THE RURAL, NBW-VORKEB 
60 
1913. 
Inoculation for Alfalfa, Peas and Beans. 
T. B., Hagernian, A 7 . M .—Will nitrogen 
culture do Alfalfa any good when it makes 
six tons per acre per year, and is cut four 
times, also will it help to get a stand on 
such land to inoculate the seed with ni¬ 
trogen ? Does one have to get a different 
kind of culture for all the different kinds 
of beans and peas, or will one kind be suf¬ 
ficient? If three or four inoculated beans 
were planted around watermelons and to¬ 
matoes will it make them grow better? 
Ans. —If you can raise six tons of 
Alfalfa hay per acre we do not believe 
the nitrogen culture would pay. We 
should use soil from your old fields 
when seeding down new ones. Dig up 
a few plants and examine the roots. 
You will probably find little warts or 
nodules there, and if you do it is plain 
that the bacteria are present. -It is stat¬ 
ed that each of the legumes or pod¬ 
bearing plants has its peculiar germ or 
bacteria. For example, the bacteria 
which work on bean roots would not 
do for Alfalfa, while those which work 
on sweet clover would serve for Al¬ 
falfa seeding. We do not think you 
would obtain satisfactory results by 
planting the inoculated beans around the 
tomatoes. 
The Use of Land Plaster. 
A. R., Lambertville, N. J .—Does land 
plaster free the ammonia in manure? Will 
it pay to use land plaster in the gutters of 
cow stable at .$9 per ton? Is there a better 
absorbent to use in the gutters than land 
plaster? 
Ans. —The action of land plaster or 
gypsum is to hold the ammonia in a 
form suitable for use as plant food. The 
land plaster is a sulphate of lime. When 
sprinkled over the manure it comes in 
contact with carbonate of ammonia. 
This is in the form of a gas, which we 
can all recognize by smelling ammonia 
water or when damp, fresh hen manure 
is left under the' roosts. The plaster 
“breaks up”; that is, a chemical change 
occurs and instead of sulphate of lime 
and carbonate of ammonia we have 
sulphate of ammonia, a form which does 
not pass away as a gas. We think the 
plaster will pay. Under all circum¬ 
stances it is probably the best for use. 
Both kainit and acid phosphate are use¬ 
ful to hold this ammonia, but when used 
in the gutters they may injure the feet 
of cattle. You should use about 100 
pounds of the plaster to a ton of ma¬ 
nure—sprinkling it evenly over the back 
of the stalls and in the gutters. 
“Inoculation” for the Soil. 
G. B. IT’., Rhode Island .—Please explain 
nitro culture and inoculated soil. Are they 
in reach of the “ordinary farmer?” 
Ans. —This is one of the names given 
the method of introducing to seed or 
soil the germs or bacteria which are 
able to obtain nitrogen from the air. 
The legumes or pod-bearing plants, like 
beans, peas and the clovers, are said to 
obtain this nitrogen, but it is gathered 
for them by tiny bacteria which live on 
the roots of these plants. You will often 
notice in pulling up such plants little 
bunches or warts on their roots. These 
are called nodules, and are the homes 
or houses in which the bacteria work. 
L nless these tiny forms of life are pres¬ 
ent the plant will not gain the valuable 
nitrogen. “Inoculation” means adding 
these germs to the soil or seed so they 
will multiply and do their work. 
There are two ways of doing this. 
One is to separate this particular germ 
from others and cultivate it in a labor¬ 
atory. 1 hat means give it the condi¬ 
tions of warmth and food which will 
cause it to grow or multiply rapidly. 
These cultivated germs are put in 
scaled bottles and sent to those who 
use them. When put into warm water 
under the right conditions these germs 
spread rapidly. When the seed of 
clover or Alfalfa is soaked in this water 
or sprinkled with it these living germs 
are left on the seed and go into the 
soil with it, and if they are strong and 
vital, will grow as the plants grow and 
obtain nitrogen from the air. That is 
called inoculation by “cultures.” It is 
not unlike adding yeast to bread or a 
“starter to cream. “Inoculated soil” 
is soil taken from a field in which the 
Alfalfa or other crops have grown well 
—or where these germs are present. 
This soil is scattered over the field to 
be seeded, and in this way the germs 
are introduced. The ordinary farmer 
is even more interested than the rich 
farmer in obtaining a good stand of 
Alfalfa. If there are any good fields 
near him it will usually pay to dig soil 
from it. to put on his seeding. The 
trouble is that some people get the idea 
that this “inoculation” is all that is 
needed to get these plants going. It is 
only one part, and lime, manure or fer¬ 
tilizer and good preparation are just as 
necessary. 
