356 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



Figs. 3 and 4 show a hive protected by 

 heavy wrapping-paper, the folds of which 

 are held in place by a short piece of rope or 

 twine. These colonies in these two hives 

 are apparently wintering just as well as 

 those in double-walled chaff hives; and 

 while the paper is not put on very neatly, 

 yet for the purpose of experiment we took 

 second-hand wrapping-paper, just as it came, 

 and folded it over these two hives as shown. 

 To prevent leakage from the top we put on 

 regular hive-covers. 



H Fig. 3 shows the regular Halter storm-door 

 and how the bees were clustering around 

 over the top of the hive, the photos having 

 been taken the same day as the other two. 



We hope to give, about six weeks hence, a 

 full account of how these two colonies have 

 wintered. We might remark, however, in 

 closing, that the paper on No. 3 was hardly 



lowed by a strong west wind which carried 

 a black dust with it that settled all over the 

 snow. It is generally supposed that seeds 

 of this plant were carried here by the wind 

 and lodged with the black dust. The seeds 

 are very light, and arranged in the seed-pod 

 similarly to those of the thistle. The small 

 white flowers which have a yellow center 

 appear very late in the season, generally 

 after there has been a light frost; bvit, al- 

 though it is so late, the bees get considerable 

 honey from them. The first season the plant 

 bloomed here the bees gathered about 15 

 lbs. of honey per colony from it. The sec- 

 ond year I think I received fully 20 lbs. per 

 colony, and the last season only about 10 

 lbs., as we had some frost almost every 

 morning it was in bloom. If this weed (I 

 know no other name for it) did not bloom 

 so late it would do us more good than the 



A HONEY-PLANT THAT BLOOMS AFTER THE FIRST FROST IN THE FALL. 



wide enough to cover up the entire hive as 

 it should. But as many of our subscribers 

 have to take what they can get, we took any 

 old thing we could find. 



A FALL HONEY-PLANT. 



Blossoms that do Not Appear until After 

 the First Frost. 



BY W. W. GRIM. 



I am sending you a picture of a colony of 

 bees which is conveniently near the flowers. 

 I have been keeping bees here for about 25 

 years, and until three years ago I never had 

 a fall flow of honey. Five years ago this 

 winter we had a very heavy snowstorm fol- 



white clover. Clover can not be depended 

 on for a crop of honey here, but this weed 

 has never failed entirely. The worst trou- 

 ble is that it blooms at ? season when the 

 weather is very uncertain. The bees are 

 able to work on the blossoms only a small 

 part of the time. It takes a pretty hard 

 freeze to kill them, for I saw bees working on 

 them after we had had more than one-fourth 

 inch of ice this fall. Stock of all kinds will 

 eat them. The seed comes up in the spring, 

 making a plant that looks much like "white 

 top," and these stand until the second year 

 Ijefore blooming. They grow everywhere 

 except where the stock get at them. I have 

 a small patch in an unused part of my bee- 

 lot where they are as high as my head, and 

 so thick and strong that I can scarcely walk 

 through them. 



