250 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



oxygen in a given space, and this 

 added to the increased Tolume taken 

 in by increased respiration, furnishes 

 the fuel to raise the temperature. 

 The bees do this because instinct so 

 teaches them. 



Mr. J. W. Bayard's article is very 

 nearly correct, and certainly so for my 

 locality, as to the colony never ceas- 

 ing their hum until dead. 



Mr. Demaree is less than one de- 

 gree south of this place, and it seems 

 strange that sucn little distance 

 should so change the actions of bees. 

 It may be a strange phenomenon and 

 and an amazing philosophy that bees 

 do this, but it is a fact here, at least. 

 It is another fact showing that loca- 

 tion changes nearly all rules about 

 bees, and that each one must learn to 

 adopt the management that suits his 

 ovpn location. 



Bloomdeld,? Ind. 



For tne American Bee Joomat 



Dairymen and Bee-Keepers. 



JAS. E. TODD. 



I prepared the following address 

 which was read at the Farmers' and 

 Dairymen's Association at Oneonta, 

 N. Y.,on Feb. 15, 1887, and would 

 like to see it in the American Bee 

 Journal. It is as follows : 



It is well, perhaps, to first notice the 

 fact that the interest of both bee-men 

 and dairymen in many respects is 

 identical. I will present a few obser- 

 vations which I have made at differ- 

 ent times while keeping bees, not 

 having been without them for over 30 

 years. We are literally living in " a 

 land flowing with milk and honey," 

 and inasmuch as the production of 

 each of the best quality and in the 

 largest quantity depends more or less 

 upon the other, it is well that we 

 study the underlying principles which 

 tend most surely to advance them. 

 The food question, then, would seem 

 to be of the first importance. 



It is pretty generally admitted that 

 when our pastures and meadows are 

 well covered with a heavy growth of 

 clover, that they are in a first-rate 

 condition regarding general fertility 

 and milk- producing abilities. I have 

 been experimenting for the last few 

 years with Alsike clover, and I find it 

 to be the very best of milk and honey 

 producing food for cows and bees. 

 The way bees help to increase its 

 growth is by more perfectly fertilizing 

 its bloom. 



Alsike clover is a hybrid or cross 

 between the small white clover and 

 the pea-vine clover. It grows tall 

 like the pea-vine, but unlike it, it 

 grows a small, fine stalk, curing when 

 cut for hay in one-half the time and 

 sun required to dry the coarser clover. 

 Its blossoms are the same size as the 

 white clover, with white color except 

 the outer edge which is pink, present- 

 ing a most beautiful appearance. 

 Having a small blossom, its entire 

 sweets are easily reached by the bees, 

 and so attracts large numbers of 

 them, thus causing its bloom to be 

 most thoroughly ferlilizedby the dust 



of other bloom. Alongin June, about 

 the time that this occurs in this lati- 

 tude, it may be observed that the 

 clover head and entire stalk will be- 

 gin to grow and swell rapidly, and 

 will soon load with seed, and in good 

 soil it will yield immense crops of 

 hay or seed. The seed being very 

 fine, it requires about two quarts, 

 with one quart of the other seed, and 

 eight or ten quarts of timothy and 

 red-top seed mixed, per acre. 



The Alsike and red-top delight in a 

 damp, rich soil. If bees are so abun- 

 dant as to thoroughly fertilize the 

 clover bloom while in this blossom- 

 opening stage, it would be largely for 

 the interest of the dairyman to sow a 

 light coating of plaster over his 

 meadow and pastures some time in 

 May, if his soil is of a clayey or re- 

 tentive nature. But if the soil is of a 

 sandy composition, or if bees are not 

 abundant to fertilize the bloom, per- 

 haps the plaster would do less good. 

 It is also for the interest of both bee- 

 keeper and dairyman to sow and 

 raise large fields of buckwheat, and 

 buy less meal feed for stock. 



A good yield of grain, as well as 

 straw, is almost certain where the 

 honey-bees are sufficiently numerous 

 to thoroughly fertilize the bloom, if 

 the soil has been made suflSciently 

 strong to produce the grain. We 

 often hear men say that the sun has 

 blasted their buckwheat, whereas the 

 fact is that the soil or care was too 

 weak to produce more than a weak 

 growth of straw,and was exhausted at 

 the very time that the grain began to 

 form, or honey-bees were too few to 

 fertilize the bloom. A buckwheat 

 crop may be made to pay simply for 

 the flour, and the coarser part of bran, 

 which is an excellent milk-producing 

 food, be obtained without cost. Buck- 

 wheat straw rightly cured and cared- 

 for, with a little grain, and fed with- 

 out grinding, is very good winter food 

 for young stock. Buckwheat is also 

 the best of egg-producing foods for 

 fowls, and chicks will eat and do well 

 on it while very young. 



