CORN AS A HONEY-PLANT, ETC. EASTERDAY'S REPORT. COMMENCED the season with 12 colonies, and increased to 23. Took off 1089 lbs., all comb honey-an average of over 90 lbs. I bought 5 old colonies in August for $12.00, from which I took 180 lbs. Nearly all of this honey was produced during very dry, hot weather in August and September; principally from corn-tassel and smartweed. I am aware that many contend that corn does not yield honey; but I have always got more from that source than from white clover. My honey sold readily at an average of about seventeen cents, net. There now! I always thought corn was good for bees; or, perhaps, I should say, rather, I hoped it was. Last season I bought a bushel each of three kinds of sweet corn, and planted patches of them on our grounds. The bees worked on all, and got large quantities of pollen, if they did not honey. Well, to kind of make my honey farm pay a little something, I sold green corn and some other garden stuff. Neighbor II. is a farmer, you know. Well, he and Mr. Gray were one day laughing at my market-garden speculation. I had a man hired at $1.25 a day, and I had hoped to sell enough stuff to pay his wages. Said II., "Mr. R., you are a tip-top hand to run a bee journal and factory; but when you get to farming, you are off from your beat. You may possibly make your ground yield the 25c part of the $1.25, but, if I mistake not, you will be just about a dollar a day out of pocket." Well, it was a good deal so, my friends, on a great part of my crops, because I had so little ground, and could not be with the boys personally much of the time. But there was one thing that paid expenses, and a little more. It was the green corn. It was very little cash out for labor, and the corn sold readily at 10c per dozen ears, the whole of it. More than that, a lot of it was dried, and it is certainly the most delicious corn now of any we have ever used or tasted. Caddy and Blue Eyes both testify to its excellencies. The corn was the Mammoth Evergreen; and next year I am going to have a field large enough to keep our lunch-room supplied, not only during the summer, but with dried corn through the winter months. Who knows but that we may be able to put a package of superior dried corn on the 5c counter, large enough to make a good meal for the whole family? Wake up, boys! Who among you, ye sons of toil, will furnish me with dried corn by the ton, so I can sell it low, and do good, and all get paid for it too? The honey will be clear profit, you know. The corn mentioned was so sweet that we all accused mamma of putting sugar in it. You see, when you get a lot of it ready for market, you can just send samples by mail. Why has dried corn never yet been before the public? Good canned corn can be had, it is true; but think of the expense of cans, and the extra bulk of corn boiled in water, juice and all, compared with dried corn. Our dried corn is, besides, vastly superior to any canned corn we can get in our market. Who will furnish me a ton? Where are our feminine friends who have nothing to do? and who will tell us the best method of drying it? If this article is not all about corn as a honey-plant, it is a good one, I am sure. If you do not think so, come down to dinner with us, and have a dish of that dried corn. I presume it was that new book of the Home Papers that started my mind off in this direction. Bee Botany, OR HONEY PLANTS TO BE NAMED. COTTON AS A HONEY-PLANT. I come to vindicate my staple honey-plant,-cotton. I see friend Cathey, of Cabot, Ark., classes it as a poor honey-plant. His description of the bloom is correct. My bees seldom enter the bloom, as there is but little honey secreted on the inside of the corolla. They get their honey between the corolla and the five-pointed calyx which hugs the corolla very tightly, admitting only the tongue of the bee; and as the honey is secreted at or near the base of the corolla, where the little boll increased, and as the calyx is six-sixteenths of an inch in depth, and the tongue of the Italian bee is only four or five sixteenths of an inch in length, it is impossible for the bees to get all the nectar, and frequently the calyx is so tight around the corolla that it is impossible for the bees to get at the nectar. My bees gave me a surplus of 30 lbs. per hive in July, and during August and September they stored from 50 to 60 lbs. per hive from cotton alone. I had fifty acres of cotton on my own farm, extending to within fifteen feet of my hives. I spent many hours in the cotton-fields, to satisfy myself that my bees were getting their honey from the cotton; and as I live on a high, open prairie, three miles from timber, and nine-tenths of the land is under cultivation, and fully three-fifths planted to cotton, with no other flowers from which my bees could get honey, I know that is the best honey-plant we have; and if it were not for the countless millions of small black ants that