THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



795 



and he salislied ? No ! says tlie im- 

 pulsive anil enlluisiastic bee-keeper — 

 show us the exalted possibilities of the 

 future ! Teacli us how to obtain a 

 crop of lumey day after day, month 

 after moiitli. and year after year ! 

 Well, this is tlie duty imposed upon 

 me by your committee — why, I know 

 not ; nor did I ask ; but 1 will seek a 

 soluUon of the problem by leading 

 you into " green pastures," filled witli 

 myriads of " flowers,"' in which Na- 

 ture distils the honey, drop by drop, 

 and invites tlie bees, by their gorgeous 

 hues, to come and dip into their tiny 

 fountains, and feast and tly, and (1y 

 and feast continually. These fields of 

 splendor will point you to success— to 

 shilling dollars, and aflluence ! 



Ask the breeders of stock, the 

 shepherds, and the dairymen, for the 

 secret of their success, and they will 

 point you to their well-tilled fields, 

 green pastures and mountains of hay. 

 They will tell you that they provide 

 corn for their hogs, rich meadows, 

 pastures and hay for their stock, and 

 then naturally expect good results ! 



Ask bee-keepers upon what they 

 depend for results, and they will have 

 to confess that '• luck " has a good 

 deal to do with it ; they depend upon 

 natural forests, neighbors' clover 

 fields, wild flowers in the fence cor- 

 ners, roadsides and wild lands ; and 

 if they are " lucky enough " to have 

 these in due proportion to their bees, 

 they will sing a song of gladness ; but 

 if not, their long visages will tell of 

 hopes blasted and prospects blighted ! 



But alas, with advancing civiliza- 

 tion comes the woodman's ax, cutting 

 down the basswood, elm, oak and 

 maple trees. The farmers' plow 

 destroys the magnificent wild floral 

 carpet supplied by nature, and the 

 poor bees often find nothing to gather 

 — the wild flora is destroyed— the 

 honey all gone— and starvation stares 

 them in the face ! Nothing remains 

 for them but to destroy their brood, 

 kill their drones, and if possible to 

 hold out on half-rations, until some 

 stray wild flowers, unmolested by the 

 plow, in fence corners or by the road- 

 side, replenish their scanty stores ; 

 but if these are denied, they "suc- 

 cumb to the inevitable" — and their 

 owner declares he " has no luck with 

 bees !" 



Now, what is the duty of the 

 apiarist, in this state of affairs V The 

 answer is plain, positive and unmis- 

 takable. Pasturage for the bees must 

 be provided— it is an absolute neces- 

 sity, lie must study the honey 

 seasons of his locality, and supply the 

 deficiency by planting white, Alsike 

 or sweet clover, mignonette, borage, 

 motherwort, cleome, mustard, rape, 

 etc., and thus provide the bees with 

 honey-producing flora when the nat- 

 ural supply is insufficient or entirely 

 destroyed. 



Good judgment must, of course, be 

 exercised in the selection of seeds for 

 planting. If white clover is plentiful, 

 and fall-flowers abuudant, scatter 

 mints " to fill the gap." If basswood 

 is the main stay for honey, then sow 

 sage, motherwort, and other early 

 nectar-yielding plants or trees. The 



goldenrods, asters, buckwheat, sweet 

 clover, etc., will always pay to culti- 

 vate for fall honey. The latter {sweet 

 clover) with its white, modest bWom 

 will gladden the eye in June, and the 

 sweet fragrance of its flowers will 

 linger till frost and snow comes and 

 the bees are safely placed in " winter 

 quarters." 



We are well aware that many who 

 keep bees have not enough land to 

 spare to devote to bee-pasturage ; but 

 in the immediate vicinity of every 

 apiary, and within easy flight of every 

 colony of bees in America, there are 

 waste lands enough, covered with 

 unsightly brambles, burdocks, fennels, 

 mulleins, rag-weeds, etc., which it 

 would pay to seed with suitable plants 

 for producijig honey. Many of the 

 best honey-plants require but little or 

 no cultivation, after scattering the 

 seeds ; and even the poorest honey- 

 producers would be more agreeable 

 to the eye on such waste land than 

 sand-burrs, brambles, fennels, and 

 other weeds which grow spontaneous- 

 ly on roadsides and'waste-places. 



In view of the uncertainty of suf- 

 ficient continuous bloom being pro- 

 vided by Nature, and the certainty 

 of annually-recurring periods of cold 

 weather, long and hazardous conttne- 

 ment — to insure success, the apiarist 

 should as carefully and certainly 

 provide pasturage for the bees as to 

 furnish them with hives to shelter 

 them from the cold and storms. 



Do you ask, " Will it pay to plant 

 for honey V" Let me reply by asking 

 if it does pay to keep bees to gather 

 honey at all ? If you answer yes, 

 tiien let me assert— the more bloom, 

 the more honey for the bees t.o gather; 

 the more honey gathered, the more 

 honey for the market ; the more honey 

 sold, the more money for the bee- 

 keeper, and the better the business 

 will pay ! 



To farther illustrate this point : If 

 a honey-flow of .30 days (wliich con- 

 stitutes an average honey season, one 

 year with another) will pay— will not 

 l.^O days pay fire times as viuch f If by 

 judicious planting, we can lengthen 

 the honey season, do we not thereby 

 correspondingly increase the honey 

 crop '/ and does not this increase of 

 the marketable honey-crop corres- 

 pondingly increase the' income of the 

 apiarist, and add just that much to 

 the material wealth of the Nation ? 



