124 



glea^'INgs in bee culture. 



Feb. 



so that now I have complete control of the temper- 

 ature, and can raise or lower it at pleasure by sim- 

 ply turning- the wicks up or down. As, when the 

 wicks are turned low down there is an offensive 

 smell comes from the stove, I am about to fit a tin 

 cover over the stove on which is to be fastened a 

 length of two-inch conductor-pipe. On this I can 

 use other conductor-pipe with various elbows so as 

 to retain the heat and yet carry oft' all the fumes 

 from the burning kerosene, the same as smoke is 

 carried off by a stove-pipe. In this way the honey 

 will be constantly growing- better instead of deteri- 

 orating; besides, if I wish to draw it to market on a 

 cold or cool day thei-e will be no danger of breaking, 

 for a body of honey will retain heat for a long time. 



A MISTAKE CORRECTED. 



On page 930 of same volume of Gleanings, Mr. 

 Swinson says: "I think G. M. Doolittle made the 

 statement, . . . that Syrians and Cyprians, as a 

 rule, produce brighter-colored queen progeny than 

 any other race." If Mr. S. will turn to page 729 of 

 said volume I think he will find that he made a mis- 

 take in reading. I there say, that "the queens of 

 these two races of bees are next in constancy of 

 color to the German queens," by which I meant that 

 their markings were more fixed and unchangeable 

 than any other, save the German. This has noth- 

 ing to do with brightness of color, as will be seen 

 where I apply the same "constancy" to a greater 

 extent, to black bees. I fully agree with Mr. S., that 

 " the best domesticated Italian queens produce the 

 yellowest queen progeny of any race we have," 3-et 

 this does not conflict with what I say about queens 

 of the other races being " most constant in color." 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



Friend D., I have been thinking of your 

 phm of ripening honey so it would not run 

 out, and I regard it as a matter of the great- 

 est importance. I am very glad you have 

 taken it up for us in the very thorough way 

 you have in the above. 



ALSIKE CLOVER - "WHEN AND HOW 

 TO SOW, ETC. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT RAISING BASSWOODS 

 FROM THE SEEDS. 



a EAR SIR:— Whenever one of my manuscripts 

 is not available, dump it into the waste-bas- 

 ket without ceremony. Can you not let us 

 know through Gleanings, at an early date, 

 when and how to sow alsike to the best ad- 

 vantage, and how much seed to sow to the acre 

 ■when sown alone? Also how much, when sown 

 ■with timothy? Please tell us when to gather bass- 

 wood-seeds, when to plant, and how to cultivate. 

 Denison, Iowa, Feb. 1, 1887. Z. T. Hawk. 



Friend H., we are very much obliged in- 

 deed to you for the liberty you give us with 

 your manuscript. There has been quite a 

 little complaint of late, because we receive 

 articles for publication and don't publish 

 them, return them, nor give any explana- 

 tion. If the friends will take a seat in the 

 editorial chair a while, they will perhaps see 

 why this is one of the hardest things to do, 

 and do promptly. We are constantly debat- 

 ing what to use and wliat not to use. Now, 

 to add to the perplexities, the contents of 

 each mail is liable to upset the calculations 

 we have made. For instance, an article has 



been prepared for print. Something better 

 and later comes in, and the first one is laid 

 aside. At other times something occurs to 

 render it desirable to hunt up and publish 

 something we had decided not to use. So 

 you see a gieat many articles are under a 

 weight which we designate ''Awaiting 

 Further Orders." We do not put any man- 

 uscripts in the waste-basket. Sometimes an 

 article lies on the table a month or two un- 

 til we find we are just ready to give it a 

 place. At other times, after having held it a 

 month or two, to see just where the best in- 

 terests of our readers are running, we decide 

 not to use it at all.— -In regard to alsike : As 

 it is just about time now to sow it, we are glad 

 you have called attention to the matter. 

 Sow about -4 lbs. to the acre, on any kind of 

 grain ; and if you sow it on one of the last 

 falls of snow you can easily see how thick 

 you are getting it. Terry's favorite time to 

 sow red clover is about the time of our last 

 severe frosts. Whenever we find the ground 

 all honey-combed, as it were, by the frost, 

 with the prospect of a thaw as soon as the 

 sun gets up, then is the time to get in your 

 clover. The seed rattles down in these little 

 holes made b\' the frost, and the thaw covers 

 it up with damp soil as soon as the sun 

 shines out. Have every thing all ready, and 

 then go at it as soon as you can see, when the 

 right time comes. Friend Terry has his 

 breakfast put off an hour or two, rather 

 than miss the chances of getting in his clo- 

 ver-seed just right. If your ground is good, 

 so as to make a strong growth, it will pay 

 you well to put in a sprinkling of timothy, 

 so as to make it stand up. This matter was 

 pretty well discussed at the Albany Conven- 

 tion. In very strong ground, alsike will 

 make such a mass of vines and stalks that it 

 is liable to rot during much rainy weather.— 

 Raising basswoods from the seeds, so far, 

 has been pretty much of a failure. I have 

 just received a catalogue from George Penney 

 & Co., Evergieen, Door Co., Wis., adverti.s- 

 ing basswood-seeds at a dollar a pound. He 

 also has little trees for sale, and has prom- 

 ised to give us an article on saving and 

 sowing the seeds, and on the treatment of 

 the seedlings. 



HOUSE-WAKMING. 



PROS'. COOK PLEADS FOR A FURNACE, AND WOOD 

 FOR FUEL. 



T MOST heartily agree with our friends Terry 

 l^f and the Editor, in their position on the tobac- 

 ^t CO question. How irrational and incompre- 

 hensible, that men will, in the face of the 

 known physical evils that attend the use of to- 

 bacco, the disgusting character of the habit, which 

 would surely nauseate any one except that we see 

 it from youth up, the moral obliquity, and disre- 

 gard of others' comfort which its use engenders; 

 and the worse than useless expense which goes 

 with the habit; that any one will suffer himself to 

 become its slave! The explanation must come 

 with the fact that children— mere nurslings- 

 adopt the pernicious practice ere reason and judg- 

 ment are sufficiently matured to guide and con- 

 trol. So much the more need that we who are 



