120 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



W. T. Falconer Mfg Co., Gentle- 

 nien : Enclosed please find renewal 

 of ray subscription to the American 

 Bee Keeper. Will you please ans- 

 wer the following questions : 



Is pleurisy or butterfly weed a good 

 honey plant ? 



If so, where can I get the seed ? 



Is sweet apple cider healthy for bees 

 and what do they store from it ? 



Please tell me all you know about 

 artificial bee pasturage. 



Yours truly, 



Isaac Siieetz. 



Calvary, Va., July 10, 1891. 



Friend Sheetz : We have referred 

 your letter to Prof. Cook, and the fol- 

 lowing is his reply : " Pieurisy or but- 

 terfly weed, asclepias tuberosa, like all 

 the milk weeds, is a very excellent 

 honey plant. Anyone can get seeds, 

 wherever the plant grows, and they 

 are widely distributed. Some of the 

 milk weeds capture bees by means of 

 the sticky pollen masses, and often 

 load the bees up with the same, but 

 on the whole, they are valuable. 



It has been generally considered 

 that cider is bad for bees. Cider con- 

 tain- some sugar ; whether it is as in- 

 jurious as some consider, may be a 

 question. I have known bees to 

 gather cider freely, and winter well. 

 Like Dr. Miller, I will say, " I do not 

 know," but 1 fear the drowning and 

 annoyance which bees cause about a 

 cider mill, more than any injury that 

 the bees receive. 



The matter of artificial bee pastur- 

 age is. as yet, of doubtful utility. We 

 are thoroughly testing the matter at 

 this station. 



Bee-keepers may well encourage the 

 planting of has- woods along the road 

 sides, and the raising by farmers of 

 alsike and buckwheat and perhaps 

 rape, but as to planting solely for 

 bees, that is a questionable proceed- 

 ing. It may pay to scatter sweet 

 clover, rocky mountain bee plant, 

 viper's bugloss, etc., in waste places, 

 but nothing more should be tried 

 until our stations prove that it will 

 pay. I fear they can never prove that. 



W. T. Falconer Mfg Co., Gentle- 

 men : My apiarian fixtures came to 

 hand in good shape and everything 

 gives good satisfaction. The section 

 boxes are all on and many of them 

 partly filled ; my bees are booming. 



The smoker is first class. After 

 usins it for nearly one hour I set it 

 down to eat supper and when I came 

 out again a steady stream of smoke 

 was still issuing from it, and it is the 

 first one that I could burn wood in. 

 I use maple wood 5 in. long, ^ in. 

 square, well dried in the oven. 



The five bar veil can't be beat, and 

 with the smoker in hand and the veil 

 over my face the bees never bother 

 me. I send you another little order 

 which you will please ship as soon as 

 possible. Yours fraternally, 



H. T. Jones. 



Renova, Pa., July 9, 1891. 



[The smoker Mr. Jones refers to is 

 a Bingham. — Ed.] 



Numerous buckwheat fields in the 

 vicinity of an apiary often turn the 

 scale between profit and loss. 



