14 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



clover, are credited with the reputa- 

 tion of being the original shamrock, 

 the Trifolium minus, a very small clo- 

 ver ; the water cress or Radicula Nas- 

 turtium-aquaticum, and Oxalis acetosclla, 

 the plant which, we suspect, is the 

 true shamrock. 



But why should we contradict the 

 "New Practical Reference Library" 

 and its very positive picture of a 

 white clover shamrock? The Stand- 

 ard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, a 

 very modern and apparently accurate 

 work, says that hal f of the world 

 calls the white clover "shamrock" 

 and the other half calls the oxalis by 

 that name. It quotes Sowerberry as 

 stating that the oxalis "is in perfec- 

 tion on St. Patrick's day." 



However, Gaston Bonnier, in his 

 immense and admirable work, "Flore 

 Complete" of France, Switzerland 

 and Belgium, of which only three 

 volumes have so far been published, 

 says that the trifoliate leaf of white 

 clover appears in the arms of Ireland, 

 although St. Patrick used a trifoliate 

 leaf of Oxalis acetosella as a symbol of 

 the Trinity. 



The most weighty argument in fa- 

 vor of the latter plant as the true 

 shamrock lies in its being a native of 

 Ii eland, while white clover was in- 

 troduced there, they say, much later 

 than the time of St. Patrick, which 

 was about the year 430. So we shall 

 take sides against the New Practical 

 Library until we find out better. 



This must be of interest to the peo- 

 ple of Ireland, especially the bee- 

 keepers. White clover is a honey- 

 plant, but the little oxalis, though 

 pretty, has no reputation for sweet- 

 ness, but rather for sourness, 'as 

 would indicate its denomination 

 "acetosella" and its popular name of 

 "wood sorrel." What do our friends 

 of the Emerald Island have to say on 

 the subject? Does the shamrock 

 yield honey? 



By the way, it may not be amiss to 

 say that Bonnier's "Flore Complete" 

 gives descriptions and colored photo- 

 gravures of 60 different clovers (tri- 

 folium), while our Gray's Manual de- 

 scribes only 14. Bonnier's Flore, of 

 which only three volumes have yet 

 appeared, will be a wonderful work, 

 if a cessation of present abnormal 

 European conditions ever permits its 

 full publication, in ten or twelve vol- 

 umes. 



A Feeder for Cell-Building 

 Colonies 



THE queen breeder must be able 

 to control the activities of his 

 bees to a much greater extent 

 than the honey producer. From the 

 time the first batch of cells are 

 grafted in spring until the last cells 

 are finished in the fall he must turn 

 out queens at a fairly steady rate. It 

 is a rare locality where honey will be 

 coming in from natural sources 

 through all this long period. The 

 queen breeder, accordingly, must be 

 prepared to feed whenever there is 

 no nectar coming from the field in 

 order to keep his plant in continuous 

 operation. 



In this connection we show a cor- 



FEEDER FOR CELL-BUILDING COLONIES USED BY THE PENN COMPANY. 



ner of the queen breeding yard of the 

 Penn Company of Penn, Mississippi. 

 Mr. J. D. Smith, manager of the com- 

 pany, uses ordinary Mason fruit jars 

 for feeders. By boring a round hole 

 in the top of the cover there is no 

 danger of robbing, since the feed is 

 given above the cluster. At the same 

 time he can see at a glance when 

 passing through the yard whether 

 any feeder is empty. An empty can 

 can be removed and a full one given 

 in its place without disturbing the 

 bees. A few small holes in the jar 

 cover enable the bees to take the 

 feed without its running too fast. On 

 the corner of the hive in the fore- 

 ground will be noticed the record 

 board on which the queen breeder 

 keeps his notes. 



Is Co-Operative Marketing 

 Practical for Beekeepers? 



By Chilton G-no. 



THe writer discussed in these col- 

 umns over a year ago, the sub- 

 ject of national advertising for 

 honey through a co-operative plan. 

 It was argued that though beekeep- 

 ers, unlike the California orange 

 growers, are scattered over an entire 

 nation, this really constitutes no ob- 

 stacle to co-operation. Several read- 

 ers of The American Bee Journal 

 were, however, inclined to take issue 

 on that point, and they had quite a 

 weight of authority back of them. 

 For example, the general manager of 

 the great California Fruit Growers' 

 Exchange has himself stated in his 

 book on co-operative marketing that 

 one of the most desirable conditions, 

 where co-operative marketing is 

 planned, is that the crop in question 

 be produced in a restricted area. Mr. 

 Powell, however, says in his book, 

 that this is only true because of the 

 inborn independence of farmers and 



their natural instinct against trusting 

 strangers. 



A most interesting case directly in 

 point has come to light in the past 

 year, however, and has proved that 

 farmers, if they have been distrustful 

 in the past, are getting over it, and 

 that in our Twentieth Century Amer- 

 ica a farmer in Maine can co-operate 

 with a farmer in Arizona and not feel 

 any grievance over the fact that one 

 is a Yankee and the other a wild and 

 woolly westerner The cranberry in- 

 dustry of this country furnishes the 

 very interesting case in question. 



Cranberries do not, like apples, 

 grow in every State in the Union. 

 They grow in bogs unfit for the pro- 

 duction of almost any other crop, and 

 the industry has flourished in only 

 three States which have boggy sec- 

 tions especially adapted for their pro- 

 duction — Massachusetts. New Jersey 

 and Wisconsin. While the former 

 States are almost within a stone's 

 throw of each other, Wisconsin is a 

 thousand miles from the others. Yet 

 the cranberry growers of these three 

 States have one of the finest and best 

 co-operative marketing organizations 

 in existence today, and are market- 

 ing through it about 60 per cent of 

 the country's total cranberry crop. 

 This exchange has just completed its 

 first year's advertising campaign, 

 which was an experiment, of course, 

 but highly successful. It is now prac- 

 tically agreed that advertising is to 

 be a regular policy of the American 

 Cranberry Exchange. 



The organization movement in this 

 industry first bore definite fruit in 

 Wisconsin in 1906, when, under the 

 leadership of Judge Gaynor, of Wood 

 County, the Wisconsin Cranberry 

 Sales Company was formed. Judge 

 Gaynor's influence was also a primary 

 factor in the organization of cran- 

 berry growers in the other two im- 

 portant cranberry States, where were 

 formed the New England Cranberry 



