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Uoctors IMsagree.— Mr. G. K. Hub- 

 bard lias this criticism to malce on one of 

 our Queries. It appeared in tlie JncUaua 

 Fa)-mer recently. Variety is the spice of 

 life. If we all thought and spoke alike 

 there would be no diversity of opinion— no 

 spicy discussions— no progress from the 

 "old ruts" and well-beaten paths of our 

 forefathers. The fact that we disaaree on 

 every conceivable subject is the " bulwark 

 of our freedom," and the glory of the nine- 

 teenth century. But here is the item : 



In the question department of the Amei-.i- 

 CAN Bee Journal, the question, "Are 

 eugs ever put into the royal cell ?" is an- 

 swered by a lart'e number of prominent 

 apiarists, and it is actually surprisins; to see 

 how many answer tlie question negatively, 

 or in a manner expressing doubt. We do 

 not under>tau(l why this should be. We 

 have frequently seen eggs in queen-cells, 

 and in fact have seen it so often that we 

 wonder at our experience being different 

 from so many wlio are more experienced. 

 We imply that those who express dnubt on 

 the suDject, think that young larv* are 

 always used for the purpose. Clearly they 

 are mistaken, as we have often seen eggs 

 in queencells appearing to have been de- 

 posited as naturally as any in regular 

 workt-r or drone cells. The question is not 

 one carrying with it facts of much impor- 

 tance, but it makes a splendid illustration 

 of how " doctors disagree " on questions 

 that seem as plain as the alphabet toothers. 



Au Eye Openei-.— One of our ex- 

 changes contains the following showing 

 tliat a poor honey crop may be a blessing in 

 disguise : 



I think it is not hard to see that this poor 

 season may be a blessing in disguise, and 

 may work for the good of our business. 

 Our large markets have uot overstocked 

 with honey, prices liad been knocked down 

 by shijiping honey into, the already over- 

 stocked markets, until honey was selling at 

 ruinous prices. The Wiley lie was floating 

 over the country, that there were numerous 

 manufactories where beecomb was manu- 

 factured and tilled with glucose syrup, and 

 sealed over with hot irons. The newspapers 

 wafted this story along, and thousands be- 

 lieved the story, although it was so iucon- 

 sistent. 



This failure of honey from the flowers has 

 cleared out the lioney markets so that com- 

 mission men have been calling loudly for 

 honey, at kood prices. Where are these 

 glucose manufactories all this time, that 

 they allow theiuarkets to become so bare of 

 hoiiev even at doubled-up prices ? This 

 omjlit to open the eyes of the community on 

 this subject, and strike a death-blow to that 

 infamous lie. 



Stin;;iiig: Ilces. — A correspondent 

 from Iowa sends us the following dialogue 

 concerning educating the bees to hold their 

 breath and thus suspend their stinging pro- 

 pensities. Here is the dialogue : 



" What have you found to he the best 

 remedy for a bee-sting ?" said the reporter. 



" Bee-sting ! I havn't had an oppor- 

 tunity to use a remedy for years." 



" How then, Mr. Fogy, do you manage ; 

 or don't your bees sting ?" 



" Yes, my bees are capable of stinging, 

 but they have had good training. Ton prob- 

 ably luve noticed in some of the bee-litera- 

 ture of the day, a novel way of escaping 

 the sting of a bee by holding your breath." 



" Now that idea never occurred to me, but 



sometime ago I commenced training my 

 bees to hold their breath as soon as tliey 

 felt like stinging, thus preventing the sting, 

 and it you don't believe it, I have them well 

 trained, and you can try it." 



Al!<iUce Clover.— In the report of the 



United States Botanist just issued, in the 

 report of tlie Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 a copy of which we have received from N. 

 J. Coleman, Esq., we find the following on 

 page 804, concerning the history, develop- 

 ment and characteristics of Alsike clover, 

 which will interest our readers : 



This differs from common red clover in 

 being later, taller, more slender and succu- 

 lent. The flower heads are upon long pedi- 



Alsike Clover Bloom. 



eels, and are intermediate in size and color 

 between those of white and red clover. Its 

 botanical name was so given from its being 

 supposed by Linnfeus to be a hybrid be- 

 tween those clovers, but it is now known to 

 be a distinct species, it is found native 

 over a large part of Europe, and was first 

 cultivated in Sweden, deriving its common 

 name from the village of .Syke in that coun- 

 try. In 1834 it was taken to England, and 

 in 1854 to Germany, where it is largnly 

 grown, not only for its excellent forage, but 

 also for its seed, which commands a high 

 prir'e. In France it is little grown as yet, 

 and is frequf'ntly confounded with the less 

 productive Trifoliimi eleynns. 



