64 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



in many localities, but the timber is usually 

 small. Somebody asked about the white 

 poplar in Ohio. Friend Hunt remarked 

 that Ohio was not so " poplar "' since elec- 

 tion. The president here called him to or- 

 der, reminding him that politics was out of 

 place in a bee-keepers' convention. This 

 timber, called white poplar, seems to be the 

 same thing that we have for years been ac- 

 customed to call aspen, or, in other locali- 

 ties, " quaking asp." This latter name is 

 given on account of the peculiar tremulous 

 motion of the leaves when stirred by a 

 breeze. Another brother got up here to tell 

 us that the aspen in his locality furnishes 

 so much honey that it would damage him al- 

 most as much to cut it off as it would to cut 

 off the basswood. It yields its honey so 

 early in the season, however, the bees are 

 seldom as well prepared to gather it, there- 

 fore it can not be of as much value as bass- 

 wood. Now, dear friends, it seems to me 

 that about the only encouraging outlet for 

 us is to plant basswood forests, and may be 

 poplar also. They are both exceedingly 

 rapid growers. In many localities we need 

 not go to the trouble of planting — simply 

 keep live stock from the woodlands, cut out 

 the other timber, and you will very soon 

 have a basswood orchard or a basswood /or- 

 es^ if you choose, to your heart's content. 

 I am inclined to think it will pay bee-men 

 to pick out pieces of woodland in their vi- 

 cinity, and set to work in a systematic way 

 to encourage the basswoods. On page 10, 

 Jan. 1, 1 mentioned where basswood sprouts 

 had come up around the stumps in the com- 

 paratively short period of ten years, so as to 

 give trees large enough to yield honey and 

 to make sections. Where you own a piece 

 of basswood timber, you can monopolize the 

 matter ; and it seems quite likely that a 

 basswood forest would pay, even for other 

 purposes than sections and honey. Come, 

 boys, let's get at it. Look over the bass- 

 wood tracts in your neighborhood ; and 

 where the land is not held too high, buy it 

 up and go to work encouraging the little 

 basswood-trees. If you have the time, and 

 feel like it, you can get a more even stand 

 by doing a little transplanting. I for one 

 should like to go out this very afternoon 

 and start the thing going. It is true, we 

 have eight or ten acres of transplanted 

 trees already, but it is not enough. Every 

 man who proposes to make bee culture his 

 occupation for life ought to have 25 or more 

 acres of basswood, all his own, somewhere 

 in range of the flight of his bees. If he 

 goes to w^ork earnestly, cutting off the oth- 

 er timber, and encouraging the basswood, 

 in the majority of cases I think his children 

 will respect his memory enough to keep the 

 project going. What do yoii say V I did 

 not give the above suggestions at the con- 

 vention, but I give them now. Have you 

 any thing better to offer ? 



FLAT-BOTTOM FOUNDATION. 



Quite a number testified to the fact that 

 comb built out on flat- bottom foundation 

 has less of a fishbone than on foundation 

 made of the natural shape. The reason 

 seems to be, that the bees, in changing the 

 flat-bottom to the natural-shape cell, thin 



the base more to the thickness of natural 

 comb than with the other. I believe it was 

 generally admitted, that bees are often 

 slower to commence working on it ; but this 

 is not always so, and need not prove to be 

 very much of a hindrance. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



LENDING GLEANINGS, FINDING SOMETHING TO DO 

 AT eOMK, ETC. 



Mr. Root:— Gleanings is one of the journals that 

 ought to be found in the family of every bee-lieep- 

 er, gardener, and farmer. There is but one thing 

 lacking in it, and that is a poultry department. I 

 think that is the next thing to bees. There is not 

 enough attention paid to poultry. It is useless for 

 me to even try to estimate the value I have receiv- 

 ed from Gleanings and your ABC book. I have 

 been a constant reader siace Jan. 1, 1883. Pardon 

 me if 1 have done wrong; but I don't think there is 

 a family within four miles of me but that I have 

 given a copy of Gleanings to, in order that they 

 may reap the benefit. I make my bees do as I 

 please. I have them boiling over all the time. I 

 have too many irons in the fire to be comfortable. 

 I am a blacksmith, bee-keeper, poultry-breeder, 

 stone-mason, buggy-painter, carpenter, and wagon- 

 wood maker ; but I do not go away from home to do 

 work. T. A. Inghram. 



Waynesburg, Pa., Dec. '3.5. 



Well, well, good friend, we are certainly 

 very much obliged to you for your kind 

 wishes. You have not done any wrong at 

 all in lending Gleanings, so far as we are 

 C'tncerned. Just keep lending them, right 

 and left, in the same way, and tell us how 

 many numbers you lose, and we will replace 

 them free of charge. Don't be at all back- 

 ward, for we have stacks of them that will 

 probably never be used, unless for paper- 

 rags. Surely you are taking pains to find 

 something to do ; and I agree with you that 

 it is worth a great deal to be able to find 

 plenty of work at home, without being 

 obliged to run around for it. A man who 

 can induce people to come to him is certain- 

 ly in much better shape than the one who 

 has to go around and beg for something to 

 do. I often think about saying more in 

 Gleanings in regard to poultry ; but our 

 agricultural papers have so much of it, be- 

 sides our regular poultry - journals, that 

 there hardly seems to be any great need of 

 any thing from us in the matter. 



a new Tj-cent package for extracted honey ; 



using an egg-shell, and sealing with wax. 



I send you by mail to day a new package for ex- 

 tracted honey, filled with honey which I think 

 might be granulated by this time -at least, I be- 

 lieve it is new. as I have never heard of such a 

 package before. The cost of them is nothing to 

 those who keep poultry, as the contents can be 

 used. A pin or fine needle is sufficient to make a 

 hole with at the small end of the egg. The other 

 end will require a hole at least as large as a small 

 pea. I can not give the exact proportion of bees- 

 wax and rosin used in sealing. I use a glass syr- 



