1886 



GLEANIjS^GS in bee CULTUliE. 



947 



plete tog; and, in fact, he would be better otT with- 

 out them, lam getting gome Italian queens from 

 Ohas. Bianconcini. 1 have received a letter from 

 him, and his price is nearly double what he charges 

 to America, and then he doesn't guarantee safe 

 arrival. I am sorry to say that our prospect for 

 a good honey-crop, in this district, is not very 

 promising; but down on the coast they are having 

 a good season. K. A. Hudson. 



Bathurst, New S. Wales, Oct. li, 1880. 



Friend II.. I feel pretty certain that our 

 friend Bianconcini will not charge you more 

 than he does us. if ycui buy as largely as we 

 do, and other circumstances are equfll. We 

 consider him to l)e a very fair, honorable 

 man.— By all means, say "friend Koof 

 when you are writing, if you feel like say- 

 ing so. 



UITTEK HONEV. 



We have had a very poor season this year, and 

 the bees, as a general thing, have not made enough 

 to keep them through the winter. 1 have had to 

 feed mine. We have not had so poor a season for 

 years; but verj' few have taken any surplus honey, 

 and those that have are coniplaining. Will you ex- 

 plain to me what makes the honey so bitter? ,V11 

 that I have seen is so strong that it will make you 

 "squeal." W. H. Dickinson-. 



Deep River, Conn., Nov. 4. 18.0. 



I can not tell you. friend J)., w^hat makes 

 your honey bitter. A good deal has been 

 written in regard to it in our back voliunes, 

 and several plants have been mentioned as 

 the probable source. Perhaps some of our 

 readers can throw some light on the sub- 

 ject. Just before going to press with this 

 "form we notice the following on page 74-5 of 

 the American Bee Journal, from the pen of 

 Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta, Gd. 



Some kinds of plants impart their odor and flavor 

 more lastingly to the honey than others. After 

 honey granulates and is again reduced to a 'iquid 

 condition, the original odor and Havor are to some 

 extent lost. 



That some few plants impart to the honey, be- 

 sides the flavor, their medicinal and toxical proper- 

 ties is a fact, although denied by a few apiarists 

 whose observation extends only to the familiarity 

 with honey gathered from a few plants, sucli as 

 white clover and basswood. and piobably a few 

 others. Illustrations: Heleniiiin IcnuifdliiuiHl have 

 heard it called dog-fennel by some persons, but it 

 belongs to a different order of plants. Dog-fennel 

 is another thing), is a weed, supposed to be an ex- 

 otic, that is found in places in the South along road- 

 sides. It commences to bloom about the first of 

 August, and keeps on until frost. The leaves have 

 a bitter, nauseating taste, and the e-xtraet, in the 

 shape of tea, was used to some extent during the 

 war as a substitute for quinine in the tr.^atment of 

 chills and fever. The old fields in my neighborhood 

 are covered with it. and in some seasons consider- 

 able of this honey is gathered. It is as bitter as the 

 plant, and possesses all the medicinal properties. 

 Of course, I can not sell it, but it does for breeding- 

 purposes. 



OLD-FOGY FAUMEKS. 



Our market here is a fair market, brought about 

 by putting honey up in good style and of good 

 quality. We are bothered here as in other places 

 (as I see mentioned in Gleanings) with old-fogy 

 farmers bringing in their honey in any kind of 

 shape, just ruining our market. Our- honey ought 

 to be put up in the best possible .shape, and of the 

 best quality— at any rate, have the best sell first, 

 and then we have the best all the time. There 

 seems to be a little " free gratis " on our pari. We 



fix u)) our honey, and get no more than those old 

 farmers. I think the remedy is to organize and get 

 together, if wc can, and let them see their enor. 

 This is our conclusion, if the bees live till spring to 

 help us out. It is our intention to winter our bees 

 potato-hole fashion; and the way winter is setting 

 in with i inches of snow on the ground, it's time the 

 little imported fellows wei-e stored awaj-. 

 Clarksburg, Mo., Nov. V.i, 188ti. C. H. McFaddin. 



TDK INFEKIOHITV OF THE PI-RE BLACK UEES. 



My ciueen I purchased of you has raised 8 queens. 

 They all now have tine swarms. The smallest has 

 17 lbs. of honey; hive and all, without cover, weighs 

 42 lbs. I had (jne swarm of hybrid bees that made 

 112 lbs. of comb honey in l-lb. sections. One other 

 swarm made Kid lbs. 1 got U cts. per lb. for all. 

 I have 1!) swarms to go into winter with, all in fair 

 shape. My neighliors have some bees, but there 

 isn't one swarm in five that has honey enough to 

 winter on. Thej' are blacks mostly. I live 2.') miles 

 from St. Joseph, on one of the loveliest prairies that 

 the sun ever shone on. It abounds with white 

 clover. The weather is flne; the bees are having 

 a nice fly to-day, Nov. 14, 1880. .Iohn Blodget. 



Em])ire, Mo. 



LEGISLATION TO PREVENT ENCROACHMENT OK 



OTHER BEE-KEEPERS OCCUPYING THE SAME 



FIELD NOT NECESS.\RY. 



Bees are in tine condition for winter, after a very 

 favorable summer. The majority of farmers in 

 this neighborhood are beginning to keep bees, and 

 are making a success of it by using the chaff hive, 

 which is no doubt the best hive now in use, both 

 for summer and winter. What does Dr. C. C. Miller 

 mean'^ Would ho prevent, bj' law, farmers from 

 keeping bees on their own land';:' Why should there 

 be a monopoly of bee-keeping, any more than of 

 any thing else':' A. F. Stauffer. 



Sterling, 111.. Oct. 80, lSS(i. 



l^EP0]^¥f5 Dipceu^^6iN6. 



UN.,FAV0RABLE REPORT FROM TEXAS AGAIN. 



TN this particular locality the bee-business has 

 j^ been anything but encouraging the past sea- 

 ^L son. The prospects were favorable in Februa- 

 "^ ry, but have been growing worse all the while. 

 Early in the season foul brood made its appeai-- 

 ance. and so far I have heard there is no one who 

 has not suffered more or less loss. One of our lead- 

 ing beekeepers has lost a great many colonies, but 

 thinks by the persistent use of phenol he has nearly 

 wiped it out. There has been but little surplus 

 honey, and that from honey-dew. I think the ex- 

 perience of the past season would have cured the 

 worst case of bee-fever. T. F. McCamant. 



San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 18, 1880. 



BEES don't P.\V. 



1 have just been reading Gleanings for Nov. 1; 

 and although quantities of unread papers and 

 magazines are at hand— having been too busy with 

 my bees and honey to keep " read up "— 1 did not 

 .stop reading Gleanings when I once began, until 

 I read all it contained, from cover to cover. 1 

 think I must subscribe for it next year, although 

 I am almost decided to go out of the uncertain and 

 toilsome business of bee-keeping, as it doesn't paj 

 these limes. There are so nmny bees here that 



