324 



•TH® MMEMiC'Mi* mmm j@^RNat. 



Xlie Passins of Winter. 



The stoiTu winds blow, and drifts the snow, 



But still the winter passes ; 

 And soon we know the flowers will show 



Among the slender grasses. 



For days are ileet, and violets sweet. 



Like tender blue eyes peeping, 

 From 'neath our feet our gaze will meet, 

 , And set glad pulses leaping. 



TThile daisies pied rank side by side 



With buttercups so mellow ; 

 TVitb spendthrift pride, the meadows wide 



They'll dot with white and yellow. 



And, sad and sere, old Winter drear. 



Back to his ken retreating, 

 Sends Spring-time here, to us so dear. 



Our happiness completing. 



—Yankee Bhiilc. 



Ifees as Pollen Carriers.— From 

 the Hartford Courant of Friday, May 3, 

 1890, we copy the following editorial en- 

 titled "A Natural History Lesson :" 



" We are indebted to Mr. James W. 

 €heney, of South Manchester, Ct., who has 

 lately returned from Europe, for a singu- 

 larly interesting letter upon bees from Mr. 

 Charles Beckiugton. It reads almost like a 

 romance, and every fanner ought to think 

 it ove." and follow its useful suggestions. 



" Even the children know in a general 

 way that the bees are useful in spreading 

 pollen among bloom, but this is a detailed, 

 explicit statement of the work these insects 

 do and of its good results. Look at the 

 picture of the old fruit farm all revived by 

 merely setting up a few bee-hives. If 

 ue%er a a drop of honey was collected, still 

 the bees would be of the greatest useful- 

 ■ness. by their patient way of laying up 

 sweetness beyond all their possible needs, 

 makes the direct result of their labors also 

 a source of profit. 



"The bee is an animal that not only costs 

 nothing to keep, but pays its way as it 

 goes and helps the whole agricultural pro- 

 cess beside. The trees hold more fruit from 

 the fact that the bees have carried off the 

 honey ; the field crops yield better if the 

 bees have stolen the sweetness from their 

 plants, and the honey itself is a good crop, 

 beside." 



Tue interesting letter mentioned is as 

 follows, and is well worth a perusal : 



In September, 1888, Mr. E. Jobard, of 

 T>i.|(>n, in eastern France, published a small 

 l>.imphlet on the " Utility of Bees." This 

 pamphlet produced a wide-spread interest 

 among farmers and fruit-gi'owers ; and the 

 author was urged to amplify and popularize 

 liis views. This he has done in a neat little 

 Ti-olume, entitled "The First Hive." 



ilr. Jobard left the home of his boyhood 

 in Haute-Marne in 1846, at which time 

 tie old homestead was a charming picture 

 of fruitful prosperity. He became the 

 owner of this old homestead 40 years after, 



when it had become a depressing picture of 

 dilapidation and decay. 



The main points of the preface to Mr. 

 Jobard's book are given below with some 

 paragraphs from his original pamphlet 

 added : 



Returning to my native village after an 

 absence of 40 years, I was strongly im- 

 pressed with the sterility of the fruit trees. 

 There, where formerly the trees bent imder 

 loads of fruit, year after year, I now found 

 only stunted trees bearing less and still less 

 fruit, poor in form and flavor. In the 

 country I found the acquaintances and 

 friends of my youth grown old like myself; 

 and I expressed to them the painful im- 

 pression which I experienced in finding our 

 orchards once so productive, now fallen into 

 such a state of decay. All had observed the 

 same thing, and likewise agi'eed in declaring 

 that the evil had commenced taking dis- 

 quieting proportions about SO years before ; 

 but not one of these suspected the cause of 

 the evil. 



Every spring the trees had blossomed 

 admirably, but autumn yields never justi- 

 fied the hopes raised. From the modest 

 home of my father, surrounded by a bit of 

 ground cultivated as an orchard and vine- 

 yard, the bee-house which existed when I 

 was young, had completely disappeared. I 

 was soon convinced that in the country 

 where there were once 500 colonies of bees, 

 there now remained not a single one, and 

 the same was true of the entire valley. 



For some time I let no opportunity escape 

 of causing the farmers and fruit-growers to 

 understand that the disappearance of the 

 bees was the sole cause of this disaster. But 

 as I saw that my theories made but little 

 impression, I began to rebuild and supply 

 the old bee-house ; and with the very first 

 year I obtained a marvelous result. 



In front of this bee-house there were 6 

 fruit trees, 4 plum, 1 apple, and 1 pear 

 tree. In the spring these were covered 

 with blossoms, as were all the other trees 

 in the country. Soon I saw the fruit take 

 form, and each day I led my friends to 

 observe the progi-ess. But, more incredu- 

 lous than St. Thomas, thej' refused abso- 

 lutely to attribute this phenomenon, so 

 visible, tangible and incontestable, to my 

 bees. 