appropri ate a greater part of the nectar, our bees would gather tons of honey every year from the cotton alone. I do not write this to get up a controversy with any of my Southern bee-keepers, but to set them to watching closely for the honey, for the bees, and how they get the honey, and for the greedy little ants that get most of the cotton honey. The honey from cotton is white and very transparent, and after standing a few months is equal to the famous white-clover honey of the North. B. F. CARROLL. Dresden, Navarro Co., Texas, Oct. 30, 1880. MALLOWS AS A HONEY-PLANT. Inclosed find some seed and some of the stalk which blooms from July till the ground freezes. My bees are working on it to-day, and have been ever since basswood. J. K. OREN. LaPorte City, Ia., Oct. 6, 1880. The plant sent is Malva alcea, a kind of mallow which has escaped from cultivation. W. J. BEAL. Lansing, Mich. The same plant was in bloom in our garden last season, and the bees were busy working on it November 5th. I can not now remember who sent it to us, but it has excited considerable attention this season. The blossoms are exactly like little hollyhocks. I have no doubt but that a half-acre of it would be a sight. It grows nearly as high as the hollyhock, but has a much more branching habit. I had my hives carted off and set down on a meadow, with heather in front of them,-heather, purpleblooming heather, as far as the eye could reach. How the bees worked! Making a noise like a stream of water, they poured in and out as only bees in earnest can do. In the first week of September, at our annual flower show, I exhibited a crate glassed at both ends, containing 36 lbs. (in 1-lb. boxes), each box so beautifully and smoothly filled, capped with a snowy wax capping, that not a drop of honey was escaping; not a bit of comb protruding. The first prize was obtained for the exhibit. Next day, the same crate took first prize against all comersagainst men who have been bee-masters for forty years, at the show in Sterling. I did feel some pleasure in being at once looked upon as an authority in bee culture; but I told those whom I thought worthy of enlightenment, that they must procure a copy of the book which had been of so much value and service to me. All thanks to you, dear friend. You will, however, allow me to say, that a man's love for these busy creatures, and his ingenuity, will do much to win success, even in bad years, and that these are required over and above the aid of a valuable book, such as you have given the world. I always like to think of my bees being the creation of Him who said to the disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." They truly are the gatherers of nectar that would be lost had he not sent them -skilled laborers-into the harvest-field to prevent waste or loss. You may be sure that my "little fellows" are all Below is a report from the same plant, comfortably housed; strong in numbers, and plenfrom still another locality☎ I send you to-day a parcel containing leaves, flowers, and seeds, of a plant we call "Malice." It blossoms from early spring until late in the fall. If it is of any account for bee-food, will you please give notice of it in GLEANINGS as soon as possible, and oblige a subscriber and lover of flowers and bees? Richmond, Mich., Nov. 6, '80. A LETTER FROM SCOTLAND. I tiful in stores. BEE POISONING. DITOR GLEANINGS:-I wish to relate my case of singular poisoning of the bronchial tubes, which I receive whenever I am about an open hive, or in a room where several bees are confined, or where an angry bee passes within a few inches of my face. You are all aware, that often an angry bee throws off poison which you can smell readily. Were you also aware, that nearly every bee that flies about you (not loaded or en route for the fields) also throw off a lesser quantity of poison? Well, such I have proven to be the case. The same is true when hives are opened, at nearly all times. This shows us how careful we should be about irritating the bees when removing surplus honey, in order that the honey may not become impregnated with the poison. This trouble commenced about six or seven years ago, and the first symptoms were an itching in the glands between the ears and roots of the tongue; next, a tingling, itching sensation in the back part of the roof of my mouth, very hard to bear. Then this sensation crept down the bronchial tubes to the lower portion of the lungs, till I found I had bronchial asthma. I had to get out of bed and go to the window to catch my breath, at night. MAKE bold to write you, as you are a friend to every one interested in bees. Your book fell into my hands in the spring of this year. I happened to find it in a friend's house, and as he was making no use of it I begged a reading of him. The result was, that your name became a household word in our circle. Your plans of bee-keeping were at once adopted by me, and, though laughed at by many