The following is condensed from "Les 

 Prairies Artificielles," by Ed. Vianne, of 

 Paris: "Alsike does not attain its full 

 development under two or three years, and 

 should therefore be mixed with some other 

 plant for permanent meadows. It is best 

 adapted to cool, damp, calcareous soil, and 

 gives good results upon reclaimed marshes. 

 It is adapted neither to very dry soils, nor 

 to those where there is stagnant water. 

 Being of slender growth, rye-grass, rye, or 

 oats, are often sown with it, when it is to 

 be mowed. In fertile ground weeds are apt 

 to diminish the yield after a few years, so 

 that it requires to he brolcen up. It is gen- 

 erally sown in May, at the rate of 6 to 7 

 pounds of the clean seed per acre. Some- 

 times it is sown in tlie pods at the rate of 50 

 to 100 pounds per acre, either in ^spring or in 

 autumn after the cereals are harvested. 



"Alsike sprouts but little after cutting, 

 and therefore produces but one crop and 



one pasturage. The yield of seed Is usually 

 130 to 170 pounds per acre. Tlie seed sep- 

 arates more easily from the pods than that 

 of ordinary clover, and as the heads easily 

 break off when dry, care is required in 

 harvesting. 



" It does not endure droutli as well as the 

 common red clover, but will grow on more 

 damp and heavy soils, and it is said that it 

 can be grown on land which, through long 

 cultivation of the common clover, has be- 

 come ' clover sick.' " 



AI>scoii«liiig: Swarm. — I desire to 

 know the cause of a swarm of bees leaving. 

 It was a very large swarm, which I had 

 tried to prevent swarming, by cutting out 

 queen-cells. I examined each one of the 

 ten brood fraines carefully, and cut out 

 eleven cells in different stages of construc- 

 tion. On the second day after this they 

 swarmed. I hived them and gave them a 

 frame of brood, and set the liive on the old 

 stand. They stayed until the next day, 

 when they came out, and, without alight- 

 intr, went straight to a tree aliout half a 

 mile away. They had built two larue pieces 

 of comb, one on each side of the frame of 

 brood, which contained a small quantity of 

 honey and some eggs. Can you give any 

 reason whv they left in this ungrateful 

 manner ? The frame of brood wliich I gave 

 them I took from a hive that had swarmed 

 a few days before, and I thounht perhaps 

 the unsealed larv:e were too large.— L. B. 

 Post. 



[Tour bees had picked out their hollow 

 tree, and got it cleaned out and already 

 fixed up for housekeeping before they 

 swarmed at all. Under such circumstances 

 you could not well induce them to give up 

 their project, especially if you let them re- 

 main on the old stand, and this is one very 

 good argument in favor of hiving at some 

 little distance from where the parent col- 

 ony stood. Where they pick out the loca- 

 tion before swarming, they are pretty sure 

 to move to it, sooner or later.— Gicanings.] 



For tlie Sixtcentli consecutive year 

 Chicago opened up its great Inter-State In- 

 dustrial Expositi<m, replete with the best 

 products of science, industry and art, on 

 Wednesday, Sept. 5, and will close Satur- 

 day, Oct. 20. The immense structure is 

 now laden to its fullest capacity with the 

 finest and most magnificent exhibits ever 

 displayed ; from almost every quarter of 

 the civilized world, illustrating as it does 

 every avenue of human industry in its most 

 complete form, it is almost a necessity that 

 they who would keep abreast of our most 

 advanced ideas in both industry.science and 

 art, should not tail to visit this great Ex- 

 position. Every railroad and transportation 

 line running into the city have made re- 

 duced rates, and there is every indicition 

 that a much larger attendance will follow 

 than any year that has preceded. 



Colored Posters for putting up over 

 honey exhibits at Fairs are quite attractive, 

 as well as useful. We have prepared some 

 for the Bee Jol'iinat,, and will send two 

 or more free of cost to any one who will use 

 them, and try to get up a club. Sample 

 copies will be sent free upon application. 