While it is a hard and laborious study 

 to learn telegraphy or engineering, 

 it is little less so to become an expert 

 at bee-culture ; and here also is to be 

 found the secret of so many failures. 

 There seems to be an impression 

 among men that about all one wants 

 is a few bees and the hiving of the 

 swarms, and a little later on, the 

 carrying in of tons of honey. The 

 getting of a few bees is all right, but 

 the watching, care and labor is much 

 more than was expected. The know- 

 ing how to do, and the doing of the 

 right thing at the right time, are the 

 inexorable terms of success. 



If the bee-keeper sees an attempt 

 being made by a powerful colony to 

 rob a weaker one, help to the weaker 

 one must be immediate, or it is of 

 no avail at all ; for as soon as the 

 weaker one is overcome its queen is 

 killed, and the workers compelled to 

 turn in and help carry their own 

 honey with their victors, home to the 

 hive of their assailants. Neither do 

 they seem to grieve over the transfer 

 of allegiance, for the very next day 



they will go to work as cheerfully 

 carrying in honey from the field to 

 their victor's hive as they had been 

 doing in their own ; but they do not 

 yield to this without a terrible strug- 

 gle. Often more than half the inhabi- 

 tants of the hive will fiercely give up 

 their lives and lie dead before their 

 hives on the field of battle in defense 

 of their honey, their queen and young, 

 all of which they know will perish If 

 they fail. The robbing difficulty can 

 be greatly reduced, if not entirely 

 overcome, by keeping all colonies 

 strong, and sizing the entrance to that 

 of the colony, and by exercising 

 proper care while putting on or taking 

 off honey, and otherwise opening the 

 hives and handling the bees or honey. 

 It is also almost equally important 

 to do all things pertaining to bee- 

 culture with nearly as much prompt- 

 ness as in the case of robbing. 



There is also a good part of the year 

 that bees need little or no care at all. 

 The first thing to be done after get- 

 ting a colony of bees, is to get them 

 into a movable-frame hive, if they 

 are not already in one, as soon as 

 warm weather comes in the spring, 

 and circumstances will permit. The 

 choosing of the hive, too, which must 

 be left to the person expecting to use 

 it, very much like the choosing of a 

 mowing-machine, is to be decided. I 

 believe a low frame hive is preferable, 

 and I use one, which 1 call the honey- 

 chest, and winters bees safely on the 

 summer stands, bringing forth strong 

 colonies to take hold of the first spring 

 bloom with vigor. The best facing 

 for the hive is to the southwest, if 

 there is any difference, but the main 

 thing is to have the inside of the hive 

 and bees right, and then all will be 

 right. 



Bee-keepers should not allow their 

 honey to go upon the market until 

 well assorted, keeping the white and 

 dark separate, with prices according 

 to quality. It is as difficult for bee- 

 keepers as dairyman, or other pro- 

 ducers, to agree on price or any gen- 

 eral course of action. But they 

 clearly should all determine to pro- 

 duce none for sale but the very best 

 quality, at whatever cost of quantity. 

 This the consumers themselves will 

 not object to, and with almost all 

 articles produced on the farm the 

 same rules should be observed. 



About the best course of late years 

 for bee-keepers, is to take off the 

 surplus honey before the dark, faU 

 honey comes in, as it is so cheap, 

 leaving the dark for the bees to winter 

 on, if well sealed over, but if open it 

 should be extracted, as it will sour in 

 the hive and kill the bees before 

 spring. This course will leave us only 

 the white, best honey. Then we 

 should see, as much as possible, that 

 the honey is sent to market through 

 and into hands not interested in get- 

 ting prices down or damaging them. 

 Unadilla,© N. Y. 



The Coiiventlon History of America 



with a full report ot the proceedings ef the 

 Detroit and Indianapolis conventions, and 

 the American Bee Journai, for one year. 

 will be clubbed for Jl.'Jo. 