an old-fashioned apiarist, I persevered with my pound section-boxes till, in the first week of July, I experienced the delight of lifting off from one of my hives one completely filled. It weighed exactly 16%1⁄2 ounces. My dear wife, who, since that, has, by our all-wise heavenly Father, been taken from me, was very much pleased, and so were all our friends. The enemies of the system were all amazed. Encouraged by my success, I still went on supering my hives with these little boxes; de- I had every evidence that the poison from the vised tin separators, which, while they made the bees caused all the above symptoms, but still I bees work straight combs, freely admitted the laden would doubt it at times. Whenever I was away workers to the honey-chambers; then in the begin- from the bees for two weeks at a time, I would get ning of August, just as the heather was bursting all well again. Finally I decided to settle the matinto bloom (a moor containing four thousand acres ter. I kept away from the hives till I was entirely is within three miles of our village), on a dull night | free from any of the symptoms. When I opened a hive, and when the bees were quite enraged, I drew a long breath upon them, and I tell you, I shall never try that experiment again. I was in terrible distress for a half-hour. I coughed with a "tight" cough for about two days; then I began to "raise," and this kept on about three weeks before I healed the wounds. During all the rest of the fall just past I kept away from my apiaries, except to go in occasionally to direct the work, and then with a handkerchief tied over my nose and mouth. Now I am as well as any of us, but much disappointed when I think that next season I must shun my favorite labor. When you consider that bee culture has been a specialty with me all my married life (12 years), and that nearly all my capital is in it, and that just now the honey-producer's future seems to brighten, you can readily imagine that an antidote for this trouble would be very acceptable. I have tried many and various remedies, among which the best is ammonia, gargled and swallowed; but none of them are equal to the task, and soon become negative to the poison. I have business enough now, with my supply trade, to keep me at work out of the apiary; but my greatest trouble is to get good reliable help who understand the business. I used to take good men, and teach them the trade; but now, as I can no longer work among the bees, educated help becomes a necessity, and, I fear, a very scarce one too. With the present low rate of interest for money, and outlook in our pursuit, I should be enlarging rather than contracting, but for the above-described trouble. Has any one ever experienced or observed any thing like it? Any information would be thankfully received. JAMES HEDDON. Dowagiac, Mich., Dec. 9, 1880. I have noticed something of what friend H. mentions, in regard to the poison from bee-stings, although it never affected myself, nor any one whom I have conversed with, in the manner he states. I am inclined to think that handling bees was not the original cause of the disease he mentions, but that the virus from the stings only aggravated a complaint that proceeded from other causes. Of course, I may be mistaken in this. In any event, I do not think we should be in haste to conclude that working among bees is necessarily an unhealthy pursuit, even though friend H. be correct in all his premises. Prof. Cook has recently written in regard to a kindred matter, showing that what is "one man's meat may be another's poiYou will find, in this No., very strong proof that these same stings are of great advantage in some cases of rheumatism; well, may it not be that the same virus that proves poisonous to friend II. will be exactly the medicine needed for some other brother or sister who is afflicted? son." REPORT ON HONEY-PLANTS. S I have previously promised, I will now make a full report on my success with honey-plants during the past season. I tried four kinds; viz., touch-me-not, or the common garden flower called balsam and lady slippers; mignonnette, Simpson and Spider plants. TOUCH-ME-NOT. Of the first-named, I have tried some for two seasons. This season I had a patch, say 30 by 60 feet. They bloom freely through the last of July, August, and Sept., and, having a great variety of shades and colors, they make a very attractive appearance to any one who does admire nature's beauties. I have watched them quite closely, as a honey-plant, and I have come to the conclusion that they do not produce the nectar in very paying quantities, while they do serve to keep the bees out of mischief, such as robbing and pilfering, at such times as there is not much else they can find to work on. MIGNONNETTE. I became pretty thoroughly disgusted with mignonnette last season. I planted a piece, say 150 feet low; but I had to plant it over three times, and then square, of the very finest