232 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[ J l T NE, 
Bee Notes for June. 
BY L. C. ROOT. 
♦ 
Reports of heavy losses of bees continue to come 
from nearly all parts of the country. Some who 
had from 50 to 100 stocks have lost nearly all or 
quite all of them. I am of the opinion that at least 
one half of the bees in the Northern States have 
died during the past winter. Such disastrous re¬ 
sults have not been known since the winter of 
1869-70. It interests every bee-keeper to know the 
cause of this loss. It is safe to say that these dis¬ 
astrous results are largely due to a lack of stores. 
The readers of these “Notes” will remember that 
we have weighed hives monthly during several 
winters past, and reported the amount of honey 
consumed. We have found during the past severe 
winter, that bees occupying the same rooms, in 
which the same temperature was maintained, have 
this winter consumed from one-third to one-half 
more honey, than they did during any winter for 
the past five years. We have lost 21 swarms in 
our cellars, each of which had starved. 
Experience has shown that bees must be kept 
very quiet and nearly dormant, in order that they 
may consume the smallest possible amount of 
honey, if they are to be safely carried through our 
long northern winters, without a chance to fly. 
Cold will not kill bees which are properly packed, 
and wintered out of doors, let it be ever so ex¬ 
treme ; but if the bees consume the quantity of 
honey required to generate the necessary heat, they 
must have opportunity for frequent flight. The 
absolute impossibility of makingsuch flights under 
at all favorable circumstances, has confirmed me in 
my opposition to out-door wintering in our north¬ 
ern latitudes, where the winters are usually severe. 
But the question which, at present, I am unable 
to solve, is—why, during the past winter, when we 
have kept our wintering rooms at just the same 
temperature as during former winters, have our 
bees consumed an extra quantity of honey ? Unless 
it may be attributable to the slight disturbance 
caused by the use of a stove in a room adjoining 
that occupied by the bees, or to changing the tem¬ 
perature a little too suddenly, I am not able to as¬ 
sign a reason for this over-consumption of food. 
The Outlook for the Coming Season. 
While I would not offer any undue inducements 
to any to engage in bee-keeping, I desire to repeat 
what I have heretofore often stated : that there are 
advantages as well as great disadvantages in these 
seasons of reverses, and that it is much better for 
those who are courageous and energetic to com¬ 
mence bee-keeping after a season of the kind just 
passed, than to do so after several seasons of 
marked success. A good season is almost certain 
to follow one of reverses, and it is better to begin 
then, than when a series of successful years is 
likely to be followed by a discouragingly poor one. 
Such losses should remind, those of us who are al¬ 
ready in the business, of the necessity for using the 
remainder of our stocks to the very best advantage. 
Very often the same labor bestowed upon a small 
number of hives will bring returns equal to those 
from a large number. When so much less honey 
is produced, than will be demanded, as will surely 
be the case the coming season, it will bring a cor¬ 
respondingly better price. We should then under¬ 
stand the very best methods of management, and 
see to it, that all work is promptly and well done. 
Supply the surplus boxes as soon as the bees will 
occupy them. Many will desire to increase their 
stocks, rather than to secure surplus honey. If 
those who have lost bees, have preserved the combs 
in proper shape, they will be able to secure a rapid 
increase. Rear queens in advance, and make arti¬ 
ficial swarms. Watch surplus combs not in use, 
and protect them against the moth. If the moth- 
worm disturbs them, place the empty combs in a 
tight box, and fumigate by burning sulphur. 
Finding the Queen. 
We are asked, “ How to find the Queen in a colo¬ 
ny of Native Bees.” There is probably no question 
more frequently asked, or of more interest to the 
beginner, than this by a correspondent in Mass., and 
I might add that there is hardly one that is not 
easier to answer. The illustration given in last 
month’s “ Notes ” will be of some service. It is 
generally understood that it is not difficult to find a 
queen in an Italian swarm, but with the natives, it 
requires more experience, as they are more easily 
excited. I can only advise as follows : Open the 
hive as quietly as may be, and use as little smoke 
as will subdue the bees. Lift the combs out quiet¬ 
ly, one at a time, aud the queen may often be ob¬ 
served before the bees become excited and begin to 
run about the comb. If unsuccessful, remove the 
hive to the rear of its stand, and put an empty one 
in its place. After taking the combs out and ex¬ 
amining thoroughly, place them in the hive on the 
stand. If the queen is not found on the combs, 
she may often be found in the hive from which the 
combs were taken. Another chance of finding her 
would be afforded by spreading a white cloth in 
front of the empty hive, and shaking the bees upon 
it, a foot or so from the entrance, and keeping a 
careful watch for her as they pass in to the hive. 
Shall I Grow Sorghum? 
This is a question that many a farmer will ask 
himself, and the decision will not depend solely 
upon whether or not he has suitable land and suf¬ 
ficient help. Beyond these he must consider what 
is to be done with the cane after it is grown. That 
Sorghum culture has taken new life is an accepted 
fact, and this is mainly due to, the introduction of 
the “Amber,” “Early Amber” or “ Minnesota 
Amber,” as it is variously called. This renewed 
interest finds expression in an important conven¬ 
tion held at St. Louis last autumn, in the circulars 
of the various makers of improved apparatus, and 
in new works of more or less importance, sepecial- 
ly one published by its author, Mr. Isaac A. Hedges, 
who may be justly regarded as the veteran worker 
in behalf of Sorghum Culture. The question, what 
shall be done with the cane, is the most important,, 
as it is of little use to grow the cane and have no 
means to make it into syrup or sugar. It rarely 
is the case that one who cultivates sorghum for 
the first time can be at the outlay needed to pro¬ 
cure the apparatus to work up his own crop. A 
farmer with capital may agree to purchase the out¬ 
fit and start a factory, if his neighbors will agree to 
raise and supply him with cane, or several farmers 
in a neighborhood may start a joint-stock factory ; 
or they may induce some miller or other who al¬ 
ready uses steam-power for other purposes, to add 
a mill and evaporators to his present business. 
