624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



cine and medical treatment to the human fam- 

 ily is as important as that of protecting our 

 domestic animals from the errors of quackery. 

 As an illustration of current superstition, I want 

 to mention the following: A few days ago a 

 very good and intelligent farmer, who is at 

 present taking care of our cow, came to my wife 

 for some salt and pepper. Then he wanted 

 some turpentine. He said the cow had got 

 the " wolf-tail," or something that sounded like 

 it, and that the only thing to do was to split 

 the end of her tail and put in some salt and 

 pepper. Then some turpentine must be rubbed 

 between her horns, and she would be all right. 

 And poor bossy had to submit. When I heard 

 of it I began to I'emonstrate. The man who 

 drives the market- wagon, and who, by the 

 way, has for many years taught school in winter, 

 joined in, and declared that splitting the cow"s 

 tail was " orthodox " and right. He said he 

 had a cow in that same fix, and a good farmer 

 told what the trouble was as soon as he saw 

 her, and the treatment cured her right stiriight. 

 Now, the probability is that the poor cow had 

 been overfed, and that is why she could not eat 

 her supper. If simply let alone, she would have 

 come out all right. The question that occurs 

 to my mind in such matters is this: Who in the 

 world had the wonderful acutcness to discover 

 this remedy? Through what process of study, 

 invention, and rensotiimg, did any human being 

 arrive at the astoiinding fact that salt and 

 2)epper (nothing else will answer, mind you, and 

 one alone would not answej' — you must have 

 both), are needed? Furthermore, the applica- 

 tion must be made to the end of the cow's tail 

 after it is split open. Theft tiu'pentine (nothing 

 else here would answer, mind you) must be ap- 

 plied between her horns. In the present case, 

 of course no money was wasted; but if it is 

 really true that the laboring classes of our land 

 are continually paying out a large part of their 

 earnings in a blind and senseless way, and for 

 that which does little or no good, is it not a sad 

 thing to contemplate? By the way, Dr. Hall 

 has occupied a large space in his periodical for 

 August, to call myself and Dr. Kellogg names. 

 He has, however, paid me so great a compli- 

 ment in putting me side by side with so cele- 

 brated a physician and author as Dr. Kellogg, I 

 feel well enough i)leased to let the matter drop 

 where it is. Yes, it is probable that (Jleanings 

 has saved whole neighborhoods from investing 

 their money. I hear of it continually from 

 agents who have, like Othello, found their " oc- 

 cupation gone " ])ecause somebody got hold of a 

 copy of Gleanings, and carried it around, be- 

 fore the agent got in his fingers the four dollars 

 fi-om each family. Now, please do not gather 

 from the above that I do not appi'ove of Dr. 

 Hairs treatment. I feel sure it has done and 

 will do much good; but it is not his invention, 

 and he has no legal nor moral right to receive 

 money for something that does not belong to him. 



A GLIMPSE OF FLORIDA IN JULY. 



AN AI'IAIJY rNI)P:i{ THE GKAPEVINES AND 

 PALMETTOES. 



Friend Root: — I send you by this mail a ]jho- 

 tograijh of a corner in my bee-yard, taken tVoni 

 a window in my bee-house. My object in 

 taking the ]>icture was to give Pi'of. Cook a 

 plioto of the cabbage palmetto in full blocmi, 

 but I haven't done it. Tliis jjicture was taken 

 last Thursday. July 17, to test my plates, pre- 

 jjaratory to taking some palmettoes when they 

 come out in full flower, as I expected tliem 

 to do in tliree or four days; but as the buds 

 began to blight and drop imniediateiy. from the 

 eft'ects of a seveiT droutli we have been haviug. 

 I made this negative auswei- rather than to 

 score an entire failure. The trees in this picture 

 would have shown doiible their present bloom 

 if they could have jjcrfccted the buds. I cut a 

 sprig of lilooin from a nciglihoriug tree, how- 

 ever, and. setting it on tiic ground beside me, 

 held its top over my head. Tiiis will give you 

 an idea as to its size and form. 



To my left you see a section of one of my bee- 

 sheds, covered by scuppcruong gra|)evines. This 

 family of grapes needs but little^ pruning, and 

 grows enormously; and bears by the hundred 

 bushels in some cases. You will notice that 

 they are going over the palmetto-trees, shutting 

 off the view beyond. They make almost a per- 

 fect sliade for bees; and tlie Thomas variety is 

 one of tlu' sweetest grai)es known. Having a 

 rather thick skin, and growing iu bunches of 

 ■4 to l:i lierries only, they can never comi)ete 

 with the Delaware and other line bunch grapes 

 for table use. though many i)refer the Thomas 

 to eat out of hand. Tiie bei'ries ai'c \-ery larg(\ 

 often measuring 3^4 inches in cii-cunifei-ence. on 

 thrifty vines, and no insects or diseases trouble 

 them, though the mocking-birds an- vgry fond 

 of the Flowers variety, which is enough smaller 

 so that they can handle it. 



This yeai', for bees, has been an abnormal 

 one. The sjiring flow was very light on account 

 of dry weather and the burning of the woods. 

 Not a normal swarm was n^jjorted during the 

 usini-1 swarming season from February to the 

 middh' of May. and cousidei-ahle feeding had to 

 be don(> in April to prevent loss of colonies. I 

 liad many colonies that had plenty of honey in 

 the hives to carry them tin'ougli. Init I fed all. 

 as is my custom, in April, to incpare the bees 

 for the summer flow. Probably my bees were 

 in bettei' shape than almost any others here 

 when the flow commenced. I started the sea- 

 son with 9:^ colonies; worked 92 for exti'acted 

 honey, and have taken 15.(M)0 lbs. to date. I 

 shall i)robably make it 8 tons by the time I get 

 through this i-ound of extracting. I have had 

 23 swarms right in the mangrove-honey flow 

 (very unusual), and have had my bees draw out 

 400 frames of foundation duiing the past four 

 weeks. 



Friend Popi)leton caught 3.5 colonies of black 

 bees from the pine woods, where they had a lit- 

 tle better spring forage, just at the beginning 

 of tiie mangrove bloom, and he has taken ten 

 barrels of 400 lbs. each from them. I think he 

 had one swarm which absconded. The rest of 

 the bee-keejjers have been quite successful 

 about here, and are feeling in good spirits. The 

 quality of the honey is even flner than usual 

 this season, as there was very little besides the 

 mangrove crop gathered, and the weather has 

 been very dry throughout the whole flow. My 

 own crop has gone through my evaporator as 

 usual, and is A No. 1 in quality. 



Having never made a report of my crops for 

 1888 and '89, I will here state that, in 1888, with 

 about 100 stands I took .WOO lbs.; and in 1889, 

 with 9(i, si)ring count. 4,")00 lbs. Uoth years were 