of ground, rich and meldid not get half a crop from it. I have planted it two seasons, and I have found the seeds of it the very hardest to germinate of anything I have ever tried. I can beat it with the Simpson seed a thousand to one, as a honey-plant. I conclude, it is fair, but not the best. Sometimes the bees seemed to work on it quite fairly, and at others scarcely at all. If it could be easily grown, I would be satisfied to raise it every year; but my patch last season cost me, in ground rent, seed, and cultivation, at least $40.00, and I do not think I got $5.00 benefit from it. But I was consoled in the fall by the information that the kind I had cultivated, which was the small sweet, was worthless as a honey-plant, but that the mammoth, or grandiflora, were the only ones worth the culture for producing honey. If this be true, what have all our bee journals been doing by advertising and selling the seeds of the worthless kinds? Do they not merit a place in Humbugs and Swindles? Next season I intend to try the larger kinds. THE SIMPSON PLANTS. Of the Simpson, I conclude the half has never yet been told. I cultivated a small patch of about a thousand plants. I saw the first bees on them the first day of July, and they were fairly at work by the 8th or 10th; and from that on, for fully two months, it was one continual big boom, from early dawn until fully dark, wet or dry, hot or cold; yes, even in the rain they would not give it up, for I went out one morning after it had been raining hard, and was then raining quite briskly, and the bees were flying there in quite goodly numbers. Two mornings I got up at four o'clock to get ahead of the bees, to see how early they would get to work; but both times they were there first. One night I remained to see how late they would stay, and I could hear them as long as I could see them; but it was not only a few bees that would be seen, but a large multitude of them. To look into the patch, it would seem as if a swarm was settling there. As the patch was not over ten feet from my shop, my opportunity for observation was good. It was a common thing, when my friends came to see me, to take them out and show them the sight; and, without exception, they said it was the greatest wonder in that line they had ever seen. About the 10th of Sept., it began to seed, and by the last of the month, scarcely a bee was seen about it, and I pronounced it done for the season. A couple of weeks later, I went to it to strip the seed, and was not a little surprised to see new green shoots, new buds, and new blossoms, and the bees working on it again quite lively. A fresh rain had renewed it; but as I wanted the seed, I stripped it. I also 14 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. raised several hundred plants from seed in the spring that bloomed finely in the fall. As this is already too long, I will report on Spider A. A. FRADENBURG. plants next month. Port Washington, Tusc. Co., O., Dec. 13, 1880. Are you not a little hasty, friend F., in accusing the bee journals? I have tested the large kinds of mignonnette on a considerable scale, and, if I am not mistaken, have reported in regard to the matter in these columns. My experience has been about like that you give, if I except some small patches that were sown on a very deep fine soil. It has never come anywhere near the Simpson plants, in our locality. HOME DECORATIONS. NE of the clerks came into the office a few days ago, wearing an apron, the print of which was beautiful specimens of ferns and forest leaves. In answer to my question as to how it is possible for calico-printers to give us patterns so beautiful and true to nature, I was told that it was only home-made calico, prepared from a By request, she has piece of white cloth. furnished the following description of the work. I presume our friends will study up a great variety of ways in which this new art may be applied. Some of the blank books we use in our work have beautifully embellished covers of leaf work done in the same way. Here is the description: SPATTER WORK. To make these beautiful spatter-work pictures, which every one admires, provide yourself with a "spatter-frame," a tooth-brush, a saucer, some ink, either common (not Oldroyd's, as it runs too freely) or India ink, and some foolscap or sized drawingpaper. Have ready some prettily shaped pressed leaves, such as ferns, honey-locust, delicate vines, or any wild trailing plants. Spread a newspaper over a bare table, to protect it from ink-spatters; lay your blank paper in the center of it, and arrange your pressed leaves in any form you please. Fasten the leaves down with pins or needles stuck through into the table. Pour a little ink into the saucer, and dip the tooth-brush into it; shaking off all the ink Now hold the spatter you can into the saucer. frame over the paper and rub the brush lightly across it, allowing the ink to sift through and fall Move the frame