1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



941 



Here he made the acquaintance of the veteran 

 bee-keeper Mr. J. J. Ochsner. Some of our old- 

 er readers will remember Mr. O. as one of those 

 who used to write for Gleanings years ago. 

 Latterly we have not seen his name. Having 

 some leisure time, Mr. Lathrop devoted it to 

 the study of such bee-literature as he could ob- 

 tain, prominent among which were the back 

 numbers of Gleanings. After two years' 

 practice with a number of colonies he was very 

 desirous of possessing a working apiary; and 

 providentially, as he says, he was at this time 

 transferred by his employers to Browntown, in 

 the southern part of the State, in the famous 

 basswood belt. Here he bought all the bees in 

 his immediate field, which consisted of a few 

 colonies in various kinds of hives. These were 

 transferred to the Langstroth hive. An occa- 

 sional purchase of a few soon brought the num- 

 ber up to 1.50. 



His apiary has been devoted mostly to the 

 production of fancy comb honey, and later 

 years, also, to the sale of bees and nuclei. He 

 uses exclusively the eight-frame hive, and con- 

 siders it large enough. The surplus arrange- 

 ment is a T super without separators or queen- 

 excluding honey-boards. Although he uses no 

 separators he says he has no trouble in crating 

 his honey, and it always brings him the best 

 prices. At the time of my visit, I was aston- 

 ished to see that the bees were roaring almost 

 as if on basswood. It will be remembered that, 

 only a few hours before, comparatively, the 

 bees at Dr. Miller's were not only idle, but had 

 done nothing during the whole season. The 

 best part of it all was, although it was so late 

 in the year, such an onslaught of honey at 

 Lathrop's did not make his bees crazy toswarm. 

 They seemed to have sense enough to know 

 that it was too late to think of dividing up, and 

 that it was their business to pile in the honey. 



It occurred to me there, how nice it would be 

 if we could only put our basswood honey-flows 

 away back in the latter part of August or 

 early part of September! This would solve the 

 swarming question, and the bees would work 

 right on gathering honey at a rapid rate, with- 

 out let or hindrance. 



Now, then, you ask, " Where did all this fine 

 honey come from?" Mr. Lathrop did not 

 know the technical name, but called it sun- 

 flower. I secured some fresh specimens, and 

 had an engraving made, and here is the result. 



Other specimens were sent to our State Bota- 

 nist, who writes as follows: 



3Iy Dear Mr. Root:— The honey-plant proves to be 

 another of the great order Composite, to which the 

 asters, g-oldenrod, sunflowers, and many others 

 belong'. According to Prof. Cook's lists of honey- 

 plants, this order contains a great many which in- 

 vite the visits of the bees. This particular plant 

 is Rudhcckin laciniatn— the specific name, laciniata, 

 referring to the cut lower leaves. Rudbeckin laciin- 

 ata grows in low grounds along streams in Oblo and 



elsewhere, having a wide I'angc. You do not state 

 from what portion of the West the specimen comes, 

 but the limits given in the manuals are " Canada to 





WII-D SUNFLOWER — THE PL \XT THAT YIELDS SO 

 MUCH HONEY IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. 



Florida, westward from Montana to New Mexico 

 and Arizona." This indicates the presence of the 

 plant in many honey-producing districts. 

 Wooster, O., Sept. 21. Aug. D. Selby. 



You see, the botanist seems to tell pretty 

 well where it grows: for indeed the locality 

 around Browntown answers to his description 

 nicely. 



Now you will ask about the quality of the 

 honey. Well, it is of the very finest, and would 

 be called by the consumer white honey, though 

 a trifle darker than basswood or clover. In- 

 deed, Mr. Lathrop has been enabled so far, I 

 think, to get as good a price for this sunflower 

 honey as for clover or basswood. 



He secured from his apiary last season, all 



