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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



left open between the two stories. Even 

 then they will not always do it. I have 

 also seen honey of such poor quality that 

 the bees would make a start on it and back 

 out. 



IN FAVOR OF CLIPPING, AND WHY; SEE QUESTION 

 138, PAGE 638. 



No, we would rather lose ten queens than one 

 swarm at the beginning- of the surplus-honey 

 season, as we lost two this year. They both came 

 out at the same time. One had a clipped queen. 

 The other had a young- queen, undipped. The) 

 both united and went elsewhere without even 

 clustering, when, if both queens had been clipped, 

 we would not have lost them. Again, a friend had 

 a swarm come out and cluster on an old apple-tree 

 limb, 25 feet from the ground, where no one could 

 get; but the queen was clipped, and the swarm 

 soon returned, and both queen and bees were saved 

 without much trouble. Pakshall & Grover. 



Cooperstown, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1S89. 



We grant all you say. 1 have had like ex- 

 perience ; but we also had much trouble 

 and vexation at other times, because our 

 queens were clipped and could not fly. 



SWEET CLOVEtt; FACTS WANTED. 



I should like to know something definite about 

 sweet clover as a honey-plant. I think it is the best 

 honey-plant we have. Can some one, living where 

 it is abundant, give us some facts in regard to it— 

 not guess so, but facts? How much will it produce 

 per acre? and how much will give a surplus with a 

 given number of colonies, say 50 or 100? Sweet clo- 

 ver has been advocated as a honey-plant for a long 

 time; and if it is as valuable as it appears to be, 

 some one ought to be able to give us some valuable 

 facts in regard to it. I have saved several bushels 

 of the seed. I have no idea what I shall do with it. 

 I did so because I think it is valuable as a honey- 

 plant. I should like to sow 20 acres, and I am not 

 certain but it will pay as well as any crop I can 

 raise, but I do not know this. I wish I did. Who 

 can tell me? My neighbors find fault about its 

 growing along the roadside. I don't like to annoy 

 my neighbers. I would rather raise it on my own 

 land, provided I could make it pay to do so. 



H. R. Boardman. 



East Townsend, O., Sept. 13, 1889. 



It is a very hard matter to get definite 

 facts in regard to any honey-plant. I sup- 

 pose you noticed my reports of the sweet 

 clover in the vicinity of Salt Lake City. In 

 this case, however, no one could very well 

 estimate the number of acres. There may 

 have been hundreds ; therefore one could not 

 well say how much an acre would yield. I 

 can say this, however, that they get tons of 

 honey, of a quality equal to any thing known, 

 allowing me to judge. Now, if you will ex- 

 cuse me I think you will have very great 

 difficulty in getting a good stand on, say, 20 

 acres ; and I am furthermore quite sure that 

 it would not pay the cost, even if you did. 

 Prof. Cook has just made some experiments 

 on a large scale, in raising plants specially 

 for honey. The State bears the expense, so 

 he can afford it ; but I am quite sure he has 

 not made it pay. In Salt Lake City they can 

 reclaim saleratus lots, as they call them, by 

 getting a strong growth of sweet clover, and 

 then plowing it under ; therefore it becomes 



an object with them. Possibly it does bet- 

 ter on the saleratus or alkali soils of the 

 desert. 



SPIDER-PLANT IN ITS NATIVE HOME. 



The spider-plant abounds here in great quantities. 

 Acres and acres of it are here in the Arkansas Val- 

 ley, and it grows right up to this city. It seems to 

 me any quantity of seed could be procured here. I 

 have no bees yet, but am bound to try them. How 

 do you gather the seed of the spider-plant, and what 

 is the demand for it? No mistake about it, it is the 

 genuine spider-plant. I have grown it in Ohio, and 

 am well acquainted with it. Lots of alfalfa clover 

 here. 1 think bees ought to do well here. 



Larned, Kan., Oct. 4, 1889. A. H. Duff. 



Thanks, friend D. During my California 

 trip I saw both spider-plant and Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant growing wild in differ- 

 ent localities, though not in any great quan- 

 tity. Since Samuel Wilson's extravagant 

 puff of the Rocky Mountain bee-plant, there 

 has been an unusual inquiry for the seed. 

 The seed of both these plants is gathered by 

 grasping the pods when they are ripe 

 enough so as to begin to shell out of their 

 own accord. Strip them into a tin pan or 

 some similar utensil, then dry them for a 

 few hours in the sun, when they are ready 

 to bag up and put away. In a few days you 

 can get a new supply, and so on. The seed 

 continues to ripen for a period of weeks or 

 even months, so that you can not well cut 

 and thrash it as we do most other seeds. It 

 can, however, be gathered out quite rapidly 

 after one has become an expert in stripping 

 the pods. Hold your pan under them, for 

 many of them shell out as soon as they are 

 touched. The seed usually retails at about 

 20 cts. an ounce, or $2 a pound. It is used, 

 however, only by bee-keepers. 



GLASS-BLOWERS ON A STRIKE ; A BLOCKADE ON 

 MUTH JARS. 



The glass-blowers of our factory are on a strike. 

 Our friends were getting our order filled by anoth- 

 er factory, whose blowers found it out, and refus- 

 ed to work also. I have since sent my order direct 

 to this second factory; and if those blowers please, 

 we shall have here 60 gross of jars by the end of 

 this week. I am very sorry, but what shall we do 

 about it? We have orders on hand for more than 

 100 gross, and shall fill them just as fast as we can 

 do so. Chas. F. Muth & Son. 



Cincinnati, Sept. 18, 1889. 



GALLBERRY HONEY AND ITS QUALITY. 



I send you to-day by mail a small sample of honey 

 made from the bloom of what we call " gallberry." 

 It is a small bush, from 2 to 5 feet high, which 

 grows profusely all over the southern part of the 

 Gulf States, and is regarded somewhat as a nui- 

 sance, or at best a useless shrub. It has a very 

 small white flower, which yields this kind of honey 

 in great abundance while in bloom, which is about 

 20 days. With 26 hives I secured about 175 gallons 

 of honey like the sample, which has netted me 

 about $1.00 per gallon, or 9 cents per lb. I send the 

 sample to get your opinion of the honey as com- 

 pared with the best Northern honey. 



Moss Point, Miss., Sept. 13, 1889. M. M. Evans. 



In body and color it will compare favora- 

 bly with any of the Northern honey. In 



