bee-uiotlis. Think it would be well to en- 

 courage these little birds to build their 

 nests in the apiary. This may be easily 

 done by fastening little boxes under the 

 eaves, of out buildings, to fence-posts, or in 

 trees, as the wren will readily select such a 

 place for her nest, and a little box suits her 

 taste exactly. 



The early part of this season was very 

 favorable for obtaining honey ; but lately, 

 bees have been doing very little. 



C. W. McKoWN. 



Gilson, Knox Co., 111., Aug. 5, 1S7S. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Wild Onion as a Honey Producer. 



I write this to call the attention of our 

 brother apiarists to a valuable plant for 

 honey — the wild onion. If farmers can tole- 

 rate it in their pasture it would be very val- 

 uable. It begins blossoming here about July 

 20th, and continues for two to three weeks. 

 I am located G}4 miles south of the court 

 house, in Chicago, at Englewood, and at 

 present the prairies around, as well as rail- 

 road tracks, are covered with its delicate 

 pink-wliite blossom, and my bees are gath- 

 ering it fast. I can smell the onion flavor 

 coming out of the entrances blown by the 

 busy wings of the bees ventilating the hives 

 and thereby ripening the honey. The onion 

 flavor thus passes otf, and when the honey 

 is ready to be sealed you could not tell it 

 from white clover; though I extracted some 

 of it three years ago, and my better-half al- 

 Avays insisted that she could taste the onion 

 flavor; probably in consequence of taking 

 out before it was well sealed over. The 

 blossom is borne on a single delicate stalk, 

 size of a knitting-needle or a trifle larger, 

 from 9 to 15 inches high, from which it 

 drops over in a bunch of 8 to 12 small single 

 flowers branching from the upright stalk. I 

 do not think Prof. Cook enumerates this in 

 his "Manual," and yet I think it very valu- 

 able, as it comes in a season when there is 

 little else but buckwheat, and as its honey 

 is white as clover, it is worth cultivating 

 j)0ssibly. I should not plant it in pastures, 

 as I presume it will give its flavor to the 

 milk and butter, but in waste places, &c., it 

 would help out the August supply very ma- 

 terially. R. J. COLBUEN. 



168 State St., Chicago, Aug. 2, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Purity of the Queen. 



Whether or not spots and crowns upon 

 the body of the Italian queen bees are a 

 necessary test of purity I am unprepared to 

 say, and have strong doubts. 1 have bred 

 queens from mothers with and without 

 spots and crowns, with equal results, to all 

 appearance, of genuine purity. We are 

 forced to judge of the purity of the queen 

 more from her progeny than from the ap- 

 pearance of the queen; they vary so much 

 in color. 



If I wanted a queen that would duplicate 

 herself in queen progeny, under the same 



conditions, I would cross with the black 

 bee, then breed out tiie black blood so far 

 as to secure a brilliant color in the daughter. 

 The point is then gained, but the original 

 purity lost. 



I first secured the Dr. Parsons' stock (as I 

 understand it), through the Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth, of Ohio, and they were indeed beau- 

 tiful bees, but not so active, to all appear- 

 ances, as importations since made from 

 Italy. I herewith send you for examination 

 a queen, daughter of an imported mother, 

 bearing the spots or crowns of so-called 

 genuineness, but claim nothing superior for 

 her on that ground. A. Salisbury. 



Camargo, 111., Aug. 12, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Motherwort as a Honey Plant. 



(Leonurus cardiaca L.) 



Perhaps none of our common herbs 

 promises better, as a honey plant, than the 

 one in question. It is a very hardy per- 

 ennial, and once introduced in waste 

 places, it is sure to hold its own, until it 

 becomes desirable to extirpate it, when, at 

 man's bidding, it quickly lets go its hold, 

 so that it is not a dangerous plant to intro- 

 duce. The blossoms appear at this place, 

 about June 2oth, and persist for a full 

 month, and during the entire time, are 

 crowded with bees, whatever may be the 



/7^ / 



character of the weather, whether wet or 

 dry, warm or cool, whether the plant is in 

 the midst of honey plants or isolated. We 

 are thus assured that the plant is constantly 

 secreting nectar, and is also a favorite with 

 bees. Rape, mustards, and borage seem 

 inditferent to the weather, but are not 

 favorites with the bees. Motherwort, then, 

 has three admirable qualities : It is long 

 in bloom, the flowers afEord fine honey at all 

 times, and it is a favorite with the bees. If 

 it could be made to bloom about three weeks 

 later, coming in just after basswood, it 

 would have nearly all the desired qualities. 

 I think that we might bring this about, by 

 mowing the plants in May. I am led to this 



