1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



379 



tree right against our house. Now, how poorly 

 these lice are equipped for defense against such a 

 raid as this I Yet they have an armor of no meau 

 value. It is this very habit of nectar secretion. 

 The nectar attracts the bees and wasps, and the 

 bees and wasps frighten off the birds and other in- ; 

 sectivorous animals, just as Prof. Tuleare has sug- j 

 gested that the cotton secretes sweet from extra : 

 tloral glands to attract wasps and antp, which keep 

 off the ruinous caterpillai's. 



How wonderful the laws that have led to the de- 

 velopment of such wonderful methods for safety 

 and preservation '. How much more wonderful, and 

 how worthy of reverence, the great Author of these 

 laws: A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., May IG, ISf-T). 



Friend Cook, I arn very glad indeed to 

 hear you say that even this matter of honey- 

 dew may, if riglitly managed, prove a bless- 

 ing. It 'has been a blessing to ns in our bus- 

 iness of supplying bees by the pound, but I 

 had almost feaVed to say it, because of being 

 thought selhsh. It seems to me it is like all 

 these other things that are- unfolding llH-m- 

 selves to ns day Ijy day as we make progress 

 in studying the works' of the all-wise Crea- 

 tor. The very thing that seems a calamity 

 and misfortune may, by the light of science 

 and scientific investigation, be made to min- 

 ister to our wants. ^V'e sell bees by the 

 l)0inid, and start thousands of friends," scat- 

 tered far and wide, in the industry, and at 

 the same time give them vigorous young 

 bees from late importations from Italy. 

 Now we crowd our work to such an extei\t 

 that lioney-dew and almost every tiling else 

 tliat the bees gather (including the pollen 

 that has been so much talked al)out recent- 

 ly) is turned into brood and young bees, so 

 that when winter time comes they have 

 comparatively little pollen or honey-dew 

 either. Now', both these substances that or- 

 dinarily are but a hindrance in winteiing, or 

 even to sell on the market, are turned into 

 l)ees, and are, therefore, a blessing to us. 

 AVHien we get ready to lix for winter, we 

 have only to lill up with barrels of sugar. 

 Those wlio raise honey for the market should 

 either choose a locality where lioney-dew is 

 not prevalent, or do "^as you say— be very 

 careful not to mix it in with the "clover and 

 linden honey so as to injin-e the sale of this 

 product. 



^— ^ 



PENNYROYAL AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



REPORT FROM NEW ZEAL.VNU. 



fOU ask in Gleanings, "Does anybody know 

 anything about pennyroyal as a honey-plant?" 

 Yes, sir; there are acres and acres of it here. 

 In fact, there is notagrass paddock within 20 

 miles of this, free from it. Some fields you 

 would fancy were nothing else now. When it is in 

 bloom, it is a great plague to farmers, as it is very 

 difficult to eradicate; and once it gets into a district, 

 it spreads with great i-apidity. But the honey is 

 the finest, to my taste, of any that I know of— clear- 

 er than the best clover honey, and has a beautiful 

 faint mint flavor. It commences to bloom here the 

 middle of January, just as white clovor is begin- 

 ning to fail, and lasts till about the end of February. 

 I don't suppose that it is a large yielder of honey, 



as 1 have got it in but very small quantities each 

 year. I believe it would be a great wrong to intro- 

 duce the plant to your neighborhood, even if it 

 would yield honey by the bucketful. 



R. Mcpherson. 

 Otau, Wairou, South Auckland, N. Z.. Jan. 39, 1885. 



SAXTARMING AND SWARMING - BOXES. 



ONE WAV IN WHICH PEOPLE FORM DIFFERENT 

 OPINIONS. 



N 1S7S. friend N. N. Shepard, of Cochran- 

 ,., ton. Ta.. wrote ns a letter, describing 

 ^l his swarming- box, and we published it 

 with the engraving shown below. From 

 the explanatory letter we got, it entered 

 our heads that the pole was put in the 

 closed end of the swarming-box, and accord- 

 ingly had our picture made. Afterward 

 friend Shepard said it was not right, and 

 would not do at all. and so we had a picture 

 made different, iis at present shewn in the 

 A 15 ('book. 



lOKV K)K SW AH.MI.\(i-l MI'LLMK;\X-^. 



Well, our neighbor ("has. H. r>ingliam, of 

 Ediidjoro, (J., made us a call to-day. and re- 

 marked that he wanted to say that tlie old 

 style of swarming-box, with a hole in the 

 end. was one of tlie best institutions ever 

 gotten up for a bi'p-keeper ; in fact, he de- 

 clares that the implement is sometimes 

 worth half a year's subscription to (iLEAx- 

 iX(;s. in taking down a single swarm. He 

 just holds the swarming-box right under the 

 , cluster, and shakes a few bees into it. All the 

 I rest then leave tlu^ limb and go into the box, 

 attracted by the humming of their compaii- 

 ions. This" humming is caused by the loud 

 rejoicing over what they consider a hive, or 

 may be a hollow tree. Now the point is 

 , this : Friend B. understood the letter as 1 

 ': did, and made his swarminj?-box as I had 

 1 pictured it, got used to having it that way, 

 I and now would not have it any other way. 

 lie has learned by many years of practice 

 just how to handle it. until the machine is 

 almost a part of himself, as it were. He 

 has got it at his fingers" ends, as we some- 

 times express it. Well, my opinion is, that, 

 had he started with it the other way, and 

 taken a notion to it, it would have an- 

 swered the purpose just as well. One farm- 

 er gets accustomed to a plow ; he knows 

 just what to do with it to obtain the result 

 he desires. After he has had it for years, 

 and if he is one of those people who get into 

 a way of doing a thing, may be he will get 



