386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Aug. 



SOUKWOOD. 



After publishing my little sketch of the Sourwood, 

 in June Gleanings, you ask who can furnish you 

 small trees. Now, if you will accept of such as can 

 he procured from the forest, I will undertake to 

 furnish trees of from 3 to 5 feet, with roots packed 

 in damp moss, and delivered on board the cars here 

 for (provided you want a good many) $5.00 per hun- 

 dred. We have been experimenting with sourwood 

 for a few years, and think, with proper manage- 

 ment, 99 out of a hundred will live. It is my opin- 

 ion that the trees would flourish in any state in the 

 Union. We find it here on our highest and coldest 

 mountain sides and tops, and it is common in the 

 middle portion of our state, where the climate is 

 much warmer. It is a native tree as far north as 

 Pennsylvania. 



LOCUST-TREES. 



You also ask who can furnish small locust trees 

 for you. I can furnish them, packed as above, for 

 $4.00 per hundred. We will pack all so as to go se- 

 curely by freight, and warrant them to grow if di- 

 rections are followed in setting. Kecollect I will 

 warrant all my trees, both sourwood and locust; 

 that is, I will send more if they die when directions 

 are followed. H. A. Davis. 



Moretz Mills, N. C, June 7, 1880. 



I have given the above, because it answers 

 many inquiries in regard to what these trees 

 are worth, etc. By looking around a little, 

 I discover that locusts grow in this vicinity 

 almost spontaneously, and trees not more 

 than G feet high are often covered with 

 bloom. I presume they can be had in al- 

 most any neighborhood. A friend, who is a 

 II. It. man, says they are good for nothing 

 for posts, unless they stand close, like a for- 

 est, so the trees grow up tall and straight, to 

 reach the light. I presume this suggestion 

 will apply to the most profitable culture or 

 all kinds of forest trees. The ground seems 

 to need to be shaded with a dense foliage. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION INTO FRAMES. 



Has the idea ever occurred to you that fdn. can be 

 fastened in brood frames by means of a heated iron? 

 Take almost any sort of a rod (not too long nor too 

 short) with the point slightly bent similar to the 

 point of a stove hook. The heat will fuse the fdn. 

 and seal it fast to the guide, without any daubing 

 with wax, honey, or starch. This process might not 

 go where there is no comb guide; we have not tried 

 it; but, with a guide, the method is complete. If 

 the iron is quite hot, one must touch lightly and 

 work fast. A little practice will tell best how to 

 heat it. Fastening fdn. with a brush is too slow to 

 be recommended, and ought to be taken out of 

 print. If wax is to be used, instead of a brush use 

 some sort of a ladle; a table-spoon is about right. 

 Hold the frame in a position so that the top bar and 

 fdn. will form an inclined trough. With the ladle, 

 pour melted wax in the uppermost corner, when it 

 will run down said trough, sealing as it goes. Should 

 wrinkles occur in the fdn. next the top bar, follow 

 the stream of wax and level the fdn. with the hot 

 ladle. Of course the ladle is kept in the melted wax 

 when not in use. This must be in a warm day or 

 warm room, so that the wax will not cool too sud- 

 denly. I think perhaps this plan is as expeditious 

 as any that can be devised, but I rather like the hot 

 iron. D. B. Baker. 



Rollcrsville, O., June It, 1880. 



The plan of the hot iron is old, friend B. 

 See back volumes of Gleanings. I believe 

 it was not generally liked, as it was too 

 much trouble to keep an iron hot. The 

 melted wax plans you mention have also 

 been several times in print. 



BLUE THISTLE. 



Friend Novice :~ I have noticed much lately about 

 blue thistle. Here is what I know about it. We 

 have. it on our farm, and it is on adjoining farms. 

 It is a bad weed, but still it can be kept within 

 bounds very easily. It will grow very strong for one 

 year in our soil, and perhaps the next year there 

 will be but little of it. It winter-kills, and is propa- 

 gated each year from the seed. The seed will re- 

 main dormant several years in the ground, and it is 

 hard to eradicate on that account. It seems to 

 thrive best on a limestone soil, or near lime rocks. 

 If it grows in pastures that are fed down close with 

 plenty of stock, either sheep or cattle, they will feed 

 upon it more or less, and check its growth. It has 

 an abundance of flowers, and continues to bloom 

 through the entire season; but its best time for 

 honey is in June and July. The tube of the flowers 

 in thrifty plants is quite deep, and I have been in- 

 clined to believe that it requires a long tongue to 

 reach the nectar. Bees work upon it very industri- 

 ously, but I have never obtained sufficient of it sep- 

 arate from other honey to determine fully its quali- 

 ty. I think it is darker than clover, and of a pleas- 

 ant llavor. I would not recommend the sowing of it 

 unless we can find some use for it aside from its 

 honey qualities. It seems as though it ought to be 

 used for some good purpose, for, under cultivation, 

 it makes a very rank growth. The stalk and root 

 are very full of juice of a viscid nature when in full 

 growth. We ought to remove the curse which rests 

 upon it and place it in the list of useful plants. I 

 will try to find time to study its nature more closely 

 during the present season. J. H. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., June 7, 1880. 



ONE OF THE "CHILDREN" IN TROUBLE; AND THE 

 IMPORTANCE OF UNSEALED BROOD IN A HIVE. 



I am in a little trouble. I have a colony of bees 

 which came out yesterday. The wind blew very 

 hard, and the bees clustered on the body of* a spruce- 

 tree where the branches were very thick, and I was 

 very much bothered to get them. I had to brush 

 them off (where I could get to them) on a dust -pan, 

 and put them in front of a hive. Where I could not 

 brush them, I smoked them out (thanks to the smo- 

 ker you sent me). Well, I got them in the hive in 

 due time, but they do not go to work to-day, but 

 stand around with their " backs up " as though they 

 were not pleased about something. They are in a 

 new Simplicity hive, with fdn. starters in every 

 frame. 1 am afraid the queen got lost, owing to the 

 high wind or my efforts to get them out of the tree. 

 I have but one other colony, and that is in a box 

 hive, consequently I can not give them a comb of 

 brood. I have ordered some 3-frame nuclei from 

 Wm. W. Cary, of Massachusetts, which I am expect- 

 ing daily. How will it do for me to take a queen 

 from one of those nuclei? or would it be better to 

 take some brood from them and put it in the hive, if 

 I should find they have lost their queen? 



T. A. Rogers, M.D. 



Kennebunk Port, York Co., Me., June 2, 1880. 



Give them some brood, any way, friend 



