498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



|/j^ •^rcmmr 



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

 (llssatisfled; and when anythinR is amiss. 1 hope you will "talk 

 right out. ' ' As a lule. we will omit names and addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



SPEESUM}'] we are all of us backward 

 about learning by experience, that it is 

 — ■ such an easy thing to be mistaken, and 

 I presume, too, we are all of us prone to for- 

 get how many times we luave been mistaken 

 before, each time we insist we are right and 

 our opponent wrong. A short time ago a 

 customer ordered, with other goods, 24 di- 

 vision-boards. On receipt of the goods, he 

 wrote as follows : — 



The 24 division-boards I do not find with the rest 

 of my goods. Please send them. * ^ * 



Aug. 9, 1882. 



On looking the matter up, we found they 

 were packed by our most careful clerk ; and 

 as it seemed next to impossible such a bulky 

 lot of goods could have been omitted, we 

 wrote him :— 



Wc find, upon looking the matter up, my friend, 

 that the division-boarJs are checked off; and as your 

 oi-der was put up by one of my most competent 

 clerks, itd'»c*- seem as if the.y surxlij must be there. 

 However, as you say they are not there, wo will 

 send 2i more with this shipment, and trust, if you 

 find others, you will report and send us pay. 



We thought the above courteous, but it 

 seems he didn't, for he replies as follows :— 



Yours of the 1st at hand and contents noted. You 

 say, after looking up my order carefully, you find 

 the division-boards checked. They might have been 

 checked, but they were not put Into the boxes with 

 the rest of my order, neither could they have been 

 put in, for the boxes were full; and if you have a 

 man in your employ who can pack 24 division-boards 

 in those three boxes with the rest of my goods, I 

 will pay you for five hundred division-boards. Talk 

 is cheap, but I mean what 1 say, and will send the 

 boxes out by the next train that comes that way. I 

 am awaiting your order. When 1 try to steal from 

 you it will be more than 24 division-boards. As re- 

 gards my squareness in doing business, please in- 

 quire of and — , where I have bought 



my groceries for 6 years. 



P. S.— I pack boxes almost every day, and know 

 what they will hold. W. T. W. 



Aug. 15, 1882. 



The clerk would have given him a pretty 

 severe reply, had I not protested. She said 

 she still believed the division-boards were 

 sent, and I reproved her for that, saying the 

 man would surely know whether they were 

 there or not. By my dictation the follow- 

 ing was sent him :— 



There is no need of getting into a passion, my 

 friend. No one has even hinted at dishonesty. 

 Customers frequently do not know what goods are 

 like, and say they arc not in the package, and after- 

 ward write us of their mistake. 



Well, greatly to my surprise, at least, to- 

 day comes the following :— 



I shall have to beg your pardon. The division- 

 boards were all right, and I did not know what they 

 were. I took the advice of an old bee-man; he said 

 there were no division-boards there. Inclosed I 

 send check for $2.40. W. T. W. 



Sept. 4, 1882. 



Is not the moral plain, dear friends V 



OR HOHEY-PLAHTS TO BE NAMED. 



SOUTHERN BUCKTHORN. 



MERE is a twig I broke from a little tree that 

 blooms about the 1st of July. 1 do not know 



how long the V)loom lasts, but it supports or 



attracts more bees than any other tree I oversaw, 

 except settled swarms. What is it? Please answer 

 in Gleanings. Bees have not gathered much hon- 

 ey this season, but have increased rapidly. 

 Friendsville, Tenn., Aug. 27, 1882. S. L. Greek. 



Answer, by Prof. Lazenby:— 



The plant is Bumclia, or Southern buckthorn— ZJk- 

 melia hjciaides, order Sapotaccfc, or Sappodilla family. 

 It is a small, mostly tropical order, producing the 

 "star-apple" and some other edible fruits. The 

 species in question is a spring shrub, or small tree, 

 from 10 to 25 feet high, Viearing a small round black 

 fruit resembling a cherry. The wood is exceedingly 

 hard. W. It. Lazenby. 



Columbus, O., Sept. 5, 1883. 



I send you by to-day's mail two plants. Please 

 give their name, and say whether or not they are of 

 any value as honej'-plants. The largo one is a wild 

 weed growing abundantly in all deserted fields and 

 all cleared ground not in use; blooms from about 

 the first of July until frost. Bees are at work on the 

 blossoms all day, but seem to get more pollen than 

 honey. The other grows thickly in cultivated fields, 

 and is cut by farmers for winter ft)rage for stock, 

 and is called " clover," but 1 do not know what kind. 

 Bees work on it. J. J. Davidson. 



Grand Bay, Mobile Co., Ala., July 20, 1882. 



Answer, by Prof. Lazenby:— 



Of the two plants, the one called "clover " was in 

 such a poor condition that I could not determine its 

 name. I would like another specimen. The other 

 plant, "the fine one with yellow blossoms," is the 

 slender - leaved sneezewort, nclcniimi tcnuifoUum, 

 Compiisittv. This plant is one of the most beautiful 

 of our wild flowers, and is worthy of a place in the 

 flower-garden. Helenium is not a large genus, hav- 

 ing not more than six or eight representatives in the 

 U.S. The botanical name is connected with Greek 

 history. It is said that the original Helenium sprang 

 from tears shed by Helena; and the floral emblem- 

 atists have therefore made this plant the represent- 

 ative of tears. W. K. Lazenby. 



Columbus, O., Sept. 5, 1882. 



I send you a honey-blossom of the famous Aroo- 

 stook honey-plant, as we call it — the second^growth 

 flreweed, or Indian " wecop." What do j'ou call it? 



Dexter, Me., July 29, 1882. L. French. 



Answer, by Prof. Lazenby:— 



The plant is what is commonly called "large wil- 

 low - herb" — EiJilohium aiiouMifoUum {Onayrac:<v, 

 or Evening -primrose family), a perennial with 

 nearly sessile leaves, which resemble the leaves of 

 the willow and violet-purple flowers. It belongs to a 

 genus of tall -growing, hardy, herbaceous plants, 

 chiefly natives of Europe, but now extensively natu- 

 ralized. Some of our native species are very showy 

 plants, with large spikes of pink flowers. They are 

 of easy culture, and may be readily propagated from 

 seed. W. R. Lazenby. 



Columbus, O., Sept. 5, 1882. 



