50 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Jan. 



Mild regular as an egff. On tlie strength of 

 litis we set out (luiie a number of plants. 

 AVhal do you tlinik we got? Wliy, tliey 

 were enlarged tomatoes ; but instead of be- 

 ing round, like the pear, they were three- 

 cornered, like a beechnut, and not only the 

 most awkward in sliape of any thing 1 ever 

 saw in the way of tomatoes, but I do believe 

 the color is about the most inferior and for- 

 bidding of any thing in the line of the 

 tomato kind. Why, we thought at one time 

 we should not be able to do any thing with 

 them; but when I suggested offering them 

 at 50 cents a Inishel, while nice tomatoes 

 ])r()iight S2.00, we linall v started a large trade 

 in tiiem because of their cheapness. They 

 are wonderfully i)roductive. and on this ac- 

 count I dont know but that we shall try 

 Ihem another year. Hut there was not a 

 single smooth round tomato in the whole 

 lot," nor even one that looked any thing like 

 t)ie picture. It seems to me that the man 

 who sends out a catalogue with such a state- 

 ment as appeared in regard to the King 

 Ilumbeit. when the real facts are as I have 

 stated above, damages himself more than 

 he knows. If I should make such a blunder 

 as the above, I should feel like taking space 

 in my next catalogue for making a downright 

 handsome apology. What does it amount to, 

 supposing you do Sfdl a great lot of seeds at 

 tf'u cents a packet, providing every pur- 

 chaser decides vou are a swindler when his 

 plants begin to "bear V May be I am too se- 

 vere, but I should like to know if any of the 

 friends have raised any such King Hnm- 

 l)erts as are pictured in the catalogues. 

 Now, friend Green, according to your state- 

 ments, the King Humbert can never be made 

 smooth, even if it is a wonderful bearer, 

 and absolutely proof against rot. 



Now. in a wider sense an important mat- 

 ter comes in right here. We liave been told 

 tbat Henderson produced the AV^hite Plume 

 celery by selecting, year after year, plants 

 that 'hail a tendency to be white ; and we 

 liave been told that it is now^ in the powder 

 of the stock-breeder and horticulturist to 

 get such an animal or such frnit as he wants, 

 if he has the patience to follow it up. A 

 few days ago 1 wanted a new bobsled, and 

 our wagonmaker sent me one that was alto- 

 gether too frail and light for my business. 

 I Avanted it for drawing logs. He hnally 

 said he could make one to order, just exact- 

 ly as 1 wanted it. Well, a good many of us 

 have begun to think that a horse or a cow, 

 or a strawberry or a cabbage, if you will ex- 

 cuse my illustrations, can be biiilt to order 

 for any special purpose. Just now 1 want a 

 very small, quick-heading cabbage purpose- 

 ly to head under glass, in a greenhouse. 

 Can it be furnishedV In speaking of the 

 King Humbert tomato, I liave the impres- 

 sion that the originator made lather a botch 

 of his work of years. He gave us a larg- 

 er tomato, and one free from rot; but in his 

 selection of special fruits for seed he paid 

 no attention to form and cdIoi", but trained a 

 rather beautiful-shaped ]>ear tomato into an 

 awkward frnit with an ungainly shape and 

 brindle color. A good many are at work 

 now^ on improved fruits and vegetables. 

 Now, for ijistauce, is it not possible for U8 



to take this ungainly Humbert and make it 

 of handsome shape and handsome color? or 

 had we better go t)ack to hrst principles, and 

 start out again with the pear? You see, we 

 are, a good many of us, in danger of wasting 

 years in a vain pursuit. I shall be very glad 

 indeed to have Prof. Bailey, of the Agricul- 

 tural College, Mich., give us his views in re- 

 gard to this matter, for he has already done 

 a great work on tomatoes. The particulars 

 of this work are given in their Bulletin No. 

 81, just out. They have there procured ev- 

 ery variety of tomato that is advertised 

 either in "tiie United States or Europe, 

 amounting to 170 in all, and have, after 

 much pains and expense, decided that all 

 but about 57 of them are so nearly identical 

 they may as well be called one and the same 

 thing. 



FLOATING APIABY. " 



FOUL brood; alfalfa; comb vs. extracted 



HONEY. 



SOT long since, Wm. Muth-Rasraussen, of In- 

 dependence, Cal., wrote me as follows: 

 From recent articles of yours in the bee- 

 papers, I thoug-ht you werecontemplating a 

 " floating apiary " on the Mississippi River, 

 but it now appears that you liavc given up 

 the project. Why is this? 



Yes, alfalfa is an excellent honey-plant, and is 

 our main dependence here. The cut of alfalfa on 

 the back cover of Heddon's book is a very good 

 representation. The flowers arc blue and purple 

 in color. 



The honey-range here is quite limited, and fully 

 taken up, as nearly all the farmers keep more or 

 less bees. Independence is situated in a long nar- 

 row valley between the Sierra Nevada and the 

 Inyo range of mountains. The country is sparsely 

 settled, and our local honey-market amounts to al- 

 most nothing. 



I am now changing from extracted to comb hon- 

 ey, as T find a readier sale for the latter. The 

 price, however, is low— by far too low to be satis- 

 factorily remunerative, lam not farming, but de- 

 vote all my time to bee culture. 



Yes, foul brood was one of the reasons why I 

 left the Southern part of this State and came to 

 this place. I have now been here about seven 

 years. 



I, the writer, visited Southern California in April, 

 1875, for the purpose of engaging in bee culture 

 thei-e; and during that visit he had the pleasure of 

 making the acquaintance of friend Muth-Rasmus- 

 sen. Mr. M. was, at that date, in charge of a large 

 apiary a few miles north of Los Angeles, and close 

 by Passadena. but which, in 1KT5, was known as 

 Indiana Colony — only a few scattering houses. 

 Owing to a heavy frost, and some ice, during the 

 time of my visit, which destroyed the sages for that 

 season, the main honey dependence then of South- 

 ! ern California, 1 concluded not to invest in bees, 

 and, in Juno following, returned to my present 

 home. At the time of my visit, foul brood was 

 doing a deal of mischief in Southern California' 

 and. ns will be seen, was one of the principal rea- 

 sons why friend M. quit the bee-business in the 

 neighborhood of Los Angeles. 



For the life of me I can not imagine how any one 

 should get the impression that I ever desired to 

 engage in a floating-apiary enterprise. C. O. Perr 

 rine demonstrated some of the foolishness of a 

 floating apiary on the Mississippi River. He held 

 several interviews with me about thnt enterprise, 



l)efore he went into it, and wanted me to assist 



