394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



think a person should have two pair, so as to toe flll- 

 iug one while the other is cooling. 



F. S. FCLMER. 



Spring- Mill.?, Campbell Co., Va., June 30, 188;J. 



Thanks for your very kind words, friend 

 F., and I earnestly pray tliat I may always 

 be able to give efficient help to all who see 

 tit to come to me. Your " sliver " about the 

 candied lioney is something I have never 

 seen. Honey that candies almost as soon as 

 stored, like pure grape sugar, has been sev- 

 eral times reported ; but 1 believe its source 

 is not known definitely. The reason you 

 found it only where you had cut out 

 queen-cells, was because it was a recent 

 yield, and I think you will lind the same 

 kind of candied honey all througli your api- 

 ary, in the honey just brought in. I know 

 of no help for it, except to explain it to your 

 customers ; and if they do not know you 

 personally, you may find it pretty hard work 

 to convince them you have not been feeding 

 sugar.— Your plan of using sticks with wires 

 on them is very old, but it sometimes does 

 good to revive old things. 



im 



ure 



This department is to be kept for the benefit of those who are 

 fllssatistied ; and when anything is amiss, 1 hope you will " talk 

 risht out." As a rule, we will omit names anil addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



^jyjpli O not send any more of your trash to me. I am 

 MM satisfied that j'ou are an arrant hypocrite, 

 and not an honorable opponent, but, like a 

 little whiffet, always barking behind. 



George K. Wright. 

 Cambria, N. Y., June 39, 1883. 



Why, friend W., one miglit almost think 

 you were mad about something. If it is all 

 because J felt obliged to decline publishing 

 some communication you sent, which I did 

 not deem as profitable and important as 

 other matter I had on hand, I am very sorry; 

 but inasmuch as it is my duty to select mat- 

 ter to the best of my judgment, I do not see 

 liow I can do differently. If enemies are a 

 blessing to us because they tell us of our 

 faults without fear or favor, I certainly 

 liave got a blessing this time, and I shall try 

 to have your words do me good. If I am in 

 the least disposed to be hypocritical, I will 

 strive for the opposite ; and if I have ever, 

 even unconsciously, luid a way of " barking 

 behind," I will try henceforth to do all my 

 barking right squarely before people's faces. 

 Your first request is, however, not so easily 

 complied with. Your name is likely some- 

 where in our long printed list of those to 

 wliom we send price lists once a year. We 

 printed fifty copies of these lists, and it 

 would be quite a task to have a clerk hunt 

 out your name fifty times, and cut it out. I 

 fear, in spite of all I can do, that a price list 

 will go to you once a year for the next fifty 

 years. Before that time, however, it is quite 

 likely my son may send them out, and yoitr 

 son may get them. I presume, under the ex- 

 isting state of affairs, you wouldn't shake 

 hands if we should meet V Probably not ; 

 but as far as I am concerned, I do not know 



that I would have any objection, even though 

 you did call me those ugly names. 



THE liOCUST AS A HONEY-TREE; 



AND SOMETHING ABOUT STARTING LOCCTST GROVES. 



fjIIE locust-trees are now in bloom, and from my 

 window I see the bees working industriously 

 ' among the fragrant blossoms. The flow of 

 honey seems to bo greatest toward evening, as then 

 there is a cloud of bees among these trees, and it is 

 my impression that the yield of honey from them is 

 quite considerable and of good flavor. These trees 

 belong to the Lcyuminosce order, which embraces a 

 host of plants, trees, shrubs, and herbs. There are 

 about 7000 species. Peas and beans belong to the 

 same order. 



THE HONEY-LOCUST. 



Most of us have been accustomed to call the locust 

 Avith pink or white (lowers, honey-locust; but if the 

 readers should see a real honey-locust, they would 

 say, "No such trees on my farm." 



All along the trunk are horrid masses of branch- 

 ing thorns 6 inches to 112 feet long— an excellent 

 tree for birds to build in, for I am sure their nests 

 would not be disturbed by bad boys. It attains a 

 height of from 30 to 70 feet, has beautiful foliage, 

 and is now covered with small bunches of greenish 

 flowers. I found some few trees in the woods here, 

 the contented hum of many bees showing that it 

 may rightly be called honey-locust (GlcditscMa). 



But the most valuable of all the locusts is the 

 Rohinial. This is the common locust found every- 

 where in our country. It is a native of the Western 

 and Middle States, and has been naturalized in New 

 England. It grows readily and vigorously on per- 

 meable soils, as sand and gravel, or loam; and now 

 let me show you its great value: 



1. It is a good honey-tree. 



3. It is a beautiful tree for the lawn or park, hav- 

 ing exquisitely beautiful foliage both in color and 

 form. 



3. Unlike other shade trees, the locust improves 

 the sod or grass where it is planted. The soil here 

 is very light and sandy, and it is a difficult matter to 

 make grass grow on the lawn; but if locusts are 

 planted, we soon have a good compact growth. 



i. The chief value of the locust is the durability of 

 the wood. As fence-posts it will outlast oak of any 

 kind four to one. 



We are told by a fiiend that near the battlefield of 

 Monmouth stood an old fence built during the Revo- 

 lutionary War. Four years ago this fence was re- 

 paired, and to the astonishment of the children who 

 now occupy the old homestead, the posts which their 

 father had placed there were still sound. They 

 were the yellow locust, which abounds here, but is 

 not such a rapid grower as the common black locust. 



All farmers know that one of the greatest nui- 

 sances about the farm is bad fences, and the keep- 

 ing of them in repair. There is some waste land to 

 every farm, and if this were planted with young 

 locust-trees there would soon be a continual supply 

 of posts, enough to keep all fences in good repair. 

 In our yard are trees 1-5 years old. Each one will 

 make at least a dozen posts. In this vicinity farm- 

 ers begin to know the value of such timber, and 

 posts 4 in. by 3 in. by 6 feet sell for 75 cents apiece. 

 Ten years' growth will make good fence-posts that 



