560 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



Mr. Newman, the manager of the Bee-keepers' Un- 

 ion, informs us that $1GOO will be needed to prose- 

 cute the cases now on hand. Remember, you can 

 not expect assistance from the Fnion unless you 

 are a member. The fees are $1.00 per annum. Per- 

 haps we should say here, that we are not in favor 

 of trades-unions in general; but the Bee-keepers' 

 Union, under its present able management we are 

 sure has been productive of good. After we have a 

 few more precedents established like the Arkadel- 

 phia case, outside parties will be slow to declare 

 bees a nuisance. 



A NEW SOURCE OF HONEY IN TEXAS; HONEY COM- 

 ING BY THE TON, EQUAL TO ANY THING 

 PRODUCED IN THE WOULD. 

 Mr. Root: 1 send you a sample of guajjilla honey to-day. I 

 raised eight or ten tons of it this season. It weiprhs full 18 

 pounds ti> the gallon. Most of the honey we rai e in this 

 countyts as good as this sample. I have had many intelli- 

 gent men, who have 1 n used to white-clover honey all their 



lives, tell me this was the prettiest and best honey they ever 



sa « . 



Your criticisms on Southern honey are generally unfavora- 

 ble; but I am satistied that, if .VMi had enough of our catclaw 

 honey to use one month, yon would pronounce it equal to 

 yourhest white clover. I>. M. Edwards. 



' Uvalde. Texas, June 24, 1889. 



Friend E., we congratulate you people of Texas 

 on having produced not only as handsome if not 

 the handsomest honey ever gathered from any 

 source, but some equal in flavor and every thing 

 else that could be asked in the way of honey— not 

 only white clover but even the celebrated California 

 sage. By all means, tell us more about this guaj- 

 jilla. Ts it a plant or tree, and why haven't we had 

 some of the honey before? It seems as if this might 

 start a new era in bee-keeping, especially if the 

 plant or tree can be propagated. Tell us what you 

 will take for the honey by the ton. We anxiously 

 await further particulars. 



THE A B C OF CHEESE-MAKING. 



The above is the title of a very pretty little pam- 

 phlet by J. H. Monrad, of Winnetka, 111. The price 

 of the work is 25 cents. It contains 36 pages of 

 matter devoted directly to the cheese making busi- 

 ness, and almost every page has more or less pic- 

 tures on it. It tells all about the implements used 

 in cheese-making; tells how to make a home-made 

 cheese-press at a very little expense, and discusses 

 the best kinds, if you see fit to buy one. I do love 

 to see these industrial books, and I believe I like 

 them all the better where they are written by 

 young farmers who have a love for the line of work 

 they have chosen. The whole book is written in a 

 very happy vein. Since milk and honey are so oft- 

 en spouen of in the pages of Holy Writ, I have oft- 

 en felt a good deal of interest in the cheese and 

 dairy business. When I eat strawberries 1 always 

 want plenty of milk. Of course, cream is better, 

 especially where you have a Jersey cow; and if 

 there is any thing that gives a relish to a nice piece 

 of cheese, it is the very same strawberries we have 

 been talkiug so much about in this issue. Now, 

 even if you are not a cheese-maker, I think you 

 would enjoy reading friend Monrad's A B C book. 

 You can order it of him direct, or we can furnish it 

 to you for 25 cts. postpaid. In the back part of this 

 book is given a list of the dairy literature of the 

 world. There are nine periodicals devoted to the 

 dairy business, and about a dozen books. Two of 

 the journals are German, one French, and six Eng- 

 lish ; of twelve books devoted to dairying, six are 

 English, two Danish, three German, and one 

 French. I think, friends, it is good to look over the 



fence occasionally, and see what our neighbors are 

 doing. 



BUSH LIMA BEANS AT THIS DATE, JUNE 29. 



I confess I would much rather not say any thing 

 about the bush lima beans, or, rather, say as little 

 as possible, in a general way; but I guess I had 

 better own up. After investing so much money in 

 the seeds it occurred to me that they must not only 

 have the best grouDd and best planting, but they 

 must have the very best pari of the season. As 

 the lima beans are very apt to be nipped by the 

 frost at both ends of the season, it requires consid- 

 erable judgment to decide when to plant. During 

 the last of May, however, we were having such fine 

 nice weather that I decided that then was just the 

 right time to plant them. The extra early limas 

 were put in— King of the Garden limas— and then a 

 few of the Henderson bush limas, also a few of the 

 Kumerle. A cold spell came on, however, and 

 every thing stopped growing. I waited a week or 

 more until the cold spell seemed to be over; then, 

 as it was getting late, I put in the rest of all of 

 them, except a few of Henderson's, because quite a 

 few orders were coming in. You know how it has 

 been for bee men and everybody else. We had a 

 constant succession of cold rains. The pole limas, 

 however, came up pretty fairly, and are doing 

 nicely. About half of Henderson's germinated, 

 and not one-fourth of the Kumerle. Worse still, 

 more than half of Henderson's and the Kumerles 

 that did start were feeble and sickly; and it is a 

 question now whether they will ever produce any 

 beans at all. By the middle of June, when we were 

 pretty sure that no more of Henderson's would be 

 called for, the rest of them were planted. A6 we 

 then had pretty fair weather, and not too much 

 cold rain, every bean came up, strong and healthy. 

 Now, this proves, T think, that the bush lima beans, 

 all of them, are considerably more tender and more 

 tropical in their nature than the ordinary pole lima 

 beans. They must have warmer weather. I think 

 that Henderson suggests they had better not be 

 planted until after the pole limas. I do not believe 

 that I have a whole dozen good strong thrifty Ku- 

 merle plants growing, out of the 150 seeds that 

 cost me over 50 cts. a seed. There may be a dozen 

 or more sickly plants that may or may not amount 

 to something. The Minnesota bush lima bean from 

 Northrup, Braslin, Goodwin & Co., planted right 

 along with the rest, came up strong and thrifty, 

 and every bean grew. Just now they are far ahead 

 of all the limas in rank growth; but they have no 

 appearance in foliage of lima beans at all; and the 

 largest part of them have already sent out strong 

 shoots to climb poles. Present appearances seem 

 to indicate they are simply a rank growing, large 

 yellow bean. There have been several complaints 

 that the Henderson bush lima bean did not germi- 

 nate freely. The above will explain the reason for 

 it, probably. I would send you more, if I had them; 

 but as I haven't, we will give a good big package 

 for next season (if you will send in your name) to 

 all those who failed with the other package this 

 year. - 



OUR BERRY CROP. 



We have sold over 100 bushels of strawberries, 

 and we shall probably have twice as many rasp- 

 berries. 



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