189b. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



795 



/Vrrjotjg V^^ Bee-Papers 



SOME "STRAY STRAWS" FROM GLEANINGS. 



Hasty says in Review tliat " a hive needs a visible number 

 on it no more than a toad needs a tail." Which makes me 

 thinlj, in view of the confidence I put in Bro. Hasty's judg- 

 ment, that I may have underestimated a toad's need of a tall. 



The editor of the American Bee-Keeper, after attending 

 the Toronto convention, says : "Any one can find fully as 

 much to interest him in almost any single copy of any of the 

 bee-papers as was heard during the entire convention." Pretty 

 poor convention that, measured by some of the bee-papers. 

 [The editor of the American Bee-Keeper has not been at bee- 

 conventions enough, or kept bees enough, to form a proper 

 ■opinion, I suspect. — Editor.] 



York and Hutchinson are favoring a trial of having the 

 North American meet at the same time and place as the G. A. 

 R. That would make low rates sure, and we can stand almost 

 any inconvenience if we can only have railroad rates low 

 enough. [I am with York and Hutchinson. In order to get 

 any kind of attendance we must have it held where low rates 

 will be secured independent of the bee-convention. This I3-3- 

 fare business, as Hutchinson says, amounts to nothing. — Ed.] 



FOUNDATION WITHOUT SIDE-WALLS. 



In writing about foundation there has been much stress 

 laid upon high side-walls. Last year I experimented by mak- 

 ing 250 sheets of brood foundation with 710 side-walls. I made 

 the sheets thin, then set the rolls so as to just shape the cell- 

 bottoms, leaving all the wax in the septum. These sheets 

 were put in wired frames and waxed firmly to the top-bars, 

 and I have a lot of the nicest, straightest brood-combs I ever 

 owned, ihe cost being only 3.j cents per hive. — K. Taylor, in 

 Review. 



SWEET CLOVER. 



Replying to a question as to whether sweet clover yields 

 every year, I would say that no honey-plant gives nectar 

 every season. All of them seem to have their off-years. Yet 

 sweet clover, so far as I can remember, yields some honey 

 every year ; in fact, it seems to be more regularly visited by 

 the bees every season than any other plant with which I am 

 acquainted. Yes, stock eat It; but they have to learn to like 

 it; and when they once acquire the taste for it, they will 

 sometimes browse it down in preference to anything else. It 

 is a biennial. It springs up the first year, but does not yield 

 honey until the second season, and then is visited by the bees 

 from that time until frost, when it is l^illed. See fuller par- 

 ticulars in regard to this in the " A B C of Bee-Culture," under 

 the heading of "Clover." — Gleanings. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN AND THE UNION. 



I'm looking for good to result from the action at Toronto 

 with regard to the North American and the Bee-Keepers' 

 •Union. Rev. W. F. Clarke is right in saying the North Ameri- 

 can has always been local — at least nearly right — and it al ways 

 will be mainly a local affair just so long as It It is so managed 

 that only those who attend have any inducement to become 

 members. So far the effort has been to secure attendance, 

 not membership. That must be entirely changed if it is ever 

 to be anything more than a local affair. When comparing the 

 membership of our societies with that of societies across the 

 sea, it has been the custom to say that the great distances in 

 our country preclude the possibility of having a lirge member- 

 ship. That's all bosh. A man may be a member without at- 

 tending; and if he doesn't attend, its just as easy for him to 

 become a member a thousand miles away as a hundred. 



But I confess I don't understand Mr. Clarke when he says 

 the North American has always been a " primary class of bee- 

 keepers." I wish he would explain what he means. Is it the 

 character of the men who have been in attendance, oris it the 

 character of the discussions and deliberations that makes him 

 classify it as he does ? If the latter, what change would be 

 recommended to make it " a high court or parliament of bee- 

 keeping '?" 



At Toronto, Mr. Clarke said of the North American, 

 " When we get down so that we have to pay only 25 cents a 

 year I don't want to belong to it." Why? I think both Mr. 

 Clarke and myself have got down so we don't have to pay 

 even 2.5 cents a year. Is that any reason we do not want to 

 belong to it? 



Mr. Newman thinks nothing will kill a society sooner 

 than an insignificant membership fee. A small fee doesn't 

 seem to have killed the many societies in foreign lands. What 



do we want of a fee larger than sufficient to pay expenses ? 