Rational replies to these queries, by 

 progressive apiarists, ought to demon- 

 strate thatit will pay to plant for honey; 

 and also that as the country grows 

 older and the population increases, it 

 becomes a positive necessity. 



Several members concurred in the 

 importance of attention being given 

 to sowing and planting for honey 

 production. 



Mr. S. F. Newman spoke of the 

 great reduction in the number of 

 basswood trees, owing to the demand 

 for the timber by those who were 

 manufacturing sections. Ten years 

 ago there were (;0 large basswood trees 

 within sight of his apiary ; now, all 

 but 5 were gone. He had, however, 

 succeeded in getting them more than 

 replaced by giving away young bass- 



wood trees to all wlio would plant 

 them and care for them. A number 

 jflanted thus 10 years ago, this year 

 yielded a inaguilicent crop of Ijoiiey. 

 The basswood was a flne sliade tree, 

 and if bee-keepers would encourage 

 its multiplication, they would find 

 their account iu it. 



Rev. L. L. Langstroth mentioned 

 the case of a bee-keeper who was 

 thought by his neighbors demented, 

 because he sowed tlie seeds of sweet 

 clover in a sort of wilderness locality ; 

 but as the result he had now a splen- 

 did range of bee-pasturage. 



Several members spoke warmly in 

 favor of Alsike clover. 



Wm. r. Clarke mentioned that it 

 would grow and flourish in low, we», 

 undrained land, where red clover 

 would not take. He also said that 

 bee-keepers should use their influence 

 to have stock prevented from running 

 at large. It was a just and good law 

 in other views of it, and its passage 

 would double the value of bee-pas- 

 turage. 



A member suggested that all who 

 had tried the Alsike clover and found 

 it valuable, should intimate the same 

 by rising, when about one-third of 

 the members present arose. 



Indianapolis, Ind., was selected as 

 the next place of meeting, and it was 

 voted that St. Louis be in contempla- 

 tion for the following year. 



As the hour of adjournment had 

 arrived, the election of officers was 

 postponed until 2 p.m., when the fol- 

 lowing were duly elected : 



Pre.i:de.\t-H. D. Cutting, Clinton, Mich. 



Recording Secuetahy— Frank L. Dougherty, 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



COHHE-SPOMJIXG SECKETARV — Mrs. Cass Rob 



bins. Indianapolis, ind. 

 Treasuker— C. V. Muth, Cincinnati, O. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS : 



Alabama— Nelson Perkins, Princeton. 



Arkansas -Geo. B. Peters. Peters. 



Arizona— Jas. H. Brown, Prescott. 



Britisli Columbia -LT. Spears, New Westminster. 



I^aiiturnia— K. Wilkin. San Buenaventura. 



Colorado— Phitip Heardtm, Jamestown. 



Connecticut- II. L. Jeffrey, WashinKton Depot. 



District of Columbia -Rev. J. \. Buck, Washington. 



Dakota- J. H. Townley, Ashton. 



iielaware— Geo. Ueminstnn. Wilmington. 



Klorida— W, S. Hart, Hawk's Park. 



Georgia— Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta. 



Illinois-Mrs. Jj. Hirrisr.ii, Peoria. 



Indiana—,!. Seholl, Indianapolis. 



Iowa -J. M. Shuck. Des Moines. 



Kansas-Chas. Smith, Marysville. 



Kentucky— J. M. Egbert. Salvisa. 



Louir^iana -P. L,. Viallon, Bayou Goula. 



Maine -J. B. Mason, Mechanic Falls. 



Manit>)ba— Hon. J. n. WallDrJdse. Winnipeg. 



Massachusetts— S. M. Ijocke. Wenham. 



Michigan— Miss Lucy Wilkins, Farwell. 



Missouri- E. M. Hayhurst. Ivunsas City. 



Mississippi— Dr. O. -M. Blanton, Greenville. 



Minnesota— C. F. Greening. Grand Meadow. 



Maryland— Dr. W. G. Phelps, Galena. 



Montana-Chas. Bruce, VVickes. 



Nebraska— T. L. VonDorn, O'maha. 



Nevada— A. A. Leeper, Carson City. 



New Jersey- E. Terryberry, llighbridge. 



New York- Ira Barber, OeKalb Junction. 



North Carolina-ll. H. Watson, Sladesville. 



Nova Scotia— C. T. Jones, Waterville, 



New Hamp.shire-M. Harie, Ivcoo. 



Ohio— A. I. Root. Medina. 



Ontario-J. B. Hall, Woodstock. 



Pennsylvania— Arthur Todd, Germantown. 



Prince Edw. Island— Jas. Gouriie, Summerside. 



Quebec— H. F. Hunt, Quebec. 



Rhode Island— VVm. J. Tracy, Burrillville. 



South Carolina— S. C. Boylston, Charleston. 



Tennessee- W. P. Henderson, .Murfreesboro. 



Texas— W. II. Andrews. .McKlnney. 



Utah-0. H. Morgan, Salt l.iike City, 



Virginia— J. W. Porter, ('harlottesvilie. 



Vermimt- A. E. Manum. Bristol. 



Wept Virginia-A. W. Cheney. Kanawha, Falls. 



Wisconsin— Christopher Grimm, Jefferson. 



Wyoming -James Fields. F"rt Laramie. 



Washington- H. A. Marsh, Fidalgo. 



[This report will be concluded next 

 week. — Ed.] 



