the height of 12 feet from the 

 top to the ground. Its branches 

 spread in every direction from the 

 main stem, shooting forth in the 

 same manner as the branches of the 

 cotton plant, tapering in pyramidal 

 form from the tip of the lower 

 branches to the top. At this age, or 

 before attaining its full growth, it 

 begins to blossom, and this is its beau- 

 tiful feature, furnishing one of the 

 most fragrant odors. This is the 

 cause of the fondness stock have for 

 it. At all times having a sweet odor, 

 and imparting a fine taste. 



Again, during the honey season, the 

 busy bee seeks the cavities of its blos- 

 som, and from it extracts the sweets 

 which impart the most delicious taste 

 to honey. Early in the fall, the seed 

 begins to mature, and is ready to be 

 gathered about the first of September. 

 One other important point : possess- 

 ing only a tap root it penetrates deep 

 into the soil, and thereby is not af- 

 fected by the dryest of summers. The 

 principal difficulty is the gathering of 

 its seed; they being so small. Yet 

 they are gathered faster by the so- 

 called art of stripping. At this writ- 

 ing it is five inches high, and giving 

 the sheep a send off. During the 

 month of April, I will plant, and get 

 a fine cutting of hay, or preserve it 

 for seed. Again in August I will 

 plant for my winter crop. At an 

 early date I shall begin to cut the hay 

 for another winter s supply. As a 

 hay it ranks with the foremost, still 

 retaining after cut, its fragrant odor. 

 Of course it should be cut during its 

 most tender age ; between the heights 

 of 12 and 25 inches is considered the 

 best. 



In conclusion, I will say, there is no 

 plant that can be employed to such an 

 advantage, and made toserve so many 

 purposes on tlie farm, as melilot. 



Montgomery, Ala., March 31, 1884. 



Fur the American Bee Journal, 



The Swiss "Wax Extractor. 



OSCAR F. BLEDSOE. 



No work connected with the apiary, 

 is more important than the rendering 

 of wax ; and, as I have had some 

 practical experience in it, I will, for 

 the benefit of others, give the same. 

 With the first supplies I purchased 

 for my apiary, I bought a Sw'iss "Wax- 

 Extractor ; the one commonly adver- 

 tised for sale. After repeated, and 

 vexatious trials, I found that the ma- 

 chine did not serve its purpose per- 

 fectly, for the following reasons : 



1 . The comb basket is too small ; and 

 as the the interstices through which 

 the wax flows, are also small, it be- 

 comes a very tedious process to get 

 the wax from a large quantity of comb. 

 It is very troublesome to empty the 

 comb basket often ; and streaks of 

 wax may almost always be found in 

 the refuse. 



2. The receptacle in which the comb 

 basket rests, prevents the direct ap- 



