56 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



much mischief they are doina;, by sending 

 out such nonsense. Neither have they 

 ever experimented by feeding alfalfa hiy 

 to horses. It is alw.-iys on cattle that 

 they experiment. Here is one simple 

 case: It wai either the Utah or C jloradu 

 Agricultural Colle...ce that experimented 

 by using alfalfa hav cut at three different 

 times; just when it began to bloom, after 

 it was in full bloom, and when the stems 

 were two-thirds through blooming. This 

 trial was made with nine steers — three for 

 each cutting of hay. The steers were 

 about the same size when the feeding of 

 this hay was commenced. The hay was 

 weighed out to them, and when they were 

 killed, it was found that the first cutting 

 made the most beef per lb. of hay; and 

 the last cutting, the next best. This was 

 the report of one of the Professors of that 

 College, and was at once taken up by 

 thej agricultural press, with hurrah for 

 early ciiffui^ of alfalfa. 



Now, dear reader, can you not see the 

 humbug of this report? Now every farmer 

 saj-s: '"This comes from a State Experi- 

 ment Station, and surely must be true. 

 S ) there is no use in letting my alfalfa 

 stand until it is in full bl )om hereifter; 

 especially when I cm gain one cutting 

 of hay more b\' i*^. " 



But v\ here the humbug of this report 

 CO nes in IS this: this Pmfessor did not 

 tel' us in his report that the last cutting 

 of this hay ( which gave per lb. very nearly 

 as much beef as the first cutting) was 

 nearly twice as heavy as the first etitting. 

 This correction another Professor (of the 

 same College) made the next year; but I 

 find to this d^y, no correction of the fore- 

 g jiiig statement by the agricultural press. 

 Once out, the error may stay there, until 

 the farmers finds it out themselves. If 

 Bro. Tatman, of Kans is, will investigate 

 his reported test by the College of his 

 State, he will find it of the same nature 



EXTRACTED DEPARTMENT. 



SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 



Tlie Subject is Worthy of Discussion. 



Considering the articles that have ap- 

 peared on this subject in the bee journals, 

 the American Bee Journal very fairly sets 

 forth the situation in a recent editorial. 

 It says: — 



The laws of breeding, it is pretty safe 

 to say, have never before had the atten- 

 tion they are having to-dav, from bee- 

 keepers and queen-breeders. At least, 

 there never was as much said upon the 

 subject as at the present time in the bee- 

 papers. Doulitless nmcli more would 

 have been written and known on the sub- 

 ject if the mating of bees could be con- 

 trolled as in the case of other animals. 

 It is at least within the range of possibili- 

 ties that control of fertilization may yet 

 become an accomplished fact, and if it 

 ever does come it will be well to be pre- 

 pared for it in advance. P',ven if we never 

 reach any greater control than at present, 

 a thorough knowledge of all that can be 

 learned about breeding may be turned to 

 account. Especiallv let the younger 

 members of the fraternity inform them- 

 selves as fully as possible. Doubtless 

 more or less that is confusing, and some- 



times contradictorv, may be found in the 

 bee papers, but careful sifting may get 

 that which will be useful in leading to- 

 ward improvement of our present stock 

 of bees. 



While the leaders in apiculture have 

 rejoiced in this discussion, I believe that 

 a goodly portion of the rank and file has 

 read it with scant patience — if they have 

 read it at all. I felt this, intuitively, be- 

 fore I received any letters on the subject. 

 Editors become very expert at reading 

 between the lines. They can usually tell, 

 without being tol<l in so many words, 

 whether they are pleasing their readers. 

 In the December Review I asked sub- 

 scribers, when renewing, to criticise the 

 Review; and this brought out the fact that 

 many were not pleased with the use of so 

 much space in theorizing upon the sci- 

 entific breeding of animals and bees. 

 Some even went so far as to order their 

 paper discontinued. One man wrote: "I 

 keep bees for the honey they make, and 

 I take a bee journal because I expect it 

 will help me to get more hone}-. Yours, 

 for the last year, has not done much in 

 that direction." This man overlooked 



