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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 18, 



might sell her hay and thereby swell the weasel-skin, then 

 you would have a a parallel case. 



Mr. McArthur says the main object of bee-keeping is to 

 put dollars in our pockets. While I believe every bee-keeper 

 desires to receive a just remuneration for time and money ex- 

 pended, I hardly think the chief attraction is the greed for 

 gold. For surely no other field gives more uncertain and 

 varying returns than bee-keeping. Few, if any, of our fra- 

 ternal friends who could not reap a richer harvest along other 

 lines, with the same persistent energy and perseverance. The 

 fascination of bee-keeping is not to be reckoned in dollars and 

 cents. Dr. Miller said he never was happier in his life than 

 last fall, notwithstanding his average per colony, according to 

 the Progressive sleep-walker, was not more than % of an 

 ounce! Now, if he had strangled his bees, a la McArthur, 

 and had taken their winter stores, he might have had a snug 

 fistful of dollars to put in his pocket ; but the bee-keepers 

 would never have had that happy expression from the Doctor. 



The genuine, enthusiastic bee-keeper has a strong at- 

 tachment for his bees, be it due to over manipulation and fos- 

 tering care in breeding up to strong colonies ; if otherwise, 

 the affection does exist, and I feel sure it will ever be strong 

 enough to shield them from the strangling fumes of the sul- 

 phur-pit. The combination of honest labor and economy, as 

 we find it in the hive, is deserving of a more fitting reward. 



Franklin, Pa. 



A Plea for Planting for Honey. 



BY R. S. RUSSELL. 



I have a few trees of what is known here as " sugar 

 haugh," and I admire them very much, both for their bloom 

 and fine fruit. They bloom here about six days before poplar, 

 and 10 days after all other fruit-bloom is gone, and the fruit 

 ripens at the beginning of winter. They are wonderful bear- 

 ers of wormless fruit of good quality. As they bloom in the 

 midst of our greatest honey-dearth, they are greatly appre- 

 ciated by the bees, and they swarm on them until you would 

 think the flowers would be ruined. 



The tree resembles the white thorn somewhat, yet it is a 

 much finer tree, with less thorns, and is evidently a stranger 

 from the far north, as it is not plentiful, and of different 

 character from any varieties I have ever seen. The fruit 

 ripening so late in the season, I think it deserves a position 

 with our greatest honey-plants. I hope I am not too enthusi- 

 astic, yet I am one of the apparently few who believe fully in 

 planting for honey, if we hope to continue in the business and 

 produce the finest quality of honey, and I can only view it as 

 a crime against our industry for teachers and professors to 

 still be declaring, from many parts of the world, that same 

 old, old theory, the very conditions of which have passed, 

 never to return, a generation ago, that "It does not pay to 

 plant for )ioney alone." 



Perhaps 75 years ago, with our boundless forests of 

 honey-producing trees and rich vegetation, the assertion may 

 have been correct, and if so then, there is no evidence to sus- 

 tain it at this time. I think it is high time this old theory 

 should have prompt treatment, and our people urged by every 

 means the importance of planting, and if possible improving 

 and multiplying our honey-plants until honey-dearths and 

 failures will cease to be recorded. 



We all love the "old reliable" American Bee Journal, 

 and think that it is the greatest "honey-plant" of all. I 

 think it should be planted first of all in every bee-keeper's 

 library in the land, as it is running over with the richest of 

 "nectar" every week in the year. Zionsville, Ind. 



JI^ See " Bee-Keeper's Guide " offer on page 463. 



CONDUCTED BV 



Rev. Emerson T. Abbott, St. •7osep2i, AXo. 



S'weet Clover— Is it a 'Weed?— " Sweet clover 

 is a sort of a weed." — Editorial note in Gleanings. 



How is this, anyway ? Let us see. A weed, according to 

 Webster, is, "A plant growing In cultivated ground to the in- 

 jury of the crop or desired vegetation, or to the disfigurement 

 of the place ; an unsightly, useless, or injurious plant." Ac- 

 cording to this definition sweet clover is not even a "sort of a 

 weed," for it is neither unsightly, useless, nor injurious ; but 

 ou the other hand has been proven a profitable crop both as a 

 forage-plant and as a fertilizer of the soil, and what delicious 

 honey the bees do gather from its flowers ! 



While I am on this subject I want to say a word for alfal- 

 fa. A friend, who lives in northwest Missouri, said to me a 

 few days ago that his alfalfa was the only thing which had 

 stood the severe drouth, which, until a few days ago, we have 

 been having, and that it would produce a good crop of hay. 

 Since it is one of the finest honey-plants in the world, I think 

 it will pay farmer bee-keepers to try a small patch of it, and 

 see if it will not do as well for them. 



I fully agree with Dr. Miller that it would be a good plan 

 to sow the " hog lots," which produce nothing but dog-fennel, 

 with sweet clover, alfalfa, or some other useful plant. If all 

 the waste land of the country could be made to produce some 

 nectar-yielding plant, how much the honey would add to the 

 annual income of the country ! Perhaps many do not realize 

 what a large portion of the land of the country is unculti- 

 vated. I quote from the Report of the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture for 1893 : 



" Of the total country only 18 per cent, is improved. The 

 better developed eastern part (east of Colorado) shows only 29 

 per cent, improved, and even the long-settled Atlantic coast, 

 which we are apt to consider fully occupied, still possesses 65 

 per cent, of unimproved land." 



Allowing one-half of this to be woodland, there is yet 

 plenty of room for sweet clover, even if it were a useless weed 

 aside from honey-production. 



Manual for the Study of Insects.— There is 

 no more interesting subject for study than the habits of in- 

 sects, their life history, method of development, food, etc. To 

 those engaged in rural pursuits, the science of entomology has 

 a double value on account of its economic bearing. To know 

 the insects that are injurious, and those which are helpful to 

 man is of great practical utility. I feel sure the readers of 

 the Bee Journal will deem it a special favor to have their at- 

 tention called to a reliable work treating of this subject in 

 such a way that it can be understood, not only by the student, 

 but by the average man or woman in the ordinary walks of 

 life. 



Such a work has been prepared by Prof. John Henry 

 Comstock, of Cornell University, and his daughter, Anna 

 Botsford Comstock. It is published by the Comstock Publish- 

 ing Co., of Ithaca, N. Y., and sells for §3.75; postage, 32 

 cents. It contains over 700 pages and hundreds of illustra- 

 tions, and a series of analytical tables by means of which the 

 family to which any North American insect belongs can be 

 determined. Send to the publishers for sample pages, which 

 will give you a clear idea of its great value. 



One cannot have too many such books. During the long 

 winter evenings, when time seems to drag heavily on their 

 hands, many farmers' sons and daughters would find both 

 diversion and information in a work like this. Children will 

 learn useful things just as quickly as they will useless, if only 

 the same opportunity is given them. Education is largely a 

 question of early environment. 



Bee-Culture Fairly Profitable. — " Unquestion- 

 ably it is a fact that bee-keepers' proSts are considerably cur- 

 tailed to what they were a few years ago, but I am very far 

 from endorsing the opinion that bees cannot be kept at a prof- 

 it ; indeed I would go so far as to say that it is the most prof- 

 itable industry the cottager can engage in, providing that a 

 fair amount of care and attention is given at the proper time 

 (not necessarily always meddling and fussing with them) and 

 that he leaves to others the experimenting with the many 

 new fads and theories, and is content to conduct his apiary, 

 be it large or small, on commercial principles, with the maxi- 



