tJC5 



t5LEANING« IN BEE CULTURE. 



7D 



KxtriKtors, tliat we Lave been enabled to ail<l some 

 iiniiroveinents that come verv near making them or- 

 namental as well as useful. \Ve trust they will speak 

 lor themselves, in every nelj^hhorhood where intro- 

 tluce-i. 



TLrax: OF M>\VIN(i} UAPU. 



^^f^l^ROM Rape Culture by Kruschke IJro's., 

 JS^ Berlin, Wis., we extract the following: 



The time lor sowiiis ranges from about the JOth of 

 ■June to the 1st of July in this latitude and climate. 

 Further south it might be sown earlier or even later. 

 The object here is to prote<a it from an Insect, the 

 so-calltMl "spring tail" or ground Ilea— iUs only inse<-t 

 «nemy here— which sometimes malces sad havoc when 

 the i)l"ants are young. But they have generally disaj)- 

 peared iMjJore th« seed comes up. if sown within the 

 above given dates. Whore this inse';t does not exist 

 it may proiitably be sown earlier, or later where the 

 summers are longer. 



The soil should be well harrowed, or cuUivate<l be- 

 fore sowing. Three pounds of 6ee<l are sufficient to 

 the acre , it is sown broad cast like turnip seed. 



It is also very beneticial to put ou about 50 pounds of 

 land plaster per acre, at the time of sowing, or when 

 the second leaf is opening. The farmers in Calumet 

 County aiw.iys use plaster, no matter how rich the 

 soil may be, and are satisfied that it i)ays them well. 



After" harrowing it under it is a good plan to roll it, 

 «s the hot suu at this time of the year dries the soil 

 very (juickly. 



Its lime bt coming up depends entirely on the 

 weather; if it has a good shower of rain immediately 

 after sowing, it will be up in a few days, but ifttie 

 ■weather is not favorable, it will take longer, bome- 

 times there are even entire failures, tlie same as with 

 other crops, for this is but natural. 



THE AITOIWATIC H1V£K, PAT- 

 ENTS, ETC. 



BV. L. I.. I-ANGSTUOTII. 



VJI^RIEKD ROOT:— I date this from the Apiary of 

 in~ my old friend Wm, W. Gary, who was the first 

 ^mi person in this cotintry to breed Italian (Jueens 

 on a large scale. From the Apiary of INIr. S. B. Par- 

 sons, at Flushing, L. I., who was the tii'st large import- 

 er of these bees, Mr. C sent Queens to many persons 

 in I860, and put up lor California. 113 in the fall, which 

 all arrived safelv. This is very unlike the results ob- 

 tained in our t'nroi)ean importations. What makes 

 the diflerence.' Mr. Gary is well situate<l for breeding 

 pure Italian Queens, having no black bees near 

 vnough to trouble him. Such Queens as he furnishes 

 tor gi.OO, are very desirable. 



I find tlie bud.s of the a|)i>Io trees here not as for- 

 wanl as they were in Oxford, O., were then five 

 Nveeks ago. 



Now for the best methods to make tlie new swarms 

 alight on Jones' Automatic Iliver. Mullein stalks or 

 i«n old black Kossuth hat should be placed at the end 

 of the Hiver, and very great jiains should be taken to 

 to secure the alighting of the first swarm upon it- 

 after which the succeesive swarms will cluster upon 

 it almost as a matter of course. If a Queen cage with 

 a fertile Queen, which can be best spared, is fastened 

 to the clustering sjjot, the bees will be more readily 

 attra(;ted to it. If the Queen of tiie issuing swarm is 

 caged and when the bees miss her, and begin to re- 

 turn to the i)arent stock is presented to tncm, they 

 inaj' be easily attracted to the Hiver, wiiich may be 

 lowered to a convenient height, and raised when they 

 begin to cluster on it. In a large Apiary where there 

 is constant suspervision during the swarming season, I 

 should prefer even with the swarmer to have the 

 wings ot the Queens clipped to prevent swarms from 



foing together and killing one or more of the Queens, 

 f the hiving box contains a nucleus with brood and 

 a caged Queen, the bee.s will not forsake it even If 

 (heir own Queens shouhl not be given them. 



