rm 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept, 



arc in the least weak. Here in this hot climate the 

 moth millers arc vei-y nunierons, and are not at all 

 wanting: in courag-e to enter the hive and deposit 

 eggs. No comb can be left here any length of time 

 unprotected; tor with no cool weather, day or night, 

 to check the growth of the moth larvte, bnt very 

 few days ai-e required to mature them ready tor 

 business. 



Ot the ultimate success ot modern apicnlture, I 

 have no doubt; but lei me say to one and all, that 

 bee-keeping in Cuba is no boy's play. T have kept 

 bees in many States of the Union, but never have I 

 found a place where they re(juired more watching 

 and more attention than hei-e. For about six 

 months of the year (and that is in the winter), it is 

 tun, fun alive, to handle bees in Cuba; then honey 

 flows fast, no robbing, no moth, no swarming, no 

 nothing to bother, but take the hono' as fast as it 

 comes, and this is the grandest thing about bee- 

 keeping here, that, when the suj-plus season comes, 

 it is at a time of the year when there is not the 

 least danger ot swarming. You can rush j'our bees 

 up as strong as you like, and the colony will stay 

 together and tend strictly to the business ot gather- 

 ing honey. This is a feature that should not be lost 

 sight ot. Nowhere that I know of can you control 

 your bees so eonii)letl('y, during a honey-t^ow. as 

 hero. A. W. Osbukn. 



San Miguel de Jarnco, Cuba, Aug. i;j, 1884. 



cured it by being personally on hand and 

 into the work every day. One reason why I 

 put emphasis on this is, that the man who 

 could thus make one apiary pay could prob- 

 ably set souiebody else at work on a second 

 apiary, and so oii with a third. Of course, 

 much depends on the hand wliom he suc- 

 ceeds in getting as manager. Please tell our 

 friend Mr. Mitchell that Ave congratulate 

 him. not only on having been restored to 

 health, but on having made so good a result 

 with so huge an apiary, with so short an ex- 

 perience. Well done for Florida ! 



Bee Botany, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



A ROUSING REPORT FROM FRIEND 

 W. S. HART. 



I'FtO.M 88 TO IIV, AND .")0 FOKTY -(iALI.ON BAUUEI.S 

 OF PALMETTO AND MANGKOVE HONEY. 



fOR the past season, my bees have been in the 

 hands of Mr. H. W. Mitchell, who came to this 

 State three years ago on account ot lung trou- 

 bles; and although very feeble he took hold 

 with me to learn bee-keeping. One year ago, 

 he having recovered his heath, and become expert 

 at the business, I turned my apiary over to him to 

 manage, and gave all my attention to my orange- 

 groves. The result is, that we have not lost a colo- 

 ny from any cause during the year. We closed the 

 season of 1883 with 88 colonies, and started this 

 spring with the same numl)cr; have increased nat- 

 urally to 117, and have taken between .51 and 5'J for- 

 ty-gallon barrels of extracted honey, 43 barrels of 

 which is of the kind referred to by Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth, when he said to me last Sci)tember at Toron- 

 to, "It can not be excelled." 



I have not yet weighed it all, but know it will run 

 considerably over 20,000 lbs. This repoi-t goes ahead 

 of any thing that I have ever made for myself, and 

 was made possible by an extra lieavy How from both 

 the mangrove and cabbage palmetto. There was 

 but a small early crop this year, and the saw-pal- 

 metto yielded scarcely any hone\. The mangrove, 

 however, as I have often said before, " never tails 

 to give a paying crop," and " it will do to tie to." 

 New Smyrna, Fla., Aug. 15, 1H84. W. S. Hart. 



Well done, friend II. Over 200 lbs. to the 

 colony, from an apiary of 88, is certainly well 

 done "for any part of the world. The more 

 credit is due you, too, because you secured 

 this result without being personally a.t hand ; 

 that is, one who is able to manage an apiary, 

 and make it pay by employing hirpd help, 

 has accomplished more than one who has se- 



GEKM.^NDER. 



fIND inclosed some seeds and flowers of the 

 best honey-plant in this section. It is tar 

 ahead ot horsemint. It is a winter plant. It 

 began to bloom the 15th day of May, and is 

 still blooming in some places yet, and the 

 drought for the past 60 days has been a great back- 

 set to it. Its average height is about four feet 

 when matured. I want to know of you the name 

 ot this plant, if you can give the correct one, and 

 can it be improved by cultivation? It not, please 

 let me hear from you. J. W. Thomas. 



Arlington, Texas, Aug. a, 1884. 

 The above specimen is Germander, Tencrimn Cnii- 

 adcnsc, L. It is a plant growing 2 to 3 or 4 feet high ; 

 leaves whitish, pubescent, flower purplish. It is 

 generally distributed throughout the United States 

 in wild and waste places, generally on low and 

 swampy ground. In the South it begins to bloom 

 in May or June; further north, in July, and contin- 

 ues flowering throughout the summer. It is a pret- 

 ty good honej'-plant. W. S. Devoi., 

 Columbus, O., Aug. 9, 1884. Botanist. 



WATER hemlock; IS IT POISONOUS TO THE BEES? 



I sent to-day a specimen ot a wild plant that grows 

 here to some extent; and as I see the bees work on 

 it some, I was told by a person here that it was 

 poisonous to bees, and so I should like to have your 

 opinion on it. A. J. Heivly. 



Raymore, Mo., Aug. 16, 1884. 



This plant is water hemlock, Cicuta macukita, L., 

 a plant with a branching, dark purple or striped 

 stem, growing 4 to 6 ft. high; leaves tri-ternately 

 dissected, leaflets 2 or 3 inches long; flowers white, 

 borne in spreading, compound umbels. Found on 

 low or rather wet land. The fruit has a strong 

 odor ot anise. The root is very poisonous; it is 

 sometimes mistaken for that of sweet cicily(Osmo- 

 rhizavit)i(iintyli.'<, D. C), and children fatally poison- 

 ed by eating it. The leaves and fruit are also said 

 to be poisonous to domestic animals, should they 

 eat it. The honey is probably as good as from oth- 

 ers of the parsley family, and I do not know ot its 

 having been found injurious to bees in any partic- 

 ular. W. S. Devol, 



Columbus, O., Aug. 22, 1884. Botanist. 



I should have little fear, friend II., of tlie 

 honey being poisonous, either to the bees or 

 human Ijeings. The only poisonous honey 

 we ha^'e reported is that from mountain lau- 

 rel, described in the A B C book. However, 

 it might be well to eat cautiously of it until 



