654 



glea:nikgs in bee cultuue. 



Sept. 



heaven suffereth violence, and the violent 

 take it by force." 



COUNTING CHICKENS BEFORE THEY 

 ARE HATCHED. 



DOOLITTLE'S SWARMING THEORY NOT HOI.DING 

 TRUE. 



T NEVER came as nigh getting a big crop of hon- 

 lyP ey in all my life as I did this season, and yet 

 ^t miss it entirely. 1 commenced the season with 

 "*■ 55 colonies, some strong and some weak. They 

 were like the fellow's fence - rails. He said 

 some of them were too long and some too short, but 

 they would make a good average. Well, by the first 

 of May the most of them had built up to be quite 

 strong and ready for swarming or storing bushels 

 of surplus honey, or any thing else they might take 

 a fancy to. I, being in high spirits, had all my 

 nans with the right sides up to catch the honey 

 shower whenever it should come; and even my 

 grocer, who has sold honey for me for several years, 

 had promised to sell for me this year for nothing, 

 because he said it was an advantage to his business. 

 You have heard the proverb, " Never count your 

 chickens before they are hatched." Well, I couldn't 

 count mine; they were too numerous— in my imagi- 

 nation; but 1 can count 'em easily enough now. 

 Prom .55 colonies, spring count, I have V good 

 swarms, and had 5") one-pound sections of empty 

 comb filled with nice honey, and the bees are all in 

 good condition now and ready for the fall flow of 

 honey, if it comes; but that "if" is in the way, and 

 I can't move it; for we never do get any surplus 

 here in the fall after a very dry summer. Now, do 

 not put me in Blasted Hopes, for I am not one of 

 the blasted kind. You had me io there ouce, and 1 

 didn't stay there three months. You can't keep a 

 fellow in there who has any get-up about him, and 

 it's no use trying. Suppose you could, there's 

 enough of us here in this township in about the 

 same fi.x to fill up the whole department. Accord- 

 ing to the assessor's report there ai-e or were in this 

 township, before swarming was over, .5.50 colonies 

 of bees, divided perhaps among one hundred own- 

 ers, and I have not heard quite as good a report 

 from any of them as I make myself. 



Mr. Doolittle's theory of swarming does not agree 

 with my experience and observation; in fact, his 

 rule, page 4IM, is the exception, and his exception is 

 the rule all through the season from first to last 

 with me, be the apiary large or small, and be the 

 bees black or white, yellow or brown. Here are the 

 facts of this season's observations: Out of 7 

 swarms in an apiary of 55 (all natural swarms), the 

 first came out on the 10th of May; and if they had 

 any queen-cells at all there was nothing but eggs in 

 them, because it was fully sixteen days from the 

 time they swarmed till there was a queen hatched 

 in the old hive. The next five had queen-cells more 

 or less advanced, but none capped till the 7th. The 

 last one came out on the 15t^ day of June, and left 

 capped queen-cells almost ready to hatch. From 

 these facts T infer that the rule laid down by Mr. 

 D. for the benefit of beginners is more likely to 

 mislead than to benefit them, and these facts from 

 my experience of the past season are not excep- 

 tional, but rather corroborative, of my last sixteen 

 years of modern apiculture. .Tacois C(iPEr,ANn. 



Allendale, Ills., Aug. '.», lss7. 



ANOTHER use: FOR THE CHAPMAN 

 HONEY-PLANT. 



A NEW OIL EXTRACTED KKOM ITS SEED. 



ueTE take the following from the Buffalo 

 Express, of Aug. 8, referring to the 

 Chapman plant as an oil-producer as 

 well as a honey-producer: 



Some years ago a Mr. Chapman, of Marcellus, 

 N. Y., while spending a winter in Florida, gathered 

 a large quantity of seeds of various kuuls; and on 

 his return to the North in the spring, he planted 

 them in his garden. Among the plants which sprang 

 therefrom he noticed one which had never been 

 brought to his attention in the tropics. It grew up 

 a strong thrifty plant with large prickly leaves, 

 somewhat like those of a thistle, but the first year 

 failed to blossom. The following summer, however, 

 it bore about 30 compact ball-like flowers, from one 

 to two inches in diameter, which emitted a fragrant 

 odor and proved an irresistible attraction to all the 

 bees in the neighborhood. Indeed, so great was the 

 excitement of the honey-gatherers over the floral 

 stranger that Mr. Chapman one day kept account 

 of the number of visits paid a single blossom from 

 sunrise to sundown, and the visitors' register show- 

 ed 2170 calls. Because of this peculiarity the plant 

 was christened ^e "honey-bee plant," and by this 

 name, or by the commercial title of " Chapman's 

 honey-bee plant," it has become widely known 

 among the bee-keepers of the country. It has been 

 ascertained that the plant is a native of Southern 

 France, where it is treated as a weed. 



Believing that the seeds of the plant would be in 

 active demand as soon as its qualities became 

 known, Mr. Chapman saved the seeds from the 

 original and planted them the following season. 

 This was repeated again and again until he now has 

 ten acres under cultivation. The plant flourishes 

 in a clay soil, which will raise nothing else save 

 thistles, and is so hardy that a failure of the crop 

 need never be feared. The seeds are now in active 

 demand among bee-keepers at a dollar a pound. 



Some time ago the seeds of the honey-bee plant, 

 which resemble oats in form, were brought to the 

 attention of Mr. F. S. Pease, the well-known oil- 

 dealer of this city, who is the authority for the 

 statement herein made. He perceived that they 

 were rich in vegetable oil. Learning that the plants 

 grew with very little attention, and produced a 

 large quantity of seed which could be easily beaten 

 out from the balls, the idea occurred to him that 

 possibly the plant might some day hold a prominent 

 commercial position as an oil-producer, thus serv- 

 ing a double purpose during the period of its exist- 

 ence. Acting upon this thought, Mr. Pease two 

 years'ago procured a quantity of seed and extract- 

 ed therefrom the oil for experimental purposes. It 

 w,as found to be equal to the best linseed oil for all 

 pur])oses, but in its qualities more closely akin to 

 the poppy-seed oil. It does not solidify, and shows 

 no disposition to acidulate. A two-years' test has 

 demonstrated that it has a commercial value equal 

 to linseed oil. 



This raises the question as to whether it can be 

 manufactured profitably. The linseed-oil cake 

 which comes from the compress after the oil has 

 been extracted is a valuable commercial product. 

 The residuum of the honey-plant seed possesses 

 qualities so closely allied to quinine that the taste 

 and after-effects are apparently almost identical 

 with those of the costly drug. 



To determine the full value of his discovery Mr. 

 Pease will go to New York this week, accompanied 

 by Mrs. Pease, to attend the meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 Mrs. Pease will read a paper in the botanical sec- 

 tion upon the honey-bee plant, while the oil itself, 

 and the bitter residuum left after the extraction, 

 will be brought to the attention of the chemical 

 section. 



Should the honey-bee plant prove worth cultiva- 

 tion for its honey, oil, and quinine substitute, some 

 of the farms in Erie County which are now scarcely 

 worth the ;;taxes paid for the'privilege of being a 

 real estate owner, may experience a rise in value 

 such as comes with the discovery of mineral oil be- 

 neath the most barren soil. 



Tlie question now arises. Can tiiis seed be 

 raised cheaply enough to compete with tlax 