 He says : " The Bee-Keepers' Union is respected, not because 

 it has a membership of 300 or 400, but because it has a good 

 bank account." Part of that is true. It is respected for its 

 bank account, and that respect is neither increased nor dimin- 

 ished by the fact that the amount in the bank came in large 

 or small sums. But the intimation that numbers count for 

 nothing is hardly correct. An organization of 1,000 receives, 

 as a rule, more consideration than one of 100. Now, sup- 

 pose the membership is increased from 300 or 400 to GOO or 

 800, and the membership fee cut in two, leaving the bank 

 account the same, will not the larger membership with the 

 same bank account have just a little more respect? — Dr. 

 Miller, in Gleanings. 



BEE-KEEPING IN NEVADA. 



Mr. W. K. Ball, of Reno, Nev., came up with a carload 

 of honey — that beautiful alfalfa that is pronounced by every 

 one who tastes it the finest-flavored honey in the world. It is 

 beautifully rich and thick — so thick, Indeed, that It Is fairly 

 waxy. In answer to my question as to what kind of season 

 he had had, he said it had been rather poor with him for the 

 last two years. 



"Rather poor?" said I ; " and what was your average ?" 



"About 150 pounds, extracted." 



Neighbor Chase, who stood by, turned to me with a smile, 

 and said that, if he could average 50 pounds, to say nothing 

 of the 100, in good years, he would be satisfied. You see, Mr. 

 Ball depends upon alfalfa that is watered by Irrigation. The 

 problem of wet and dry seasons is one that they do not have 

 to contend with. The amount of moisture is regulated arti- 

 ficially by man, an<l you might almost say the flow of nectar 

 from alfalfa, lasting for three months, is regulated in the 

 samp way. 



A few years ago Mr. Ball thought the locality could not 

 be overstocked ; but in later years a good bee-range there is 

 pretty well stocked with bees already. But there are portions 

 of Colorado (Brush, Morgan Co., for instance), so Mr. Ball 

 tells me, that sell from .'320 to $40 an acre, with water, that 

 would do just as well. Here they get three cuttings of alfalfa 

 per season. It is as fine a grain country as he ever saw. — 

 Gleanings. 



HONEY AS FOOD AND MEDICINE. 



One of the most nutritious and healthful of foods is honey. 

 It is the one sweet that never cloys, and can be eaten with 

 impunity at all times. The markets are now flooded with the 

 white clover honey from up the State, and the delicious Cali- 

 fornia honey from the orange-blossom. Let your children eat 

 all the bread and butter and honey they want. Give them 

 great slices of bread covered with honey for their luncheons. 

 It will do them good. From the time the new honey begins 

 to come into the market until spring, I feed my children honey 

 every day, says a mother. If they have a little cold or cough 

 and trouble with their throats, I give them extracted honey 

 mixed with a few drops of lemon-juice, and it proves most 

 effectual. When they are hungry I give them a generous slice 

 of bread and butter covered with honey, and they never get 

 sick, as they would eating sweet-meats, jellies and jams. 

 From long years of experience I feel justified in recommend- 

 ing honey as an excellent and nutritive food, not only for chil- 

 dren, but for grown people. — National Stockman. 



MUCH ROO.M FOR THE BREEDING SEASON AND LESS DURING 

 HARVEST. 



SaysO. 0. Poppleton in Gleanings: "I have watched with 

 some interest whatever has been written on the hive question; 

 and will you allow me to call special attention to what is one 

 of the most valuable points brought out as yet? As you know, 

 I use mainly, for extracting purposes, a large single-story hive 

 in which I can add to or take from the bees one or any num- 

 ber of frames at any time. The few thousands of pounds of 

 comb honey I have taken has been mostly done by giving the 

 bees all the combs they could use in the breeding-season ; and 

 then when giving sections I take away all combs except the 8 

 which contain the most brood ? In my mind there is no ques- 

 tion whatever that this method gives a larger yield of honey 

 than if only an S-comb hive is used, or even a 10-comb, if the 

 10 are kept In use all the season. My experience leads me to 

 think that more than 10 frames during the breeding-season is 

 preferable with most colonies, to using only 10. If I were to 

 rig up for comb-honey producing, I would use either a 16- 

 frame single-story hive or double S-frame hives, cutting down 

 in either case to the best 8 combs when putting on sections. 

 The possible drawback to this method is that it may tend to 

 increase swarming ; but such did not seem to be the case in 

 my experience. It would take a careful comparison of the 

 two methods in the same apiary to determine that point." 