These are, of course, mere suggestions to show 
what must be considered by whoever would plant 
sorghum profitably. Those who decide to plant 
should select a warm and rich soil, and one previ¬ 
ously enriched is better than one to which fresh 
manure must be applied. A turned clover sod is 
excellent for the crop, and a dressing of lime, to 
most soils, is beneficial. Deep plowing is insisted 
upon, as the roots penetrate to a great distance. 
The soil being well plowed and made fine with the 
clod-crusher and harrow, the planting is to be done 
as soon as the soil is warm and dry, and in fit con¬ 
dition to insure rapid germination. Some planters 
advise sprouting the seed by first soaking it, and 
then keeping it moist in a warm place until it ger¬ 
minates, and all advise testing the seed beforehand, 
to be sure of its vitality. The rows are made four 
feet apart, and the seeds dropped every three or 
four inches. Shallow planting is insisted upon ; 
the seed 3hould never be over an inch deep, and 
half an inch is better. The great trouble with the 
crop is_ its small size and grass-iike appearance 
when it first appears. Some, as soon as the seed 
breaks ground, go over, cross-wise of the rows, 
with a drag made of rails attached by chains ; 
this does not injure the sorghum, but destroys the 
small weeds. No doubt a Thomas’ Smoothing Har¬ 
row would be excellent for this crop. As soon as 
the rows are distinctly visible, a cultivator is to be 
used between them, and plaster is often of benefit 
as a top-dressing. A rake and hand-weeding are to 
be used in the rows, aud the plants are to be thin¬ 
ned to about three to the foot. The field is culti¬ 
vated about three times, and when the crop is four 
feet high it is laid by.-The above was prepared 
for last month, but was unavoidably left out. The 
present season is so generally backward, that the 
planting and sowing of all spring crops will neces¬ 
sarily be late. It is probable that the soil, in many 
localities, will not be in fit condition for corn until 
the first of the month. Sorghum is a plant rather 
more tropical in its nature than corn, and as it of¬ 
ten happens that late planted corn—even as late as 
the first week in June, will result better than that “ 
planted earlier, there is reason to hope that sor¬ 
ghum sown even at this late date, will, on account 
of its more rapid early growth, mature a crop. At 
all events we should not let the backward season 
make us give up experimenting with sorghum. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
It is now the “ off 
season” in Humbugs, 
it being late for the 
“ spring styles ” and 
too early for the “fall 
trade.” We have be¬ 
fore referred to the 
fact that swindling 
schemes are affected 
by the season, there 
being certain manifestations in 
spring that are not seen in 
autumn ; this is especially true 
for those schemes intended to 
jg| be put in operation among the 
farming community. Others 
again, are not thus changable. Jewelry, watches, 
and the like, belong to the perpetuais. Recently 
an inquiry came which illustrates the fact that 
watch swindlers know “nor time, nor place”— 
which in this case may probably be said of the 
watches themselves. One of our subscribers in 
Madras, sent an advertisement from a local paper, 
and made inquiries about it. One swindler finding 
America too narrow a field, extended his opera¬ 
tions to 
“India’s Coral Strand,” 
not forgetting Africa, New Zealand, and other re¬ 
mote places. This advertisement, offering watches 
at wonderfully low prices, was that of the “Roda- 
now Manufacturing Company (Limited—Capital 
$3,000,000), Boston (America).” We confess to 
feeling rather ashamed, that we did not know of 
this two-million-dollar watch factory, with its 
Oriental title—“Rodanow,” and felt it our duty 
to supply the deficiency. Our investigation began 
too late. While the letter was coming from India, 
another had already come —from New Zealand— 
which was the cause of a “ row-de-dow ” in the 
house of the Rodanow. A father in New Zealand 
who had seen the advertisement, sent to his son in 
Massachusetts to procure him a watch. Son 
ordered a watch, the Rodanow sent a watch. 
Watch did not come np to advertisement. Charge 
of fraud was made, and a warrant issued, on the 
serving of which warrant there came to light 
“The Same Old, Old Story,” 
which, as told in a Boston paper, reads much as if 
it had been one of our own experiences. The two- 
million-dollar company’s headquarters were not- 
conspicuous—true greatness never is forth-putting, 
or self-asserting. The office was in the comer of 
a stove store, in fact a “ second-hand stove store.” 
The office was about 6 by 10, and of course, Ro¬ 
danow himself was not in, or any one to answer for 
him. At last he was found, arrested, and finally 
turned over to the U. S. authorities. He had been 
receiving many registered letters by every foreign 
steamer, and not happening to have a paltry $500 
out of that $3,000,000 with him, was committed, 
and here is as far as we have traced Rodanow. The 
chief moral to be drawn from this is suggested 
by Rodanow’s “ many registered letters.” It 
seems there Is no part of the world so remote, 
that there will not be found in it those who are 
ready to be caught, if the bait offered is sufficiently 
absurd and improbable.... .A friend in Iowa asks 
us to warn the people of that State against au 
