1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



of the bee-keepers around Salt Lake City or 

 Ogden who say they ever have seasons of 

 no honey at all, such as we have had here 

 several times during the past twenty years. 

 Not only does sweet clover yield honey, 

 but, after testing it in a good many places, I 

 pronounced it equal in appearance and fla- 

 vor to any honey we have in the world. 

 When my Notes of Travel get far enough 

 along to reach it. you will see what I wrote 

 down on the spot. The first time I tasted 

 it at friend Woodmanse's I uttered an ex- 

 clamation of surprise, and asked him what 

 was the source of the beautiful honey. 

 Even before he spoke, there seemed some- 

 thing familiar in the delicate flavor; and 

 when he said sweet clover, I recognized it 

 as plainly as if it were but a piece of stalk 

 in my mouth. It tastes very much as sweet 

 clover smells when its green leaves are 

 bruised slightly. The Havor is not rank 

 enough to be at all disagreeable. The extract- 

 ed honey is very thick, and has the same 

 beautiful flavor as the comb honey. It seems 

 to me that these facts give us a wonderful 

 opening for starting a honey-farm where 

 land is cheap, and nothing else will grow on 

 account of the long severe drouths. We 

 should be glad of more facts from those 

 who have had experience with it in desert 

 localities. 



THAT ■WINTERING PROBLEM. 



pertains to the honey-bee. I love light and truth, 

 and would follow it; but as it turns out, I am cha- 

 grined to think that, after all, I have been follow- 

 ing the blind gropings of a Cyclops around the 

 walls of his cave. I. Hamilton. 



Beason. 111. 



Friend H., Mr. Heddon can answer for 

 himself. Does the expression, " Can I sell 

 you any thing to-day ? " exactly fit Uncle 

 Amos V If you will prepare your bees in 

 chaff hives, as directed in the ABC book, I 

 feel sure they will winter just as well as our 

 bees do, year after year, here at the Home of 

 the Honey-Bees. ' My experience is, that 

 those who work on Sunday usually have 

 trouble. 



CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER FOR '89. 



H. A. MARCH ASKS ABOUT THE JERSEY WAKEFIELDS. 



IS IT OR IS IT NOT SOLVED ( 



eN the Oth of December, and Sunday at that. 

 I had to set all my strong colonies out of the 

 cellar. It is just one month since they were 

 set in, during all of which time as a whole it 

 was too hot to control them. The result is, 

 most of them have symptoms of disease. They had 

 a good flight, which may help tliem some. I worry 

 more over the wintering problem than all other 

 features of bee-keeping put together. No wonder 

 that I devour every scrap of bee-lore on this topic 

 that falls within reach. Some time ago, Mr. Hed- 

 don came out in his prospectus. "The Wintering 

 Problem Solved." This was taking. ' Twas enough 

 to sell a thousand copies at one clip. If I remem- 

 ber, he stated that "bees could be wintered with 

 the certainty of our domestic cattle." Surely, 

 then, in the interest of our pursuit it i> only fair to 

 ask Mr. Heddon if he has been able to do so. 

 I wish he could gay yes. 



I was gratified to observe in the November issue 

 of the Review the semblance of unity in one feature 

 of cellar wintering. 1 felt thankful for that num- 

 ber; for, as it turns up in practice, we have a great 

 deal that conflicts with the theorists. I hold, 

 that, so long as a batch of men continue to disa- 

 gree, and that, too, upon points where "location" 

 won't close up the breach, to put it honestly, I 

 refuse to believe that they know whereof they af- 

 firm. Have we been able to safely anchor any of 

 the speculative barques upon the sea of apicul- 

 ture? I have thought, so far as Gleanings is con- 

 cerned, that Uncle Amos ought to have been a sort 

 of supreme court from whom there was no appeal. 

 But instead he says, " Boys, let us shake hands 

 across this bloody chasm. Can I sell you any 

 thing to-day?" \ am deeply Interested Jn all that 



fKIEND BOOT:— I asked you to give me some re- 

 ports (good or bad) on the cauliflower seed I 

 sent you for trial. I haven't received a bad re- 

 port yet. If yours is bad it may take a little 

 of the conceit out of me, fori begin to think 

 I can raise better seed than they raise in Germany 

 or Holland; and, what is better. I can raise it at 

 teas than half the price it costs there. I sent, as you 

 advised me to, some samples to W. .1. Green, Co- 

 lumbus, and this is what he says: 



All of the varieties sent give satisfaction. One 

 thing is noteworthy about your seed; and that is, 

 its large size and great vitality, producing very 

 strong healthy plants. If you cau grow seed equal 

 to that sent us, you need not hesitate to make high 

 claims for it. 



You see, this is a new industry. Cauliflower seed, 

 I believe, has never been grown in this country by 

 field culture before 1 made the trial here on Puget 

 Sound. All of the best seed has been imported 

 from Erfurt, Germany, at a cost of about $40,00 per 

 lb. Now, here in Washington Territory we can 

 raise just as good seed for $15.1)0 per lb. But preju- 

 dice is so strong in favor of imported seed that 

 dealers are afraid to come out and offer the seed 

 on its own merits. The question is, How shall I 

 push my seed forward so that people can get 

 cheaper seed? Can you advise me? What do you 

 think of this plan? (iet the address of all the ex- 

 periment stations in the country, and send them 

 samples for trial, and publish their reports in a 

 paper like the Rural New Yorker. How to get their 

 address, that is the next thing. Can you tell me 

 how that can be done? H. A. March. 



Fidalgo, Skagit Co., Wash. Ter. 



i Well, friend M., we raised so many cauli- 

 flowers we could hardly sell them or give 

 them away ; for, to tell the truth, for a long 

 while we offered cauliflower at the same 

 price per pound as we sold Jersey Wakefield 

 cabbages. But our Medina people are so 

 little accustomed to using cauliflower unless 

 it be for pickling, the cabbage rather took 

 the preference, even though the price was 

 alike— 3 cts. a pound. During the fall we 

 had rather better demand when they com- 

 menced using it for pickles, and we have 

 quite pretty heads of Snowball cauliflower 

 down in our greenhouse at this date, Dec 

 i27. Will the friends who tested the cabbage 

 and cauliflower seed last season please tell 

 us briefly how the seeds turned out? If I 

 understand it correctly, friend March does 