While 1 hope much from the Automatic Hiver for 

 large and skilful bee-keepers, I see little in it for 

 small and careless ones. If it were patented an<l ter- 

 ritorial rights sold, however careful the patentee 

 might be, in his statements, he could not conVi'ol the 

 purdiasers wlio would honestly exaggerate its ini])or- 

 tance— still less, tliose who woulu lie greedily for 

 *'rtlthy lucre,"' Such persons would try to jiersuade 

 the luiwary, that this was all that they needed to 

 make bee-keeping a success — 

 "Buy it ! buy it: the last new patent— try it— try it !" 

 I have little doubt that some would be" induced to 

 purchase by being made to believe that the swarms of 



their neighbors would be attractc;! to it— just as pat- 

 ents were sold with fixtures for catching u-ild bees- 

 careful <llrectlons being given how not to entran othcf 

 jierifoti'x ^M-vs-lmt with small desire I fear, of inculca- 

 ting "how not to do it.'' 



Now a few wonis al>out patenting devices which, 

 however valuable, can be easily made, and witliout a 

 lai'ge investment in machinery etc. Such patents will 

 be largely infringed upon— and the patentee will usu- 

 ally fitKl himselt substantially without any redress. 

 The patent laws do not, and cannot protect him. He 

 may commence legal j)roceedings in the United Stales 

 (y'ourts against infringers. But few have the means 

 to do tills, even if it would pay theiu to hunt up and 

 I)rosecute small infringers. The jiatent is like a good 

 pasture, with weak walls or fences, and hungry cattle 

 all around it— sure in due time to be trampled down 

 and eaten up. If a patent is upon soir.ething whicu 

 requires much skill, and considerable capital lor its 

 manufacture, it is far less likely to be inl ringed. 

 Men arc not apt to invest largely without carelul in- 

 quiry as to the rights of others— they have too much 

 ut stake and by their large investments can be too 

 easily reached for <iamages. 



Hoping that these remarks may be of service, I re- 

 serve further discussion of this subject to another oc- 

 casion.. L. L. Lasgstkd'iii. 



Colerain, Mass., May 19th, '75. 



KtmjMilj^^ii^^ ^ijEL-d [Swindle e 



I*erlaiiiiii|f to Beo Cxilturo. 



{We respectfully solicit the aid of our- friends in 

 conducting this department, and would consider it 

 a favor to have them send us all circidars that havi^ 

 a deceptive api)earance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being doiKi 

 any one.] 



mF. YOUNG & CO., 29 Broadway, N. Y, 

 g if any such flrm exists iu reality, have 

 left Flick, White, ami all the rest of them far 

 in the back ground, in the Ambrosial honey 

 business. It is a curious fact that these fel- 

 lows invariably exhibit such a destitution of 

 brains that they can never originate anything, 

 of themselves, but persist in copying the saiiK' 

 lingo over and over about employing "expert, 

 chemists" "slippery elm." etc., etc. This J}r. 

 Young (who 7nay he the ariginal thief of the 

 lot) devotes over 7 pages to the honey business, 

 We clip as follows : 



I am at liberty to mention here that one of the in- 

 gredients I use is the powdered bark of the slippery- 

 elm, a xinall quantity of which tvill brinci up a pail full 

 oj warm woifer to the rich, creamy, substantial ctmsis- 

 lency of Honey. 



Imagine your mouth full of the sweetened 

 and flavored "creamy" mixture. HealUiy uo 

 doubt. 



In five hours you can make, by this process, more 

 pure and delicious Honey than all the bee-raisers in 

 the United States can gather and prepare for sale in 

 as many years J 



Now isn't that rather heavy? How very 

 small we do feel. 



For six dollars— a very moderate investment, and 

 one made without the slightest risk, and without any 

 labor worth thinking of— you get twenty-five dollars, 

 and so on, in proportion to the capital you employ. 



For mercy's sake can't some body give us a 

 pencil that we may "reckon up" how rich we 

 may all be by next 4th of July. 



It looks like amber —[brown sugar nrobablv— Ed.] 

 clear, fresh (another advantage over tlie crude, fer- 

 menting product of the hive), and temping as Olympi- 

 an Ambrosia! It will take the place of preserves 

 wherever it may be introduced. 



Very likely Mr. Y., we are unacquainted 

 with the Olympian kind at our house and you 

 may be right, but we do wonder that people 

 will send monej'^ in response to such awful 

 falsehoods. We fear they do if we are to 

 believe that }'our catalogue at hand is the 7'2nd 

 edition, as you say. 



