December, 1914. 



411 



American Vae Joornal 



oflfensive to the palate as quinine. In 

 most sections in the South the cotton 

 plant begins yielding two or three 

 weeks before bitterweed, and if it were 

 not for the well established fact that 

 bees do not desert a honey plant for 

 another as long as it yields well, nearly 

 all the summer and fall honey would 

 be unfit for market on account of the 

 bitterweed. In sections where cotton 

 does not yield much the honey is all 

 bitter, and a small amount of it will 

 ruin a tank of good honey. Bitterweed 

 is also a great pollen plant, furnishing 

 abundance of bright yellow pollen 

 throughout its blooming period. Even 

 the stems and foliage of this plant are 

 intensely bitter and no animals eat it. 



To give the reader an idea of how 

 bitter it is, let me relate an incident 

 that happened in my boyhood days, 

 while we were traveling in Texas. We 

 camped near a town one evening, and 

 after supper my father went down and 

 brought back a good home-cured ham 

 to eat on our long journey to the next 

 town. On the way back with it, swing- 

 ing down in his hands, perchance 

 some of these weeds touched it, and 

 having no covering it came in direct 

 contact with them. On the fol- 

 lowing day when we prepared some of 

 it to eat, it was so very bitter that we 

 could not use it. It was several years 

 before we learned where the trouble 

 lay. 



mm* 



Hive Making 



The season is at a close, the bees are 

 put up for winter, and the question of 

 hive making for the coming season is 

 in order. Where suitable lumber is 

 obtainable, that is, lumber that will 

 last and not warp too much, and time 

 permits, almost any one can make hive 

 bottoms and covers that will answer 

 the purpose fairly well. But it takes a 

 mechanic to mike hive and super 

 bodies, as there must be less than ,'s 

 of an inch variation when put together, 

 as the interior fixtures w ill not fit well, 

 and at the same time allow the proper 

 bee space. When it comes to the in- 

 terior parts which are very compli- 

 cated or irregularly cut out, it takes 

 not only a mechanic, but a machine 

 with suitable fine saws, cutter boards, 

 etc. 



For the benefit of those who may 

 have a small light running wood-work- 

 ing machine suitable for this purpose, 

 or for those who may contemplate buy- 

 ing one soon, I will illustrate by a cut 

 how I cut out frames and section hold- 

 ers. I use as a pattern a regular factory- 

 made frame, section holder, or any 

 other part I wish to get out and do not 

 change the dimensions at all. All the 

 lumber used for this purpose is dressed 

 two sides and sized to thirteen-six- 

 teenths inch at the factory where I buy 

 it, and it is usually narrow. The ma- 

 terial for the longest parts I first cut 

 up in proper lengths, then I dado the 

 ends, and rip them out and cut the 

 grooves for wedges last. 



borrow some money at what could I 

 value them ? Description follows: 



" One hundred colonies in 10-frame 

 hives, wired on full sheets of founda- 

 tion with worker comb. 



" All hives are painted with one good 

 coat of paint (cost of paint $2.50 per 

 gallon). 



" One hundred -ind fifty comb honey 

 supers painted as above, with inside 

 fixtures. 



"All of these hives and supers are 

 as good as new ; in fact, I bought 7.5 of 

 them in April of this year. 



" .Xbout half of the colonies have 

 full blood Italian queens; the other 

 half have from the common to three- 

 eighths Italian. 



" All the hives are of the Root factory 

 make. It costs money to buy factory 

 hives and put bees in them, and I want 

 to know what I can safely value them 

 at. I know that I could sacrifice them 



at $1.00 each, or that I could be making 

 a lot with them and refuse to sell at 

 $20 each, but neither of these valua- 

 tions would be correct. 



" Jo.sEi"H S. Scott. 

 "Mt. Pleasant, Ala." 



Answer— The true value of bees 

 when it comes to offering them for 

 sale is hard to ascertain, for very few 

 are sold at their true value. They are 

 usually disposed of below cost. 



Condition of the bees, hives, etc., 

 have much to do with it. As yours are 

 in first-class condition, and consider- 

 ing the cost of supplies at present, I 

 believe their true value to be about 

 $7..35 per colony ; that is, they are worth 

 that much to a progressive apiarist. 



