390 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 20, 



see how the more nutritious plants will supplant the wild 

 weeds and grasses, and white clover is sure to come in in 

 abundance, but would show itself much sooner if a little seed 

 was scattered about. It is coming to be pretty generally ac- 

 cepted among the more advanced or intelligent farmers, that 

 the order " Legurainosse," to which belong the clovers, beans, 

 peas, etc., have the power of taking nitrogen from the atmos- 

 phere by its leaves, or from the soil through its roots, and con- 

 verting it to its own use. With the far-reaching taproot of 

 the clovers, to bring the mineral elements from the subsoil, 

 they are recognized as the most economical means of return- 

 ing many worn-out fields to their original fertility. 



As we look about our farms, we find, comparatively 

 speaking, a very small percentage of Alsike clover cultivated 

 ■ — certainly as much, if not more, valuable as a fodder-plant 

 than the coarser red varieties, making a much finer hay, and, 

 what 1 have seen of it, not losing its leaves in making, to such 

 an extent as the red varieties, but as a honey-plant it takes its 

 place next to white clover, being superior in every way to the 

 red. 



The scarlet or Italian clover is now coming into promi- 

 nence as a bee-plant as well as a new fodder-plant, and the 

 testimony of the majority is not yet entirely in its favor, as it 

 is certainly not as hardy nor as robust as our common varie- 

 ties, but in the South these qualities may recommend it. I 

 grew it in 1870 as an ornamental plant, and also grew quite 

 a plat as an experiment, comparing its value with other forage 

 plants and grasses, but did not find it very attractive to the 

 bees, and did not consider it at that time as of any value as a 

 honey-plant, but we can form no opinion of the value, or 

 otherwise, concerning any plant, of its honey-bearing quali- 

 ties, without we can see it growing more than one season, as 

 bee-keepers in all localities find that certain years their most 

 important honey-plants fail to secrete or furnish nectar, al- 

 though their blossoms are just as plentiful. 



There are two varieties of clover — the Trifolium agrarlum, 

 and the rabbit foot, Trifolium arvensis — that are of no value, 

 as I have never seen a bee upon either of them, neither cattle 

 nor hogs feeding upon them in a pasture. 



It is becoming common in some localities to sow oats and 

 Canada peas together, and the pea-blossoms are yery attrac- 

 tive to the bees. There are also many plants which supply 

 more or less honey, that we could encourage the growth of, 

 by using a little effort in disseminating the seeds. 



The sweet clover — melilotus — will become readily natur- 

 alized by the roadsides and in waste-places, by scattering a 

 'ew seeds in favorable localities as we pass by. It not only 

 tarnishes flowers, but a continuous supply much longer than 

 the majority of plants. The mignonette and many of the mint 

 family add to our variety of honey-bearing plants ; also the 

 giant spider flower, Oleoma pungens; and the Rocky Mountain 

 bee-plant. Oleoma integrlfolia cou]d be easily introduced, the 

 former becoming naturalized from the first, and reseeding it- 

 self, and, further, is greatly admired by many as an ornamen- 

 tal plant. These and a host of other honey-bearing plants 

 useful for ornament would be largely grown if we would take 

 pains to give the seed to our flower-loving friends. 



Attleboro, Mass 



^ 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



Licking Up Leakage. — The advantage of escapes men- 

 tioned by Mr. Dadant on page 357, namely, getting the bees 

 to lick up the leakage caused by breaking apart burr-combs, is 

 one not to be despised. It may not be generally known, how- 

 ever, that the same end may be reached more easily without 

 the escape. Just pry up the super, honey-board, or whatever 

 Is over the burr-combs, and then let it instantly back in place. 

 The bees will clean up the honey so the burr-combs will come 

 off just as dry as though an escape had been used. 



Unqueening. — Out of respect for Father Langstroth, who 

 is, I believe, the originator of the word, I think we should 

 say M?iqueen and not tk-queen. Removing the queen at swarm- 

 ing-time, as mentioned by C. H. Chapman, page 368, has been 

 practiced with more or less variation by a number of bee-keep- 

 ers, especially in New York State, and it would be interesting 

 if Mr. Elwood, or some one else, would tell us whether it is 

 now practiced as much as formerly. I practiced it at one time 

 quite extensively, but gave it up. I think others may have 

 been more successful. 



