l8t^G 



GLEANINGS ta h^E CULTilliK. 



441 



very great pleasure to visit his place. I think I 

 never visited an apiary where more taste and good 

 judgment were displayed in all the arrangements 

 of the bee-yard. 



The valuable improvements which Mr. Heddon 

 has given to our industry are many, and will most 

 interest the readers of this sketch. Ail that I shall 

 name, I feel certain are original, and nearly all 1 

 know to be e.xcellent, from actual experience. 



T have found the slatted honey-board a very val- 

 uable adjunct to the Langstroth hive. This, when 

 made just right, keeps the sections perfectly neat. 

 The spaces must be just over the center of the top- 

 bars of the frames in the brood-chamber, and the 

 spaces between top-bar and slats no more nor less 

 than a bee space. This prevents the braee-combs, 

 and such a honey-bourd needs only to be tested to 

 be retained in every apiary. His inodificatiou of 

 the Langstroth hive, omitting the portiCu) the tel- 

 escopic upper story and cover, and the bevel of the 

 Simplicity, have so pleased me, after a two-years' 

 trial, that I would never think to return to tha old 

 styles. Those who condemn, surely have never 

 tried it. The shade board is also much superior to 

 tree, evergreen, or grapevin-:-. 



Like mj'self, Mr. Heddon used sections before he 

 ever saw them elsewhere. Though original with us, 

 their use in our apiaries may not have priority. 



Mr. Heddon's shipping-crate, as I state in my 

 book, is neat and cheap, and was the fii'st sub- 

 stantial improvement in that article. 



The section-crate, with bee-space above and be- 

 low, will probably never be excelled in securing 

 comb honey without separators. After two years' 

 use I pronounce it simply [ierfection. I was almost 

 disappointed in not seeing it in the new hive. 



I have already reviewed the new book, and there 

 spoke of the new hi.e and system. Thei'e can be 

 no question of the originality of these, and haidly 

 less that they are a marked improvement and will 

 soon come into general use. I have never tried 

 these, but the experienced bee-keeper does not 

 need to try every invention to be assured of its ex- 

 cellence. 



Mr. Heddon has also practiced the principles of 

 bi'ceding, as followed by our successful breeders of 

 other domestic animals; that is. he has crossed two 

 valuable breeds, and by selection has secured a 

 strain, with the excellences of both the original 

 races, and without their undesirable qualities. He 

 claims this; and while I have not tested his impiov- 

 ed strain, I am certain that the above is the method 

 which must be employed to secure the best bee. 



Lastly, Mr. Heddon suggested the " Bee-keepers' 

 Union," which may and will be of great service to 

 our industry. Each of us is liable to prosecution by 

 those ignorant and prejudiced, and we need just 

 such an organization to aid us in protecting our 

 rights, and in maintaining the high position which 

 our industry deservedly holds among the pursuits 

 of the world. 



Mr. Heddon has been President of the Michigan 

 Association, and a very poor one he made. A pres- 

 ident must be staid and serene, and without nerves, 

 which does not describe our Dowagiac friend. 



I wish I could say just how many children our 

 friend has. This I know: That when at his house, 

 some years since, among the many attractions I 

 saw were some very beautiful children, those best 

 ornaments in every home. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., May, 1886. 



RAISING PLANTS FOR HONEY ALONE. 



t'lGWOKT. 



TN the spring of 1883 I planted an acre of tigwort 

 &il ''ot'ts on rich, low ground. The ground was 

 ^r well prepared, marked both ways as for corn, 

 ■*• and the plants came up finely, scarcely one 

 missing, although a good share of them were 

 shipped from Medina, Ohio. Part of them I found 

 growing near home, and these were transplanted, 

 with no chance for drying the roots. I don't know 

 that I could see any difference in the growth of 

 these latter and the ones that were shipped. They 

 were carefully tended, the same as corn, with cul- 

 tivator and hoe, grew finely, and, a little before 

 white-clover bloom wai over, came in bloom nicely. 

 When in full bloom it was a tine sight to see how 

 thick the bees were upon them. I can not say how 

 much honey the acre yielded, nor what was the 

 qualitj'. 1 have often wondered how it could be de- 

 termined so accurately what quantity of honey 

 could be obtained from a given amount of pastur- 

 age; and the quality, where the resource is limited. 

 I am of the impression, that, to be profitable, a 

 honey-plant that yields no other crop must be able 

 to hold the ground after the first year, without anj' 

 cultivation, so the second year my field of figwort 

 was left untouched. It grew finely, and blossomed 

 as profusely, if not more so, than the first year. 

 SoTne weeds grew up among it, hut not a great 

 many, as it had been kept as clean as a garden the 

 preceding year. The weeds seemed to do little or 

 no harm. Thousands of young plants came up this 

 second year, from seeds dropped the first summer. 

 I let them all grow, holding rigidly to the plan of 

 leaving the ground to take care of itself. 1 looked 

 with some interest to see whether the next, or third 

 year (1885), the young or old plants would do the 

 better. But I looked in vain. Neither young nor 

 old showed a leaf. Thej' were dead, root and 

 branch. Would they have lived better on different 

 ground? Sweet clover lived through, side by side, 

 on the same ground. Would they have lived 

 through if the winter had been milder? It was, 

 perhaps, the severest winter ever known here. 

 Would it have done better if the ground had been 

 partly occupied bj^ grass? Where I have seen it 

 growing wild, it has been in thick grass (although I 

 have seen very little thus growing), or on ground 

 more or less shaded. Would it take care of itself 

 in a bass wood grove? 



MEr^ILOT, OR SWEET CLOVER. 



This is imported under the name of Bokhara, al- 

 though some think there is a little difference. Per- 

 haps the principal difference is, that the imported 

 seed is cleaned of the hull; the domestic, not. For 

 years I have known little patches of melilot on the 

 roadside, or elsewhere, that seemed to take care of 

 themselves from year to j-ear. Moreover, from all 

 I have read about it J thought I had a right to infer 

 that it would grow and prosper anywhere, simply 

 by scattering seed there. Now, however sure it 

 may be to grow under the most adverse circum- 

 stances, and prosper with the most provoking per- 

 sistence where it is not wanted, there is possibly 

 such a depth of ignorance and bad management as 

 to wither even the ambition of sweet clover. I 

 have spent perhaps $40.00 in trying to get a fine 

 stand of it, and am compelled to say it has been 

 mostly a failure. Before I forget it, I want to say 

 that, so far as I have observed, the quality of soil 



