1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



181 



the fda., and fastens it in the fracie at one 

 operation. There is one more point I do not 

 like : If I am correct, the press is very apt 

 to cut the wires, if as large as No. 30, such 

 as we use. Well, No. ^(i, such as friend Giv- 

 en uses, is not, in my oinnion, strong enough. 

 ^Ve have used it, but it annoyed us by break- 

 ing after the combs were built out. Friend 

 Good uses No. 36 wire, but it was broken, as 

 I have told you. No doubt all these ditlicul- 

 ties will soon be remedied. If 1 could have 

 just what I want, t would have the deep fdn. 

 — almost honey- comb — mentioned on an- 

 other page, made in wired frames, and tight 

 up against the wood all around. As the 

 Given press can't make this, I presume we 

 shall have to be satisfied with the next best 

 thing, especially as we are not yet positively 

 sure the " next best ■" is not the best. 



HOW FAR BEES FliY FOR HONEY. 



A "clincher" this time. 



THE CATAI.PA. 



ITS VALUE FOR POSTS AS WELL AS HONEY. 



^J|INCE writing and advertising the catalpa-tree 

 ^^ as a honey-tret', and that the wood is decay- 

 ^^ proof, I have had a great many cards and let- 

 ters asiiing for information concerning said tree; 

 and perhaps I can answer most intelligently by 

 quoting Douglas & Sons' catalogue, and it rday bo 

 of interest to others. " W. R. Arthur, Sup't I. C. R. 

 R., informed me he visited the old homestead, and 

 took up a catalpa gate-post that his father set 40 

 years before. It was found as sound as the day it 

 was set. Judge Upsher, of Indiana, stated that old 

 citizens informed him the old stockade, built bj' the 

 first French settlers, was mostly of catalpa-trees 

 that grew in the forests there; and when the stock- 

 ade was torn down, nearly one hundred years after, 

 the posts Avere perfectly sound, and gave no indica- i 

 tion of decay. The early settlers in Knox County, 

 Ind., found a catalpa log that had fallen across a 

 stream, and used as a foot-log until it was flattened 

 on top by the wear of the feet. An old Indian, in 

 answer to the question how long the log had been 

 there, replied: 'My father's father crossed on that 

 log,' making it over 100 yeats old. In Southern Illi- 

 nois, another catalpa foot-log had been in use about 

 100 years. Prof, liurrill, of the Illinois Industrial 

 University, had the log sawn into boards, and ex- 

 hibited one board perfectly sound, at the Centen- 

 nial." I could give many more testimonials, but 

 this is enough. I have grape-stakes that were two- 

 year-old sprouts, that have been in the ground 7 

 years, and are sound to-day. They are as easy to 

 raise as corn; there is no tree-seed that I know of 

 that germinates as surely and quickly, and I plant a 

 great many seed each year. As to its honey value, I 

 put it equal to the bass wood. I may overestimate it, 

 but I have a patch of 1000 trees, and I am watching 

 them closely. One thing 1 do know, that, while they 

 are in blossom, my bees work on them excitedly, 

 Rantoul, 111., March 3, 1883. H. M. Morris. 



I have given the above to draw out further 

 facts in regard to the niatter. There is, 

 without question, something wonderful in 

 - regard to the durability of this timber; but 

 I am not so sure -of the honey. We have 

 several large trees in our town, but it is not 

 visited at all by our bees, only on occasional 

 seasons. How is it in other places V 



fj?) SEE by the Dec. No. of Gleanings, p. 596, that 

 ji| y i miles is as far as you have found Italians 

 working from home, and you think there is 

 some mistake about their going 7 miles for honey. 

 Again, in answer to Hugh Marlin, in Jan. No., p. 31, 

 you call for the experience of others. Now, with 

 your permission, I will give my experience. Fidal- 

 go, my home, is on an island. There were no bees 

 here until I introduced them, in 1879. In the spring 

 of 1880 1 Italianized 3 swarms with tested queens re- 

 ceived from you, and the middle of June had an Ital- 

 ian queen in all of my hives. These are the only 

 Italians in the county. Some time in July I was on a 

 visit to the head of Fidalgo Buy, just 5 miles from 

 home in a straight line, and while walking in the 

 gentleman's orchard I found the Italians just swarm- 

 ing on the white clover. And they seemed to have 

 come here through choice, as they passed over fields 

 of clover and other flowers on the way here. 



But the longest flight that I ever noticed was last 

 fall, in September. I live on the southeast side of 

 the island, facing Fidelia Bay, a sheet of salt water 

 .5' 3 miles from land to land. Flowers had become 

 very scarce on the island; the bees had killed all of 

 their drones, and I supposed quit work for the sea- 

 son. About a week later I was one day thrashing 

 some peas in a field on the southeast side of my 

 house, when one of my little boys, playing on the 

 strawstack, called my attention to the bees fly- 

 ing overhead. I stopped work and commenced 

 looking. Presently I could see them, a string of 

 bees 20 feet high. I could hardly think they were 

 bees, for the nearest land in that direction wasCii 

 miles. As I was not far from the apiary, I followed 

 up the line and found them dropping down, as it 

 were, from the clouds, loaded down with honey and 

 pollen, and covered with the yellow dust from the 

 goldenrod. I didn't stop for smoke, but opened a 

 hive at once, and found everything full — the queen 

 fairly crowded out. I just made things fly until I 

 had a sheet of fdn. in every hive (I had taken the 

 supers rff the week before). 



Now the question was, where were they getting 

 the honey? I must find that out, sure. I noticed 

 that every bee seemed tired out, and would stop to 

 pant and get breath after striking the alighting- 

 board before running into the hive. I was satisfied 

 they were going to the main land, and I was bound 

 to know for a certainty. The next morning, about 

 9 o'clock, the bees were flying nicely. I launched my 

 boat and started across on the line of flight. As it 

 was very calm, and- the water as smooth as a mir- 

 ror, I had no trouble in seeing the lineof flying bees. 

 After a little over an houi-'s pull I landed in a small 

 sloujih on the Swinomish tide flats (a reclaimed salt 

 marsh of several thousand acres). I clambered up 

 on to the dike, and, as far as I could see, the dikes in 

 everj' direction were covered with goldenrod In full 

 bloom —a perfect blaze of gold in the morning sun. 

 The first thing, I found the bees at work; and all 

 Italians, and, of course, mine. I was now bVj miles 

 from home. 



Now, in an easterly direction, 7 miles from Fair- 

 view (the place where I landed), there is an apiary of 

 50 stands of black bees, kept by friend Chilburgh, on 

 Pleasant Ridge. These dikes are all laid out with 

 foot-paths on top, so I had no trouble in following 



