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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



Object:— To promote and protect the interests of its mem 

 bers; to prevent the adulteration of honey. 



Officers:— E R. Root, President, Medina, C; R. O. Aikin 

 Vice-president, Loveland, Col.; Dr. A. B. Mason, Secre- 

 tary, 3512 Monroe St.. Sta. B, Toledo, O.; Eugene Secor, 

 General Manager, Forest City, Iowa. 



Board OF Directors:— E. Whitcomb, Friend, Neb.; W. Z 

 Hutchinson, Flint, Mich.; A. I. Root, Medina, O.; E. T. 

 Abbott, St. Joseph, Mo.; P. H. Elwood, Starkville, N. Y.; 

 E. R. Root, Medina, O.; T. G. Newman, San Francisco, 

 Cal.; G. M. Doolittle, Borodino. N. Y.; W. F. Marks, Cha- 

 pinviUe, N. Y.; J. M. Hambaugh, Escondido, Cal.; 0. P, 

 Dadant, Hamiltoii, 111.: C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Fees:— Annual membership fee, f.1.00. Remittances may be 

 sent here or to General Manager as above. 



Let us not forget that the Italian bees seem 

 to resist the attacks of black brood very much 

 better than the native stock. Better make an 

 effort to supplant the blacks by the yellows. 



ON THE Fi/Y. 

 As you will see, 1 am "outing" it among 

 bee-keepers of the great South and West ; 

 and while on the fly I am trying this editing 

 business "at long range," a la Hill. And 

 speaking of hills reminds me that it is rather 

 up-hill business writing copy with a pencil on 

 my grip, and grip on my slippery lap. Then 

 when the train at a 40 -mile speed jerks and 

 lunges this way and that, my copy is more 

 horrible than can be explained. 



HONEY-PLANTS BY THE MILE. 



I HAVE been riding all day in Texas at the 

 rate of 40 miles per hour, and yet I can't get 

 out of sight of some of the great honey-plants 

 of the State. First and foremost for quality 

 and quantity is the guajilla, pronounced 

 wawhea. The honey from this, so they tell 

 me, is literally water-white. Next is the cat- 

 claw, a low tree that looks like the northern 

 thornapple. The honey from this is very fine 

 and white. The mesquite is another honey- 

 tree that looks like our willows at a distance. 

 It furnishes a sort of amber honey, and would 

 rank favorably with any Northern amber. But 

 I'll tell more about these plants later. 



A BEE-KEEPER'S PARADISE. 



En route to El Paso. — I have just come 

 from a county about 40 miles square that has 

 more bee-keepers to the square mile than any 

 other locality of its size I ever visited. The 

 inhabitants talk bees at the hotels, on the 

 streets, and everywhere, just as farmers talk 

 crops and business in the North. This county 

 produces more honey than any equal area, I 

 believe, in the United States. Some say that 

 its yearly output is a whole trainload of 

 honey; but many aver that this is too low, 

 and that two whole trainloads would come 

 nearer the truth. Of course this great amount 

 doesn't go all in one lot, but in large and 

 small shipments. 



The average per colony is high, and there 



is a honey crop every season. It is estimated 

 that in this one county, outside of the towns, 

 nearly one-half the population are bee-keep- 

 ers. 



The great bulk of the honey is of the very 

 finest, and some of it is literally water-white. 

 There are thousands and thousands of acres 

 of honey-plants on cheap land ; and bees — 

 there are not enough to gather it all. 



The bees commence swarming early in the 

 spring ; and, when the main honey-flows com- 

 mence, actually stop swarming , destroy cells, 

 kill off the drones, and commence business. 

 Did you ever hear the like of it before? You 

 say, "No, and no one else." Well, I think 

 I can prove every statement ; but for the 

 present I am not at liberty to give the place 

 or other details ; but very shortly I'll tell the 

 whole story, with some fine pictures. 



LONG-TONGUED BEES FOR THE SOUTH. 

 During my short visit through Texas I 

 have run across two prominent honey-plants 

 that have deep flower-tubes; viz., horsemint 

 and the buffalo clover. Either one has long- 

 er tubes than those of the red clover of the 

 North. If long tongues are an advantage on 

 red clover, they certainly would be on the 

 plants above named. Nearly all of the small 

 Ijell-shaped flowers of the Southland (and 

 there are myriads of them) have long tubes. 

 Mr. Doolittle's implied assumption, or one he 

 apparently tries to bolster up, viz., that long 

 tongues would amount to nothing in the 

 South and a large part of the North, simply 

 because they have no red clover, seems to one 

 who is making a tour of five or six thousand 

 miles through the greatest bee sections in the 

 United States as a little queer. If long 

 tongues are an advantage to the bees in get- 

 ting the nectar in deep flower-tubes (and I 

 have not yet positively afiirmed that they 

 were) then the great Southland (and it is 

 truly great), and the whole of the north coun- 

 try, so far as bee-keeping is concerned, will 

 have made one step forward. 



FOUL BROOD IN MICHIGAN. 



The following from Geo. E. Hilton, the 

 man who, more than any one else, got the 

 Michigan foul-brood bill passed, will explain 

 itself: 



To the bee-keepers of Michigan: So many letters are 

 coming to me regarding the foul-brood law in Mich- 

 igan that I will try through the journals to answer in 

 a general way, and save myself valuable time at this 

 hurrj'ing time of year. 



First, the law is in operation to-day, the inspector is 

 appointed, and I feel very much relieved. I have 

 made four trips to Lansing in behalf of the measure, 

 and it required all the influence myself and others 

 could bring to bear to secure its passage, its impor- 

 tance was so little understood. I have paid out about 

 S.30.00 in expenses, to say nothing of the time I have 

 donated, which would amount to as much more. And 

 now I want the bee-keepers of the State to take ad- 

 vantage of and receive the benefits that may come 

 from our efforts and the bill. I went to Lansing last 

 week, spending a portion of three days, and succeed- 

 ed in having John M. Rankin, our State Apiarist, ap- 

 pointed as our inspector, and I know of no one who 

 can better attend to the work, or who is more worthy 

 of the position. The work is under the management 

 of the State Dairy and Food Commissioner, Hon. W. 

 B. Snow, Lansing, .Mich., to whom all communica- 