like spray on the paper below. slowly about, stopping occasionally to allow the ink to dry, or the particles will run together and make large dots. If the tint is not uniform, go over the lighter places still more until a smooth tint is secured. When the tint is several shades lighter than it is intended to have it when finished, take off some of the top leaves, which are required to be darkest in the design, and then proceed with the spattering again. When it is several shades darker, remove more leaves, and repeat the spattering, and so on, till only those leaves remain which are to appear white in the design. Fine stems and tendrils may be produced by careful scratching with a sharppointed knife. Dark stems and veins in the leaves can be produced with a fine pen or brush, using strong color. Also, in the same way, decided shades and effects are made by the use of fine dots or fine parallel lines drawn regularly, and of even thick ness; but this is not necessary to the production of you quite an expert in picture-making, and you can The spatter frame or sieve is an oblong piece of fine wire cloth 5x3 bound with tin, and with a tin handle attached to one end. What has all this got to do with bee-culture? some may ask. Well, I do not know, really, unless we ornament our cases for section honey by this plan, or, possibly, some one may choose to make a live and ornament it with maple leaves, ferns, etc. WILLOW. FEW years ago I cut off a limb of what I thought was the most beautiful willow-tree I ever saw. It was standing at the head of a grove, and I found it had been the stalk of the killmonark willow that had been broken off. [See page 599, Dec. No.] I planted it near my well. The second summer, the abundance, beauty, and fragrance of its bloom were the admiration of all who saw it. The first season, the weather was such that the bees could not work on it. The next spring it was thronged with bees throughout the day; and, to my astonishment as well as delight, they gathered not carried it to the hive. The flower, when well de- The tree seldom sends up a sucker, and never, to my knowledge, any distance from the tree. To obtain suitable canes for nice trees, or to bud the killmonark, the tree needs to be grown in a moist place, and to be cut back every spring. To insure the growth of such canes, they need to be cut before blooming. I keep about 50 colonies of bees, and have had such a desire to have them reap the rich stores, that I have done my cutting after blooming; hence my increase has been slow. I have no trees for sale; but to satisfy all as far as I can of the truth of my statements, I will send a tree to friend Root for his grounds free of charge, from a cutting a year ago last spring. I will send a cane also, such as I plant, and a cane showing about what I have found to be the maximum flowering capacity. I can furnish about 1000 cuttings. For terms, see advertising HENRY CULP. columns. Hilliards, Franklin Co., Ohio. Lest some of the friends accuse me of partiality in permitting references to the advertising columns like the above, I will explain, that new and meritorious articles offered at a low price, which I think will be of public benelit, I often advertise entirely free. We are very much obliged to friend C. for his valuable communication, and I know by experience that he would necessarily be besieged by applications for cuttings from the willow, entailing, perhaps, an expensive correspondence, did he not anticipate it by offering them for sale as he has done. At the very low price he offers them, no one can well accuse him of wishing to make money by it. I shall be very glad indeed to get one of the trees. FRIEND KLEINOW'S SWARMING TROU BLES, AND SOME OTHER TROUBLES NOT CAUSED BY SWARMING. TAKE the liberty to send you my report for 1880. In the spring I had about 50 strong colonies and a few weak ones (mostly Italians), and a few hybrid colonies; 21 colonies in your chaff, 16 in your Simplicity, and 10 in your 11⁄2 story hives; also 2 in the "Patented Palace," 1 in King's "Patented Improved Double Wall American," and 2 in box hives of my own make. So you see, I had a variety of hives. But the best report of comb honey I can make is from one of your chaff hives. It is 60 of your 1-pound sections, completely full, as white as snow. The great trouble was in not having hives and other implements ready in time; and I will just tell you a little of my experience that I had last season. The middle of May I went to a carpenter here in Detroit; showed him one of your Simplicity and one of your 1% story hives in flat. He promised to make me 60 of them, and to have the most of them ready by the first of June (the rest by June 15th.) After sending and going there myself about a dozen times, I received 10 of them. When I came to nail them together, there was no entrance on one side. I took them back again, and he returned them July 1st; but then I could not use them. I