110 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct- 



<ITL,TIVATION OF CATNIP AS A 

 HONEY PLANT. 



IjfHE following was rec'-d in answer to an 

 inquiry for further particulars in regard 

 to the cultivated Catnip mentioned on page 33, 

 March No. 



The bees are increasing in stores slightly upon the 

 satnip. Everything else is dried out, and catnip don't 

 produce hall' 'the honey it would were it not lor the 

 severe drouth. There are wells dry here at this time 

 that have not failed before in forty years. Some of 

 my swarms are building comb and some are not. On 

 the '27th of July I examined nucleus No. 12 and noted 

 in register, laying Queen. Aug. 14th I had occasion 

 to draw on this number for a Queen, and was sur- 

 prised to find them making a desperate effort to dem- 

 onstrate the fallacy of the big hive theory. My nuclei 

 are made by putting division board in centre of full 

 sized I>. hive, and a nucleus on each side. This one 

 bad but two combs with adhering bees, when formed, 

 and as nearly all the old bees would return to the 

 parent stock they could not be over strong. In the 

 time between these two examinations (17 days) this 

 little swarm had built one comb the full length to the 

 bottom board and another comb % as large. The 

 Large one was filled with brood nearly all capped over, 

 and the smaller comb had some brood, and all this in 

 the midst of this severe drouth and scarcity. Xow 

 wlio says a pint of bees in a hive will not work as well 

 proportionally as five bushels? This nucleus was not 

 fed a drop of any thing. 



I believe the quality of the catnip honey is fully 

 equal to the clover, and the color so near it that the 

 difference is hardly perceptible, I desire to save all 

 the seed, but have no plan of getting it out except by 

 hand, and I found that too tedious last year. Will 

 not some of the friends who have been sowing Alsikc 

 seed give me some light on the subject. This seed is 

 much liner than the Alsike but I think it could be re- 

 moved by the same process. I had supposed until 

 this year that the catnip would not bloom the first 

 reason from the seed, but 1 sowed some last January, 

 which is the best time to sow it for the purpose of 

 raising plants to put out next spring, and it now 

 stands 18 inches high and covered with bloom and 

 with bees. M. Nkvins, Cheviot, O. 



P. 8.— Muth says he will pay the same price for cat- 

 nip honey that he does for the best white clover. 



We at one time had a strong inclination to 

 try a ten acre field of Catnip, but when we 

 found that the expense, rent, labor etc., would 

 amount to something like $25.00 per acre, to 

 *ns, cash out of pocket, and that 'twould even 

 then be uncertain of giving any precise income, 

 we confess we were somewhat intimidated. 

 The same sum expended for sugar to be fed 

 during the fall would be a positively safe in- 

 vestment; that is we get an equivalent from 

 sugar without any doubt. If an acre of catnip 

 would yield during the season, a barrel of hon- 

 ey, it would without doubt pay to rent land 

 and cultivate it, but very much less would 

 hardly make it a safe investment. 



With farmers who have the land and time, 

 the case is quite different, and if the catnip 

 could be grown without any or but little cash 

 out, we should say grow it by all means. 

 Friend N. offers the seed as low as seedsmen, 

 and of course knows it to be fresh and pure. 



By the way will not "catnip" honey necessa- 

 rily possess some medical qualities? For the 

 "infantile portion of community," for instance ? 



[For Gleanings.] 

 THE HIVE QUESTION. 



wT seems to me that there is a general misunder- 

 «[j standing on the subject of mammoth hives, a sub- 

 — ■ ject which is just now calling forth a good deal of 

 comment; and if you will permit me to say a few 

 words Mr. Editor I will try to keep silent in the future 

 as f have in the past, for it doesn't behoove every one 

 to become a regular contributor to a Bee Journal if 

 be i- posessor of a few bees. In the firsl place 1 



would say that hives which are arranged for securing 

 such enormous yields of honey as we hear tell of, are 

 a humbug. Now men of mammoth hives don't saj 

 "fogy" till I explain in what way they are humbugs. 

 I keep two mammoths in my apiary just for "fun,'' 

 and have arrived at the following conclusion : 



In the first place they gather no more honey than 

 the same number of bees when placed in two or three 

 hives with one half or one third as many combs in 

 each ; and it takes more work to extract a given 

 amount of honey from the big things, than it does 

 from several small ones. Also, it often becomes nec- 

 essary to move a hive when full of honey, and then il 

 you are single handed, as many of us are, what are 

 you going to do ? And when it comes to wintering 

 you have either got to divide— thus entailing an extra 

 expense of two sets of hives- -or else have a regular 

 old fashioned barn raising to get them into the house. 

 I have 62 colonies in hives of eight frames each, 11, ^x 

 \b% and I can attend to them more easily and get just 

 as much honey as if they were in 31 hives of twice 

 their capacity, and my Queens do not lay themselves 

 all away the first season. 



I know it sounds large to hear it said that Mr. Some- 

 body had a single hive to gather six or eight hundred 

 lbs in one season, and it no doubt does Btagger the old 

 box-hive fraternity. Hut if any one will pay me for 

 the extra trouble I will (a la Hosnier) have one hive of 

 bees to gather 1000 lbs. of honey in '75, providing it is 

 a good season, and will not brag about it either. It is 

 my opinion that for ease of handling and for profit we 

 want hives with capacity of about 100 lbs. of honey 

 per season in average localities. 



There Mr. Editor I have said my say, and 1 think 

 that experience will teach many to "see it" in about 

 the same light. L. B. Hogi;e. 



Loydsville, (>. Sept. 8th, 1874. 



The hive question is yet receiving much attention. 

 AVhy do we want a better frame than the Langstroth '? 

 The two story hive— I think — for many reasons, will 

 ever maintain a front position. The large hives aboul 

 which I consulted you two years ago, with elevens 

 Langstroth frames below, and fifteen above, the upper 

 ones hanging crosswise, and down within three eights 

 of an inch of the lower ones, is the lavorite in my 

 apiary. My bees have done well this season. I am 

 still taking honey from the upper story, 

 W. P. Moore, Richland Station, Tenn., Aug. 2nd, '74. 



THE KINK II1UI) FOUND GUILTY, 



fj) L. WAITE, of Berea, O., furnishes souk 

 i o, very 'positive evidence and also men- 

 tions a habit of the King bird, we think no1 

 generally known to naturalists. During the 

 month of June 72, a flock of seven of these 

 birds were making such regular and constant 

 visits to his Apiary that his suspicious were 

 aroused and concealing himself, he with watch 

 in hand observed a single bird snap up 5 to 8 

 per minute. After having pursued this "inno- 

 cent" amusement for a sufficient interval, his 

 birdship was in the habit of taking a rest on a 

 neighboring tree, where after a short medita- 

 tion he commenced a series of muscular con- 

 tortions of the head and neck that finally 

 resulted in his opening his mouth wide and 

 "heaving up" a wad of some strange black 

 looking substance. By chance their perch was 

 close over a bed of Rhubarb or Pie plant and 

 our friend secured a number of these wads as 

 they fell, and thus settled the point of their be- 

 ing nothing more nor less, than crushed bees. 

 After they had "squeezed" out all the honey, 

 probably having no farther use for the "pom- 

 ace" it was unceremoniously cast aside while 

 his worship with a keen appetite and zest for 

 the sport, went "bee hunting" again. They 

 came regularly for a "meal" two or three times 

 a day. Guess we had better use our rifles and 

 shot suns in such a way as to inditce them to 

 learn that Apiaries are "unhealthy" localities 

 for such boarders. 