BEE NOTES. 
Dwindling of Bees. —When the con¬ 
ditions necessary to the successful win¬ 
tering of bees are not complied with, 
and they have suffered from diarrhoea, 
many colonies may be lost by Spring 
dwindling, especially if the Spring is 
cold and backward. Even colonies 
which appeared to have gone through 
the Winter strong in numbers may 
slowly lose bee after bee until the queen 
alone remains in the hive. This is some¬ 
times mistaken for desertion, which is 
caused only when bees are destitute of 
honey, pollen or at the loss of their 
queen. Several instances of Spring 
dwindling with subsequent robbing of 
the honey has been observed as late as 
April. The enlarged abdomen of the 
bees shows that they are suffering from 
constipation or inability to discharge 
their freces. even though they may have 
voided their abdomen since their long 
Winter confinement. The intestines are 
in an unhealthy condition. Another 
cause of Spring dwindling is the loss 
of working bees in cold Spring wea¬ 
ther, while in search of water, or pol¬ 
len for brood. To avoid or check these 
losses as far as possible, the following 
may be observed: 
The hives should be located in a 
warm, sunny, well-sheltered place. The 
number of combs in the hive should be 
reduced in early Spring, with the divi¬ 
sion board to suit the size of the clus¬ 
ter. This helps the bees to keep warm 
and raise brood. The space must again 
be enlarged gradually, when colony be¬ 
gins to get stronger. The heat should 
be concentrated in the brood-chamber 
by every means possible and not allowed 
to escape above. The entrance must re¬ 
main reduced in size until warm wea¬ 
ther comes. The bees should be pro¬ 
vided with sufficient stores of honey, 
pollen and water. Water is essential 
in Spring, as bees cannot be reared with¬ 
out it unless fresh-gathered honey is 
being brought in. Water may be sup¬ 
plied by removing combs which are 
empty in the hive and pouring water 
into them or by having a receptacle with 
water in a sheltered position near or in 
apiary. Floats of chips, grass or straw 
may be put in the receptacles so that 
hees may have access to it without 
drowning. The better way of furnish¬ 
ing this water is by feeding a thin, warm 
sugar syrup each night at sundown. 
Transferring Bees. —If the bee-keep¬ 
er has bees in box-hives, barrels, hol¬ 
low logs, etc., and wishes to transfer 
them to the much more profitable mod¬ 
ern hives, the following will explain an 
easy method. The best time to transfer 
is at or after the swarming season. 
After blowing a little smoke into the 
hive sufficient to alarm the bees, we set 
it a little aside, and put in its place our 
new hive, full of wired frames of foun¬ 
dation. We now turn the old hive or 
whatever it may be, bottom side up. and 
place a box over it. If the bees are 
smoked sufficiently, it will make no dif¬ 
ference even if the box is not close- 
fitting to the old hive. Then with a 
stick or hammer rap on the hive from 
10 to 20 minutes. The bees will fill 
themselves with honey and go with 
queen ino the upper box and cluster. If 
toward the last we carefully set the 
box aside once or twice, and vigorously 
shake the hive and then replace the box, 
we will hasten the emigration of the 
bees, and make it more complete. A 
few young bees will remain in the old 
hive, but these will do no harm. Next 
take the box which contains the queen 
and nearly all the bees, and shake the 
bees all out in front of the hive already 
placed on the old stand. The bees will 
at once take possession and draw out 
the foundation in a surprisingly short 
time. Should bees be unable to gather 
any honey for some days, which at the 
season is not likely to occur, you must 
feed them. Set the old hive aside for 
21 days, when the young bees will have 
all hatched from the cells. Should the 
weather he cold it would be well to put 
old hive in a warm room, so the brood 
will not chill. This is seldom necessary. 
We now drum out these bees as before, 
kill the queen, which they have reared, 
and unite the bees with the others, or if 
you care for increase and enough bees 
have stayed, leave the queen alive and 
form a separate colony with them by 
putting them into a new hive. You 
can now split open the old hive or re¬ 
ceptacle formerly occupied by the bees, 
and carefully cut loose the combs, which 
may be extracted by the aid of a wire 
comb holder, and the combs then ren¬ 
dered in wax. w. f. gute. 
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