1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



351 



Mr. Poppleton is a great sportsman, and takes 

 much pleasure in hunting and fishing; and as the 

 climate in Florida is just suited to that kind of 

 work, he enjoys living there, exceedingly. As his 

 wife also has poor health, they spend much time 

 camping out, which way of living seems to agree 

 with them, and they feel much stronger and better 

 than when living indoors. On their return home 

 from the South they brought a great many curiosi- 

 ties, some specimens of the beautiful Southern 

 birds, such as we do not see in the North. 



When first married, his step-father gave him a 

 colony cf bees in a box hive. It so happened that, 

 in the winter of 1869, an acquaintance stopped over 

 night at his house, and among other papers he had 

 with him was the bee-paper that was at that time 

 published by H. A. King, at Nevada, Ohio, now the 

 Bre-Kerpers' Magazine. This he became very much 

 interested in during the evening, and immediately 

 afterward obtained all literature on bees he could 

 find, and made a study of the " busy bee." He soon 

 learned there was a better way of handling than in 

 a box hive. He transferred the two colonies he 

 then had into movuble-comb hives; obtained other 

 colonies, and in a year or so had quite an apiary, 

 which, in common with so many other apiaries in 

 the country, was almost destroyed by bad winter- 

 ing. But the use of chaff hives removed this trou- 

 ble for the future. 



On account of having such poor health he made 

 no effort to do a large business, but confined him- 

 self to a simple apiary varying from 75 to 150 colo- 

 nies, spring count, and to the almost exclusive pro- 

 duction of extracted honey. For the last ten years 

 that he lived in Iowa, his annual crop of honey 

 averaged 110 lbs. per colony. His half - brother, 

 F. W. George, has had charge of his apiary since 

 his removal to Florida. 



Some fourteen or fifteen years ago he discovered 

 the value of chaff as winter "protection for bees, 

 without knowing that any one else, notably Mr. 

 J. H. Townly, of Michigan, had previously made 

 the same discovery. He also invented the solar wax- 

 extractor about the same time. He was vice-presi- 

 dent for several years of the N. A. B. K. Society; 

 president of the Iowa State B. K. S., and honorary 

 member of the Michigan State B. K. S. Mr. Popple- 

 ton is a careful observer, doing 1 his own thinking, 

 and adhering to plans which he has found success- 

 ful. 



Mr. Poppleton is of spare figure, hardly up to me- 

 dium size. His very pleasant manner is only a fair 

 index of a genial and loving spirit that, in an un- 

 usual degree, strives to put the best construction 

 on the conduct and motives of every one. 



Bowling Green, Iowa. Mrs. M. George. 



And so it transpires that friend Poppleton 

 was first attracted to bees by H. A. King's 

 publications, from Nevada, Ohio. I myself 

 first got hold of Langstroth's book, but I 

 very soon came to King's text-book and a 

 circular in regard to the American hive. 

 These two last aroused my enthusiasm to 

 such a pitch that nothing would answer, 

 short of a hurried trip to Nevada. I found 

 friend King there, and got my first glimpse 

 of a real bee-hive factory. Every bee-keep- 

 er who has heard friend Poppleton talk at 

 our conventions must have been impressed 

 with his very thorough and earnest study of 

 every minute phase of our favorite industry. 



'Even when I read his writings I am aston- 

 ished to see how closely and critically he 

 has looked into every obscure point and 

 corner; and his invariable success as a 

 honey-producer attests to the excellence of 

 his wisdom and judgment. We are greatly 

 indebted to him for the solar wax-extractor, 

 as well as for many other things. Perhaps 

 it would be well to say, that, since the writ- 

 er makes no mention of it, Mr. Poppleton is 

 now in Cuba, taking charge of some 600 or 

 700 colonies for M. Dussaq, Apartado 278, 

 Havana. Eriend Poppleton's experience 

 with bees not only covers the temperate cli- 

 mate, but Florida and the island of Cuba. 

 You will notice that he is one of the re- 

 spondents to our Question-Box, and he is 

 eminently well fitted to impart almost any 

 information in regard to bees. 



THE JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT. 



PROF. COOK ON THE CARDINAL, FLOWER, ETC. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Last spring I purchased of you 

 four quarts of the Japanese buckwheat. I 

 sowed the same on new ground. It ripened 

 earlier than the common kind. The bees 

 worked on it from morning to night, but they 

 did the same on common buckwheat. This is an 

 uncommon occurrence here. I think it was due to 

 the moist, cloudy weather. The buckwheat filled 

 well, but I saved only two bushels of seed. We 

 had a week of warm, rainy weather immediately aft- 

 er it was cut, and it sprouted so badly that I saved 

 less than half the seed. But what I saved is nice. 

 I am convinced that it is ahead of the common kind. 



THE CARDINAL FLOWER. 



Prof. Cook's article on the cardinal flower inter- 

 ested me, as I am making a special study of bee- 

 botany. I know friend Cook is unprejudiced and 

 good-natured, and will not feel offended if I tell 

 him that there are some things in his article (see p. 

 926, Dec. 1, 1888) that are not clear to me. Without 

 doubt it is due to my ignorance, or else to my ob- 

 servation of the flower not having been thorough 

 enough. The tube formed by the filaments and an- 

 thers is two or three times the length of a bee's 

 tongue, and the nectar is secreted at the bottom of 

 the tube by glands which are on the ovary near the 

 base of the style. There is no opening into this 

 tube except at the top, after the stigma has pushed 

 its way up through the united anthers. Am I 

 not right, friend Cook? Now, the point which puz- 

 zles me is as to how the bee gets the nectar. Then 

 from the manner in which the bee must necessarily 

 alight on the flower, I can not see that she would 

 do much better work in fertilizing the flower than 

 those upper flowers which shed their pollen, when 

 the lower ones are most in need of it. To be sure, 

 it would be chance work, but I can not see that it 

 would be any more so than the work of the bee in 

 that line. If I'm in error, please correct me. I ad- 

 mit frankly that I am not as well acquainted with 

 the cardinal flower as I hope to be. The place 

 neighbor Hilton spoke of is only ten or twelve 

 miles from here, and I hope.to. visit there next sea- 

 son when the cardinal flower is in bloom. In this 

 immediate vicinity it is rare, and grows only in low 

 moist places. 



Prof. Cook, you, an entomologist, tell us that the 