then told him to make no more. Then I sent to Mr. Bell, of Union City, Mich., for some hives. He had sent me a postal, saying that he was making hives like A. I. Root's, because he had the pattern to work by, from you; but when I told him they would have to be just like A. I. Root's hives, to be used two story high, he sent me back my money, and said that they could not be used two story high. Well, what was to be done? I sent to you, friend Root. Well, you, sent the hives before I expected them, and that helped me out of the swarming trouble some. The reason that I or dered the hives here in Detroit, and by rail, was, I thought I could save the freight charges on them, at least some of it; and I knew you were very busy at the time, and I would have to wait a long while. But after all I had to send to you for them. Now I want to come to the great swarming trouble. During the time that I was waiting for the hives, my bees commenced to swarm (the first swarm issued May 15, the last swarm, Sept. 3.) During the month of June, my bees were swarming at the rate of about 12 per day. Some would come out 2 to 5 times in one day. One day 14 swarms came out -nearly all first swarms; 4 swarms united, and alighted on a cherry-tree, 4 inches thick. I had to brace it to keep it from breaking over. It looked as if there was a black flour-barrel in the tree. I had ⚫ the greater part of my old queens' wings clipped, which came very handy, so I could always make the swarm go back again. The reason I returned them again was, it was bringing me a little nearer to the time of receiving the hives. But finally the young and the old queen came out together. Well, there was no more stop to them. I lost about 25 nice tested queens. The bees would kill some of them by returning them so often. When three or more swarms would come out together, some of them would go in the wrong hives, and get killed; sometimes, when there were three or more swarms out together, they would all return to one hive. So, you see, I did get my bees pretty well mixed up. The honey season was about a half-crop. With all my trouble, I received about 900 lbs. of honey, almost all in your 1-lb. sections, and about 25 lbs. of beeswax. The reason that I did not get more honey, I think, is, first, because I did not have the hives in readiness when they swarmed. Of course, some of them would have the swarming fever for about two weeks; they would not work any during that time; second, that it rained during the summer, especially during the white-clover bloom. It rained every day and almost every night besides, so the white clover was always full of water. It got no chance to get dry. If I had not had a large patch of raspberries, and the Simpson honey-plant, I would not have had any honey at all. One colony give me 60 lbs.; 6 gave me 50 lbs.; 12 give me 25 lbs.; the rest were scattered through the other hives. Sometimes I would take out about 500 section boxes, and would not get a drop of honey in them. That was not very encouraging, was it? I had over 5000 of your section boxes, in the hives during the season. Now, in the early spring, I put a section frame with sections and starters on each side, in the lower story. When the bees had started in them, I put the section frames, bees and all, up in the second story, then filled the upper story with section frames complete. The reason that I put the section frames and the second story on early was that I thought I could stop swarming (at least to some extent), and secure a good crop of honey. I did not want any increase in bees; honey was what I wanted. So, you see, I did all I could to keep my bees from swarming; but it was no use. During swarming season, I generally put 2 or 3 swarms in one hive (2 or 3 story hives), to have them strong. They would give 1, 2, or even 3 swarms; and some of them would not even touch starters in lower or upper stories. On some of them I put empty stories, just to keep them from swarming; but there was no use. Even the new swarms would swarm again after being in the hives about a month or so; but they would store no honey. Swarming was what they were after. Sometimes they would hang on the outside of the hive, with the empty upper story on. Well, they increased to about 115, but I united to 91, that I have now. Detroit, Mich., Dec. 1, 1880. OTTO KLEINOW. mania, friend K. If it will make you feel Your bees had what we call the swarming any better about it, I can tell you that friend Doolittle had about the same experience one season, and I am not sure, either, that he succeeded in devising any thing to prevent it, to his satisfaction. You of course tried the plan of hiving them on a comb of unsealed brood, did you not? It is bad to have such a quantity of partly filled and empty sections on hand, but they will come in nicely for another season; and those partly built out will be just what you want to get stubborn stocks to take a start in the sections. |