When the fruit began to mature, I saw 

 the branches of my trees assume shapes 

 which caused me uneasiness. 



At one time I had thought of sustaining 

 them with props, as used to be done. But 

 finally I believed it to be better to carry 

 the trial to its very end. The result sur- 

 passed my hopes. The branches of my 4 

 plum trees broke one after another under 

 their burden. The disaster was so com- 

 plete that these trees were entirely ruined. 

 I was obliged to have them replaced with 

 others towards the end of autumn. As to 

 my apple tree and pear tree, as I could not 

 allow myself to sacrifice them, I propped 

 them thoroughly, and with great care, just 

 in time to save them. This practical dem- 

 onstration produced the effect I hoped, and 

 all my friends promised to imitate my 

 example. It was then I conceived the 

 Ijroject of grouping in a few pages all the 

 interesting facts, which tend to prove the 

 fertilizing action of bees, in order that I 

 might complete the conversion of my 

 neighbors. 



The following paragraphs, taken from 

 the pamphlet on the " Utility of Bees," 

 indicate the beneficial influence of bees 

 upon growing wheat : 



There are some districts in Saxony, 

 where the farmers raise no other crops 

 than wheat, and a wheat of such superior 

 quality as to be always sold at a high price 



as seed wheat. In these districts all farm- 

 ers, without exception, have bee-houses, 

 but these bee-houses, instead of being fixed, 

 are mounted on wheels. Some days before 

 the wheat blooms, each farmer hitches his 

 team to his movable bee-house, and con- 

 ducts it during the night into the middle of 

 his wheat field. 



Taking dinner one day at Velaro with 

 several farmers, I narrated this fact, when 

 Mr. Genelot, a farmer of Failly, exclaimed : 

 " Well, then, that is why my finest wheat is 

 always found near my bee hive, and the 

 diS'erence is so marked that ever since I 

 have been at Faill}', it is uniformly that 

 wheat which I select for seed-wheat." 



Some time after, writing to the Abbe 

 Terrasse, I mentioned this custom of the 

 Saxon farmers, which had been communi- 

 cated to me by Mr. Weber, of the Dijon 

 botanical garden, and this explanation of 

 Mr. Genelot. In a reply soon after re- 

 ceived, the Abbe conveyed the following 

 confirmatory statement: 'On Sunday last, 

 receiving a visit from the Mayor of Lan- 

 gues, I explained to him what was done in 

 certain districts in Saxony, as written by 

 you, on the statement of Mr. Weber. He 

 exclaimed immediately, as did your worthy 

 farmer of Velaro : ' I have a bee-house in 

 the middle of a field, and it is always the 

 field surrounding my bee-houses which 

 furnishes my seed-wheat.' " 



The testimony supplied by Mr. Jobard, 

 as to the beneficial effects of bees upon 

 grape vines, fruit-trees, and fruit-bearing 

 trees generally, is more abundant and 

 equally remarkable. 



The Abbe Terrasse writing to Mr. Jobard 

 in August, 1888, says : 



My venerated associate of Ninville, an 

 ardent lover of bees, placed in 1883, some 

 hives of bees inside of his walled garden, 

 where for 30 years, thrifty fi-uit trees per- 

 sisted, in spite of intelligent care, in 

 refusing to bear fruit. Now, starting from 

 this introduction of bees, pears and apples 

 abounded as by enchantment upon these 

 trees heretofore unproductive. 



In the village of A., Mr. J. possesses an 

 orchard lying oft' by itself in the midst of a 

 plain. Every year he gathers fruit in such 

 abundance as to provoke the jealousy of 

 his neighbors less favored than he, and who 

 rafck their brains in searching all sorts of 

 causes for this exceptional abundance. 

 They do not observe that it is the bee-house 

 vei-y near to the orchard which produces 

 this marvel. 



The Abbe then adds : 



This then is a principle, from now on 

 incontestable, that bees exercise an influ- 

 ence, I will say a neressary influence, in 

 the perfect floral fertilization of fruit trees, 

 cereals, buckwheat, colza, artificial mead- 

 ows, etc. 



The above is additional testimony to the 

 gi'eat benefit which bees do to growing 

 crops and fi'uit-trees. We have before 

 written much on this subject, and now 

 have gi-eat pleasure in giving the foregoing 

 article in corroboration of the testimony 

 we have before presented. The Courant 

 containing it, was marked and sent to us 

 by one of our readers, but we do not 

 know who it was, or we would give the 

 name. 



l^ Dr. G. L. Tinker's Circular and Price 

 List is on our desk. His specialty is Syrio- 

 Albino Queens and Bees. 



