1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



385 



tern, and lowered it to the bottom of the i)an. His 

 next move was to attach his heating apparatus to 

 a steam-gauge, and lower it in the pan to the first 

 faucet from the top, this likewise a hollow cylinder. 

 He then stepped back in the store and got some 

 eggs and laid a couple on the heating cjiinder and 

 dropped one to the bottom of the pan. He then 

 told his servant to pump the water passing through 

 the cylinder at the bottom, and back to the cistern. 

 At the same time he turned on steam at the top, 

 and in a very short time the water at the top was 

 boiling rapidly. He kept both heat and cold going 

 pei'haps ten minutes, then he asked the gentleman 

 to draw some water from the middle faucet and try 

 it. It had not changed in temperature from where 

 it was at on the start. He then raised his heating- 

 cylinder and presented the ladies a couple of boiled 

 eggs. He next tried to remove his cooler from the 

 bottom, and found it frozen fast to the bottom of 

 the pan. When he got it loose he brought up the 

 egg, and at least one-half inch of blue ice. The egg 

 was frozen open. He then reversed proceedings, 

 putting the cooler at top, dropped some aniline on 

 the cylinder, and commenced pumping; in a very 

 short time the aniline was thoi-oughly mixed with 

 the water. So I am afraid friend Root will find it 

 up-hill business boiling eggs from the top. 



NOYES B. Phetteplace. 

 Norwich, N. Y.. April 8, 1886. 



Friend P., the matter yoii mention is a fa- 

 miliar one in cliemistry, and one of tlie ex- 

 periments often tried is to pour etlier on the 

 surface of water, and set tire to it. Wliile 

 the surface is more than boiling hot, a ther- 

 mometer just beneath the surface shows no 

 change of temperature, and ice may be in 

 the bottom of the vessel without being melt- 

 ed at all. This very fact is made itse of in 

 hot-water arrangements for heating green- 

 houses. The only way to warm a body 

 of water is to heat it at the bottom and allow 

 the circidation caused by the heat to warm 

 the whole body evenly. If the water con- 

 taining the eggs to be boiled were placed in 

 a black iron pan, I think the rays of the sun 

 would go down and heat the bottom of the 

 pan enough to warm up the water consider- 

 ably, but perhaps not enough to make it boil. 



AKTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



DR. C. C. MILLER TALKS TO US ABOUT IT. 



fHE subject of artificial pasturage is one in 

 which I have been much interested. I have 

 spent upon it some thought and considera- 

 ble money. Some may think it premature 

 to talk of planting for bees, when millions of 

 acres are yet unoccupied; but the day maj' come 

 when these shall cease to be unoccupied, and it is 

 well to be prepared in advance for the possible. 

 There are a good many who have so many bees that 

 out-apiaries are established; and for such it would 

 be a great advantage if additional pasturage could 

 be furnished near home at sufficiently low cost to 

 maintain all in the home apiary. Besides, whether 

 many or few bees arc kept, there come gaps in the 

 season when there is almost nothing for the bees to 

 do, and it might pay to be at considerable expense 

 to provide artificial pasturage to fill up these gaps. 

 But it must be borne in mind that no one has yet 

 demonstrated, by actual trial, that one or more 



acres of ground can be planted and occupied per- 

 manently by plants from which the honey alone 

 shall pay a profit. Something may be done by scat- 

 tering seeds on roadsides and waste places. I 

 should like, however, to be able to plant a certain 

 number of acres, and know wilh some degree of 

 approximation how many colonies could be sup- 

 ported thereby, and know, also, that the honey ob- 

 tained therefrom would morcthan pay all expenses. 

 Although my attempts have been failures mostly, it 

 may be of use to others to detail some of them that 

 they may be avoided. One year 1 planted a quarter- 

 acre of 



SUNFLOWERS. 



The ground was rich, they were well cultivated, 

 and presented a fine sight when in full bloom; but 

 I never saw any bees on them to amount to any 

 thing. They were of the "Mammoth Russian" 

 variety, and I think possibly the common kind 

 might be better. The Russian produces a large 

 quantity of seeds— perhaps, rather, a quantity of 

 large seeds— but a bushel of common seeds, I 

 should think, would contain about double the 

 amount of meats that the Russian would, because 

 the meat in the Russian seed bears no proportion to 

 the size of the shell. 



ALSIKE CLOVER, 



Although a great success with some, has been oth- 

 erwise with me. Sown on clay, several difterent 

 years, it has generally failed to make a good catch, 

 doing best, however, on low ground. Only one 

 year did I have any success, and then I had an acre 

 that was beautiful. Bees worked on it strong; but 

 after one season of bloom it was gone, root and 

 branch. Last summer there were some fine patch- 

 es of alsike on ground that had never been sown. I 

 can not think how it got there, unless from seed in 

 manure put on two or three years previously. I 

 have rather settled ujion alsike as one of the things 

 I can not succeed with, and yet it is quite possible 

 that, in five years, I may have acres of it flourishing, 

 by knowing just how to manage. I think- enough 

 has not been said about the beauty of the alsike 

 blossom. I have never shown it to the lovers of 

 flowers without calling forth warm admiration, and 

 I think many would consider it worth cultivating 

 for its beauty alone. 



SPIDER PLANT, 



From what little I have tried it, I consider worth- 

 less, although producing large quantities of honey, 

 because I know of no way of raising it by the acre 

 without heavy expense. 



FLOWERING MAPLES, 



Or abutilons, I have had for years. I have seen bees 

 woi-king on them, and have tasted from them the 

 richest drops of nectar I ever tiisted directly from 

 any flower; the largest in quantity, also, before 

 ever I saw any mention made of them as honey- 

 plants; but I am rather surprisi^l that time should 

 be taken to talk of such plants as this, poinsettia, 

 or other greenhouse i)lants. If the smallest slips of 

 these plants were started, by the time they were 

 rooted they could hardly be furnished for two cents 

 each; but a plant just rooted, and planted out as 

 early as our northern seasons will admit, would not 

 be fairly in bloom before frost. Such plants as 

 would be large enough to be of service would need 

 to be nuich larger, and could haidly be afforded for 

 less than ten cents each. But suppose they could 

 be had for five cents each; and to keep down ex- 

 pense, let us plant them four feet apart each way; 



