412 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



jection is easily overcome. You might feed in the 

 cap or upper story, so that robbers would not 

 "bother." 



The objection that I hear urged most frequently 

 against Italianizing in the fall is, "The bees may die 

 this winter, and then I'll be so much out." Very 

 true, but suppose you do lose one-half of your col- 

 onies; if you had to buy queens next spring, for the 

 remaining half, they would cost you as much as 

 you would have to pay this fail for queens for your 

 whole apiary , and it isn't probable that you will lose 

 ine-half of your bees ; besides, there is that com- 

 fortable feeling that comes over a fellow when he 

 knows that next spring his bees will all be Italians, 

 and ready for business. One more point ; if you 

 wish for no hybrids in your yard, buy dollar queens 

 this fall, and if you find two or three that produce 

 hybrids next spring, you can remove them, buy 

 tested queens to put in their places, and your apia- 

 ry will be stocked with pure, tested queens, for one- 

 third what it would have cost to have bought tested 

 queens in the spring. 



Novice, please allow me to compliment you upon 

 the neat appearance of your fine, new type. 



W. z. Hutchinson. 

 P. S.— Neighbor Long has had two fine "buck- 

 wheat" swarms. W. Z. H. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Well done, friend H.! now I think I echo 

 the sentiments of at least the larger part of 

 our people when I say, give us just such a 

 home picture as that each month, and tell us 

 how you are being happy, that we may be 

 happy too. 



OUR OWN APIARY, HONEY FARM, AND 

 FACTORY. 



fUE principal topic of interest to me dur- 

 ing the past month has been the possi- 

 — ' bility or a plant that will pay, if grown 

 by the acre, for the honey alone. During 

 our hot, August weather I have found it very 

 important to be up by daylight, if I wanted 

 to know what was going on in the insect and 

 floral world. About the first of August I 

 was up one morning before I could well see 

 the flowers, and found the bees making quite 

 a loud humming on the spider plants as usu- 

 al. On going round on the side toward the 

 apiary, 1 found I could hear a pretty strong 

 line in the air, back and forth, although I 

 could see none. I then went to the apiary, 

 and was astonished to find bees dropping all 

 round the entrances, and buzzing in, much 

 as they do when basswood is in bloom. Al- 

 though it was not every hive that was taking 

 advantage of the early hours thus, there 

 were so many of them that I thought it im- 

 possible that the small plat of spider plants 

 could keep them all employed. To test the 

 matter, I walked clear around the whole api- 

 ary, with head uncovered, and listening in- 

 tently to the bees overhead. I was a little 

 surprised to find a heavier force going over 

 to the Simpson plants than toward the spider 

 plat. Of course I went over, and found 

 more bees by far. The Simpson plant did 

 not, of course, furnish such large drops of 

 honey, but there were so many more of the 

 little flowers, and our field is so much larger, 

 that it accounted for the difference. Every 



Simpson ball furnished honey, while it is 

 only a part of the spider flowerets that have 

 the large drop on them. Again, the bees are 

 all through with the spider plants, and they 

 are entirely deserted a little after sunrise, 

 while the force at work on the Simpson field 

 is almost the same every hour in the day, 

 because the honey is constantly flowing. 

 This is a great item. Another point : For a 

 time in July, I was quite in favor of culti- 

 vated catnip ; but it lasted hardly more than 

 JO days. Melilot seemed pretty fair, a very 

 few days, but it is all dried up and gone 

 now, and has been for weeks. This is the 

 case with almost every plant we have tried, 

 except these two. The Simpson and the 

 spider plants are blooming constantly from 

 the middle of July until frost. A half acre 

 of the Simpson, i am satisfied, would keep 

 10 colonies of bees busy enough to be secure 

 from robbing during the whole fall months, 

 even during a drouth, which it stands sur- 

 prisingly well; of course, I mean on rich, 

 strong ground. Ten acres would probably 

 keep our 300 stocks, such as we use for queen 

 raising, going right along prosperously. I 

 am so well satisfied it will pay, that we are 

 at work under-draining and getting all 

 our low lands ready for them. Over an 

 acre of plants set out last spring are now 

 bearing quite a nice little crop of bloom, and 

 keep a good many bees busy. In connection 

 with this matter, I give some reports below 

 from different localities : 



My Simpson Honey Plants have been in full bloom 

 since about July 15th, and the bees are just swarm- 

 ing on them from morning to night, all day long. I 

 shall plant all the land that I can get hold of next 

 season, with the Simpson plants. I recommend 

 them to all bee-keepers. The seed that I got of you. 

 I sowed the 12th of January this year, in the green- 

 house, in a box, and transplanted them into the op- 

 en ground, when the weather was good in the spring. 



Otto Kleinow. 



Opposite Fort Wayne, Detroit, Mich. 



The Simpson Honey Plant has been a decided suc- 

 cess again this season. I think we can depend upon 

 a good yield of honey from it nearly every season, 

 and as it remains in bloom so long, it outstrips all 

 other honey plants in this section. I find, by exper- 

 iment, that the old plants are very easily transplant- 

 ed. The roots can be separated and even broken 

 up, and they will grow. It seems as though the 

 roots have eyes the same as potatoes. They can be 

 packed in boxes, and sent by express or freight with 

 but little expense, and planted in rows so as to be 

 cultivated and hoed the same as corn. I believe it 

 will pay any man having beo3, to plant a piece of 

 ground to the late variety, with a few of the early. 

 I have taken particular pains to watch the plants in 

 their growth and blossoming, and the bees working 

 on them. I have seen the bees busy on them before 

 sunrise, and busy all day long, even until dark. 

 They seem loth to quit. We have no other plants 

 that the bees gather so much honey from. 



W. P. Ihish. 



Norton Center, Summit Co., 0., Aug. 23, 1880. 



We now have a half acre of Spider Plant in bloom, 

 and it is a pretty sight, especially early in the morn- 

 ing, when they are completely covered with bees. 

 When they first began to bloom there was certainly 



