Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-12-29

country, He advocated the plant
ing Of sunfiowers and tomatoes Tor
the use Of the poultry,
Mr.. ]. ", Rouse read his paper
on the subject of bees, He is is an
apairist of known ability and ex
perience.
J. w. ROUSE ON BEE-KEEPiNa.
We suppose there are few persons
that would keep bees ii the chance OF
honey was taken away. While
tho estimate of surplus honey obtained
in America per year is 7a,uoo,ooo IDS,
this IL very much the smallest part of
tho profit In keeping bees. The honey
hea is very useful to man aside from
tho honey obtained, as they are useini
in fruetifying our fruit bloom by car
rying the pollen from II bloom to that
of another. While there are other III
sects that q perform this same Of
flee for the fruit bloom IL has been founu
by observation that there would Do 20
bsets ut work on the bloom to II insect
of any other kind. The past season
shows the value of bees TO the irul'
grower, for while there was a profusioh
of fruit bloom, just at the time she
bloom was out 1t was too cool ana wet
for the bees TO be Il but little, hence
a great scarcity offruit this year. mere
were some plums and a few peaches
be,,ause when some of these were in
bloom, there was a chance for the bees
to ne out. ANY one can easily expert
ment a little on this line by covering
limb of a fruit tree when just coming
into bloom by...using a piece of hight
muslin or something of h a character
and leave the rest of the tree exposed
and then note the results. II carefully
done there will be but little, If any fruit
that will set on the limb that IL cover
ed, Clover may be tested the same
way. BY II test made on white clio,
YER with twenty heads covered and
twenty uncovered 1t was found on the
uncovered heads 900 seeds had matur-
ed. while with the twentS-one heads
that were covered there were no seeds
at all. The a there Is but little
seed in the first crop OF red clover Is
because. WHEEL in bloom the first time,
the g are only a few bumblebees work
on red clover, but when the second
crop comes in bloom there are plenty
of humblebees and they cause the clo-
yer bloom to bec,me well fertiiized-
The Italian bees very frequently work
on red clover. 1t is often charged that
bees injure fruit by working on 1t in a
dry time. While 1t is true tina they
do work on fruit that Is injured by be-
coming over ripe and bursting the skin
or some otherinsecto or bird has brok
the skin, the honey bee does not break
through the sound skin, as they are
not capable of doing so, because they
| are not built that way, having no cut
| ting teeth to 90 it with. Wasps, hor-
I net 9, yellow jackets and some other
| ms ects have got cutting jaws some
what like saw teeth and they can and
often do work on sound fruit and when
they are at work the honey bee Is apt
to he around, and after the skin Is bro
ken they will help themselves. We
have the anatomy of the honey pee
and a large list of experiments (no
guess work. to sustain our position on
this subject. but even allowing that
bees do work on injured fruit at times,
without them there would be but lit
| tie fruit at all.
Mr.. G. w. Waters of Rails coun-
ty gave a practical discussion re-
garding the capillarity of soils: He
said:
"Capillarity or capillary power re-
lates to the action Of water in NOV
ing upward along the interstices or
fine tubes in the soil. We may see
an example of capillary power by
taking a quantity of soft snow com
press it slightly, touch it to colored
water and we may watch the water
climb or flow upward.
"Water is a most active element,
never still unless confined by force.
The water in a basin will not stay,
it gets away by evaporation, moves
along freely in vapor form in the air,
is precipitated in rain, rushes along
the rivulet or stream or goes into
the earth's surface by gravitation; a
portion is captured by the particles
of soil and held for a time in sus-
pension, but at once capillary power
asserts itself and the ever restless
water begins to ascend. Reaching
the surface, it by evaporation takes
its flight again or its mission as be-
fore, The mission Of water in plant
growth is that of a common carrier
or circulating medium.
"1'he amount of water used by
plants is greater than we sometimes.
think. An acre of clover may con-
sumo during its growth over 400
tons Of water; an acre of wheat,
which requires as little water per-
haps as any of our farm crops, con-
sumes during its growth over $50
tons Of water. This water is obtain
ed through the soil; plants use the
water that adheres to the soil, the
water held in suspension, the water
that is on the move by capillary
power. This capillary power exists
in all soils. No matter how COM
pact & soil may be, wherever water
can enter by gravity, water can and
will return by capillarity, hence the
question is not SO much how we may
increase the capillary power Of a soil,
but how we may cause the soil to
absorb and hold water in suspension
and then how shall we conserve that
moisture to the use of crops, for Just
SO much as is allowed to reach the
surface by capillarity and escape by
evaporation is lost to the plant.
The question of tillage comes in at
point and in an analysis of that
question we learn hat tillage may
be such as to break the force of cap
Hilary power at the surface at the up
flow and conserve the water for the
so cultivated.
"Water will course its way along
thrarlul- IL rlo< III IL IL