It is only fair to say to novices that one part of the pro- 

 gram is very difficult of execution. Friend Chapman rightly 

 puts emphasis on the word ev&ii each time he says " remove 

 every queen-cell." Now that's one of the things I never could 



be entirely sure of doing. I might think 1 was specially in- 

 efficient in that direction, but I am inclined to think the aver- 

 age bee-keeper would have the same difficulty, from the fact 

 that my assistant with a very sharp pair of eyes also failed at 

 times. It is not so very difficult to find the cells that had been 

 started before swarming, or pre-constructed cells, but the 

 post-constructed cells, or those started from larvae in worker- 

 cells after the first cutting out, are sometimes so well hidden, 

 or so slightly raised above the general surface of the comb, as 

 to be very difficult of detection. 



I wish Friend Chapman and others would tell us how 

 many times, if any, they have failed to find every cell. 



FoLLOwEKS. — On page 362, Bee-Master objects to the use 

 of followers on account of their awkwardness, but says the 

 awkwardness may be owing to his stupidity. I don't believe 

 it's his stupidity, but his not being used to it. I didn't believe 

 in followers, but at one time I had to use followers for the 

 sake of making the room for the frames a' little smaller, and 

 after once getting used to them I wouldn't like to be without 

 them. But I must confess that I have hives with Hoffman 

 frames in which the followers are a good deal worse than 

 awkward. There is so little spare room that it is easier to get 

 out a frame first than to take out the follower first. With the 

 right amount of room it is easy to take out the follower, and 

 when that is out there is no trouble about getting out the 

 frames. 



That Michigan Law. — I wish Bro. Hilton would tell us 

 whether there is not some mistake about that law mentioned 

 on page 304:, making it a crime to have a colony of bees with- 

 in 90 feet of the highway. Somehow it doesn't seem to tally 

 with the intelligence of the Wolverines. 



Smoking Bees. — I hesitate to " talk back " to a veteran 

 like Dr. Brown, but. Doctor, you use more smoke than I do 

 before opening a hive. (See page 365). One puff at the en- 

 trance, and immediately I commence taking off the cover. 

 But then I use more smoke at the next stage, for I don't wait 

 to see whether the bees " show a desire to come up," but give 

 them smoke on top just as soon as the cover is raised. I 

 doubt if you mean that you wait a full minute of 60 seconds 

 before giving the second smoke. Sometimes that would mean 

 a whole hour in a day, which could hardly be afforded. 



Piping of the Queen. — "Done by the wings," says Dr. 

 Brown, and perhaps that is the general teaching, but Cheshire 

 says : " It is certain that the wings are not concerned in its 

 production, since queens clipped so vigorously that not a ves- 

 tige of wing remains can be as noisy as others." He thinks 

 the stridulation is produced by the third and fourth abdominal 

 plates. 



Temper and Headache. — There goes Dr. Peiro again 

 with his inconsistencies. On page 8 i he says temper causes 

 headache, and then instead of advising to get rid of the tem- 

 per, he says : " Keep your temper !" I hope my wife won't 

 see what he says about hot water and soda curing the temper, 

 for I don't like hot water and soda. Marengo, III. 



Bees and Fruit-Bloom — Extracting Honey. 



BY MRS. L. HARRI.SON. 



Woman-like, I want to put in a word in answer to the 

 question, " Do bees work on strawberry blossoms?" My ob- 

 servations, with reference to bees pollenizing strawberry and 

 blackberry bloom, is confined to a small garden plot, and may 

 not have much weight. I saw a bee in Florida last winter 

 working upon the strawberry bloom, in a half-hearted sort of 

 a way ; and occasionally in Illinois I've seen them do the same 

 thing. Now one bee-keeper may make the assertion that bees 

 never work on strawberry bloom, basing his opinion upon his 

 observations in his own locality; and another, in a distant part 

 of this great land of ours, say that they do, and both be cor- 

 rect, as their observation goes. In a land where there is not 

 sufficient frost to destroy insects, bloom is not so dependent 

 upon honey-bees for poUenization, as where there is. A few 

 years since the assertion was made, that bees never work upon 

 corn. I've seen them work upon sweet-corn for days, gather- 

 ing the sweet juice that exudes from the axils of the leaves. 

 In northern Vermont, the tassels of corn yield much more pol- 

 len than in central Illinois. 



When the golden-rod blooms in central Illinois the nights 

 are usually hot, without dew, and no nectar is secreted ; while 



