1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



25 



marks of its teeth may be seen on the pasture 

 fence, it is wasting the barn-sills, and pegrging 

 away at your sulltv plow. Even iron and steel are 

 not exempt from its ravages. The plow comes in 

 from the field bright with use; next week it needs 

 several hours ot work and worry to make it scour. 

 You lend your new bright handsaw to a neighbor, 

 who kindly leaves it lying on the grass a night or 

 two, and its condition when returned mars its use- 

 fulness, and lessens your faith in human nature. 

 A careless farmer leaves his new mower in the field, 

 or the fence-corner, until next summer, by which 

 time this fell destroyer has damaged it one-third of 

 its value. The sections are black with rust, the 

 journals are all gummed, and the wood-work is 

 penetrated and weakened in every part. 



Those who have read thus far, will have recog- 

 nized this enemy as rust, rot, or decay, the most 

 active promoter of which is oxygen. This invisi- 

 ble gas forms one-fifth of the entire bulk of the air, 

 and eight-ninths of the weight of all the water on 

 the globe. While of the greatest value in the econ- 

 omy of life.it is also a destructive agent of the 

 most untiring kind. Yet its ravages are easily 

 checked in many instances. A thin covering of 

 some oil will perfectly protect steel and iron from 

 its action. A coat of paint good enough to keep 

 water from soaKing into wood, will protect it from 

 decay almost indefinitely. In the far West, where 

 building is somewhat more expensive than in the 

 East, farmers are disposed to leave their farm-tools 

 out of doors the year round. Such men are making 

 B great mistake. If they are not able to afford 

 shelter for th^ir tools, they can buy a gallon of 

 paint, which, if carefully applied to the wood-work, 

 will go a long way toward protecting it from decay. 

 It is certrtin, that if the farmers of any State would 

 expend one thousand dollars for paint next year 

 for this purpose, they would save ten thousand now 

 likely to be utterly lost. If any one thinks this 

 overstated, let him look around among his neigh- 

 bors, and see the hundreds and hundreds of dollars' 

 worth of machinery that is going to ruin from decay, 

 which a littlp paint would prevent. Here at least 

 in the protection of farm implements a penny saved 

 is as good as a penny earned. 



Prof. S. R. Thompson. 



I do not just see where the paint is going 

 to fix the handsaw so the neighbor can leave 

 it in tho grass several days ; but for all that, 

 the above item is a grand good one ; and 

 while I think of it. we can send our readers 

 the American Agriculturist one year for an 

 even SI. 25, if it will be any accommodation 

 to you. 



PLANTING BASSWOODS. 



I made a mistake in the size of my basswood 

 sprouts. Instead of from 8 to 15 inches, it should be 

 from 1 to 3 feet, and " all orders to be in on the 1st 

 of March " should be the 1st of April. 



Henry Wirth. 



Borodino, N. Y., Dec. Zi, 1883. 



Friend W., we correct yonr advertisement 

 with pleasure ; and if you will allow me to 

 advise a little, I should recommend you to 

 provide yourself with plenty of competent 

 help to take up those basswood sprouts, and 

 ship them ; for if you can send out young 

 basswood-trees at "ten dollars a thousand, 

 that will run from one to three feet high, 

 vou will probably find yourself with your 

 hands so full of orders that yon won't know 

 what to do. I am very glad indeed that you 

 can furnish them so cheaply. As you will 

 observe, it is about half what we offer them 

 for ; and while I am about it, I want to say 

 I have been very much troubled at the way 

 the basswoods are being taken off, to make 

 section boxes. Unless new forests are plant- 

 ed out, and that right speedily, our industry 

 is going to receive one of the severest blows 

 it ever had. You will see by reports that 

 many of our bee-friends get more basswood 



honey alone, than from all other sources. 

 Now, this is a very important item. Plant- 

 ing out young forests of basswoods would 

 fix the matter, without a bit of doubt, and 

 the speculation will certainly pay for timber, 

 aside from the honey. Who will make ar- 

 rangements now to plant out basswoods V 

 and who besides friend W. is prepared to 

 furnish them ? They ought to be shipped 

 from a great many different points, to avoid 

 heavy express charges from long distances. 

 Now, then, yoimg friends, you that are 

 wanting something to do, and are spoiling, 

 perchance, for an opportunity to raise honey- 

 plants surely and safely, just go into the 

 basswood business. If you look about you, 

 very likely you can find young trees near 

 home, and tlius save the expense of purchas- 

 ing and shipping, both. You will find them 

 in almost any woodland where stock is kept 

 out; for cattle and sheep will eat young 

 basswoods almost as they would growing 

 corn. 



BANISHING BEES BY ACT OF LEGISLATURE. 



In reading Gle.anings, I see an article, page TT4, 

 Dec. No., entitled, " Banishing bees by an Act of the 

 Legislature." This act is not the only one of the 

 kind, as there seem to be other places where the 

 wise (?) fathers or city councils ordered the bees to 

 be removed out of towns, on account of doing too 

 much damage on fruit-trees and grapevines. I re- 

 fer to Mound City, Pulaski County, 111. And this, in 

 the nineteenth century ! Very likely there is the 

 same motive here as in the Monmouth County case 

 — personal-spite and enmity. M. R. Kuehne. 



Cairo, 111., Dec. 24, 1883. 



NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER. 



I regret the spirit of the remarks of D. H. Tweedy 

 on temperance, in Juvenile, if I understand him 

 right. Surely it is "not by might nor by power, but 

 by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." The Duke of 

 Wellington said, "My lords, I have passed more of 

 my life in war than most men, and I may say in civil 

 war; and if I could avoid, by any sacrifice whatever 

 —if I could avoid, even for one month, a civil war 

 in a country to which I am attached, I would sacri- 

 fice my life to do it." Hannah W. Williams. 



Sprlngville, Linn Co., Iowa, Nov. 5, 1883. 



FERTILIZATION IN CONFINEMENT. 



Several of the friends are taking up this 

 matter again, and among them our friend 

 Good pencils on the margin of a postal card 

 as follows : 



I will next season have queens fertilized in con- 

 finement, and have it done successfully too. Now 

 see if I do not. 



When such statements come from such 

 Good authority, it may be worth while to 

 consider the matter a little. 



A " STUNNING REPORT FROM BEGINNERS. 



My brother and I went into the bee business one 

 year ago. We put in the bee-house 40 swarm-; lost 

 13 and the rest were in poor condition ; but we had a 

 good season. We extracted 3000 lbs., and had 60 lbs. 

 of comb honey, and increased to 43, all in good 

 shape. M. M. Rick. 



Boacobel, Grant Co., Wis., Dee. 8, 1883. 



