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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



twenty to thirty feet high. The connec- 

 tions with streets and avenues similarly 

 planted will, within a few years, give 

 the ' Unter den Linden ' of Washington 

 a circuit of twelve miles." What more 

 pleasing sight could greet the eye of the 

 apiarist than this ? 



We have heard of large honey-flows 

 coming from the tulips, lindens, locusts, 

 and fruit-bloom, and if the apiarist is 

 able to turn this mellifluent river into 

 his honey receptacles, he will be able to 

 make a livelihood should everything else 

 fail. And I see no cause for his not 

 doing so, in view of the great recent im- 

 provements and discoveries in the way 

 of apicultural paraphernalia and artifi- 

 cial evaporation. It is true that these 

 flows are of short length, but I would as 

 soon avail myself of them and make as 

 much in three days as three months. 

 Now, then, in view of what has super- 

 ceded, let the 300,000 apiarists take up 

 the chorus of plant ! plant ! plant ! At- 

 tend forestral conventions ; advocate 

 Arbor Days ; plant lindens on your road- 

 sides, the division lines of your farms 

 and unproductive hillsides ; encourage 

 nurserymen to raise, park commissions 

 to buy and plant and the government to 

 disperse them ; and, albeit, beet-sugar re- 

 fineries are springing up in the West like 

 mushrooms in a rich cow-pasture after 

 an Autumn's rain, many of which are 

 capable of producing 35 tons of sugar 

 daily from 350 tons of beets — about ten 

 per cent of the primal article — under 

 the stimulus of bounty-paying, we need 

 not be solicitious. Above all see to it 

 that honey-secreting and pollen-bearing 

 trees are planted. The maples are ex- 

 cellent caterers for early bee-bread, 

 which is in either a natural or artificial 

 state absolutely necesssary for the desid- 

 eratum of early breeding. 



Make yourself heard in the agricul- 

 tural societies on the grave question of 

 fruit-spraying. Explain to them that 

 they are wrong, and elucidate the fact 

 that the spraying of fruit-bloom does 

 not kill the insects, but is very detri- 

 mental to the bee and humanity at 

 large. Make it obvious that the fertil- 

 ization of the blossoms will insure more 

 perfect and sound specimens of fruit 

 and a greater abundance thereof. Ex- 

 plain to them by indisputable proof that 

 the mandibles of the bee are not capa- 

 ble of biting through the skin of a sound 

 and solid grape, that the initiative is the 

 work of wasps, birds, and an over-ripe- 

 ness, and that only then do the bees 

 insert their proboscides and appropriate 

 a juice, minus which they would be 

 better off, but which, on account 'of 



drouth and an insufficiency of honey- 

 flora, they will seek after. Explain how 

 that the bee is a benefactor instead of a 

 nuisance, as some of the Arkadelphian 

 ignoramuses would have it. 



I think from what I have said, that 

 many sources which could have been 

 turned into a profit by the bee-keeper have 

 been sadly neglected, and I would pleaq 

 with my brother bee-keepers not to let 

 this state of affairs continue any longer. 



Remember that it takes a great many 

 blossoms to produce a good crop of 

 honey, and when it comes to the bread 

 and butter part. Chapman's honey-plant, 

 spider-plant, etc., are not "in it," but a 

 good crop of the modest and unassuming 

 white clover, or the linden, fills the bill. 



••The pedigree of honey 

 Does not coucern the bee, 

 A closer to him always 

 Is aristocracy." 



Cincinnati, O. 



Infomation Aliout Alfalfa Cioyer, 



WM. STOLLEY. 



Receiving so many letters from bee- 

 keepers requesting me to give them in- 

 formation about the growing of alfalfa, 

 I cannot find the time to answer each 

 separately. I desire to give the infor- 

 mation asked for through the columns 

 of the American Bee Journal, so far 

 as I am able to do so. The general drift 

 of these inquiries is about as follows : 



1. What kind of soil is best adapted 

 for the growth of alfalfa ? 



2. When should the seed be sown ? 



3. How do you prepare your land 

 before seeding ? 



4. Do you find alfalfa perfectly hardy? 



a. Respecting very dry seasons ? 



b. Respecting very cold and hard 

 Winters ? 



5. What amount of seed is used for 

 the seeding of one acre of land ? 



6. Do horses and cattle eat the hay of 

 alfalfa as well as they do that of red 

 clover ? 



T. Does alfalfa pasture well ? 



8. How do you proceed when cutting 

 the crop, and curing or securing it ? 



9. How and when do you proceed 

 when cutting for seed only ? 



10. How long will a field of alfalfa 

 clover last before it runs out ? 



From the foregoing questions it is 

 obvious that a busy man cannot indi- 

 vidually answer many similar letters, 

 and I hope that the following upon the 

 subject will satisfy all : 