As to borrowing money on bees or 

 giving them as security, this would be 

 hard to do. Banks would not make 

 you a loan with them as a security and 

 very few individuals would. 



Caufornia ^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by J. E. Pleasants. Oranee. Calif. 



Valuation of Colonies and Apiaries 



"I have 100 colonies of bees. If I 

 should die what would they represent 

 in money to my wife ? If I wanted to 



The National Meeting 



We hope the National people will 

 not forget California's invitation to 

 meet here next year. We shall be glad 

 to have them come to either San Fran- 

 cisco or San Diego, as suits their good 

 pleasure. Our memories of the Na- 

 tional meeting in Los Angeles are so 

 pleasant that we wish they might hold 

 a meeting in both places. 



[We understand that the National 



directors have virtually decided to hold 



their February meeting in Denver. — 



Editor.] 



* • » 



Olive Honey— Other Plants 



In regard to the question raised by 

 the Italian beekeepers as to whether 

 the bees gather nectar from the blos- 

 soms of the olive, it is the consensus 

 of opinion among the beekeepers here 

 that they do not. I have never noticed 

 them gather anything except pollen. 

 Since the question was asked, however, 

 I have questioned a number of bee- 

 keepers about their observations of 

 the olive, and they are all of the same 

 opinion — that while bees get large sup- 

 plies of pollen, they gather no nectar. 

 We have large groves of olive trees 

 here in the beekeeping district, so I 

 think there can be no mistake. 



A plant sent us by Dr. H. W. Smith, 

 of Folsom, which he gathered in the 

 Lake Tahoe region, at an altitude of 

 6000 feet, is evidently an epilobium or 

 " great willow herb." The specimen 

 reached us in bad condition, so it is 

 impossible to be accurate. The Doctor 

 says it is much visited by bees. 



We have also run down the Tinker's 

 weed or Tinker's root, but did not find 

 any mention of it growing in Africa. 

 However, the description may be of 

 interest to our Natal beekeeper, and as 



he wished a botanical description of 

 the plant, we give a rather full descrip- 

 tion from the "Field Book of Wild 

 Flowers :" 



"Tinker's weed {Triostfum per/ob'a- 

 tum). 



"The tever root, so named from a 

 Dr. Tinker, of New England. It has 

 purgative and emetic properties. Also, 

 erroneously, ' Tinkar's root.' 



" 7>-iosteum — a genus of gamopeta- 

 lous plants, of the order Cafn'foliacic 

 and tribe Lonueya-. It is character- 

 ized by a tubular bell-shaped corolla 

 gibbous at the base, and a three to five 

 celled ovary with one ovule in each 

 cell. There are about six species, na- 

 tive of Asia and the eastern and central 

 United States. They are herbs with a 

 perennial root, and little branched stems 

 with scaly buds. The leaves are ses- 

 sile, entire, opposite and somewhat 

 connate at the base. The dull yellow, 

 purple or whitish flowers are solitary, 

 or clustered in the axils, or rarely con- 

 densed into short terminal spikes. The 

 fruit is a coriaceous or fleshy berry, 

 with smooth, bony, angled or ribbed 

 seeds. 



" 7'. ficrfo/ia/mti, a rather coarse erect 

 species with purplish flowers and or- 

 ange colored berries, occurring from 

 Canada to Alabama, is known as f'cver 

 root, also as ho>-se gentian. Tinker's 

 zveeci, iL'i/ci it'ecac and icild cofTce. It 

 produces a long, thick, yellowish or 

 brownish root with a nauseous taste 

 and odor, locally used as a cathartic 

 and emetic. One other species. T. an- 

 gustifolium. with yellowish flowers, 

 occurs in the United States. 



Dr. L. H. Pammel, State Botanist for 

 Iowa, commenting on the willow herb 

 mentioned previously in this article, 

 says: "The specimen of plant from 

 Dr. Smith, of California, isthefireweed 

 or great willow herb {Epilobium angiis- 

 lifolium), known sometimes in the 



