188S 



GLI:ANi^GS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



h\ 



him; but I gave him no encourag'eraent. The fact 

 was, I bad no faith in it in the way he proposed to 

 carry it on. The project I did have faith in at that 

 time, and still have, is the shipping of bees by rail 

 from South to North, and vice versa, when conduct- 

 ed properly. This has, in my judgment, never yet 

 been done in the United States. 



There seems to be a difference of opinion, based 

 upon experience, about alfalfa being a good honey- 

 plant. One reason, perhaps, why it is worth but 

 little for lioney purposes is because, if wanted for 

 hay, it should, and perhaps must, be cut as soon as 

 it comes into bloom. If kept for seed, then it 

 might supply us with considerable honey. From 

 what is known of alfalfa, I am satisfied that it can 

 now be grown with success, not only in the South- 

 ern but almost anywhere in the Northern States; 

 that it stands the winters well, and will give from 

 three to four crops of hay per season. This state- 

 ment may surprise some of the readers of our bee- 

 papers; but if any doubt exists, I think I am pre- 

 pared to remove it. 



Friend M., in turning your attention exclusively 

 to comb honej% you are at last on the right track; 

 and it would be a good idea if many others would 

 do likewise. Extracted honey has done more harm 

 than many imagine. As the majority of producers 

 voluntarily put down the retail price on extracted 

 honey to one-half or one-third the price they asked 

 for comb honey, it has been the means of bringing 

 the price of the latter down, down, down, until it 

 has, in many cases, almost reached the level of the 

 former. This being the case, there should now be 

 a sudden halt all along the line, so the blunder may 

 at once be corrected. In short, no one should pro- 

 duce extracted honey for the market unless he 

 has the knowledge, the ability, ami the disposition 

 to sell it at a proper price, which should not, as a 

 rule, be less than the same grade of honey would 

 have been worth in small sections. Reader, please 

 wake up and tell us what you have to say in re- 

 ply to this. M. M. Balduidge. 



St. Charles, 111., Dec, 1887. 



Friend B., it seems to me that demand 

 and supply mnst have a good deal to do with 

 the comparative difference in prices of ex- 

 tracted and comb honey, as, indeed, de- 

 mand and supply must have much to do 

 with the prices of honey in general. Other 

 things come in, however, to greatly affect 

 the price. The large prices you have re- 

 ceived for both comb and extracted honey 

 ;ire owing, as I have understood it, to the 

 fact that you handle nothing but the gilt- 

 edge, or extra nice, of either kind. 13ut 

 even after one has this extra gilt-edge hon- 

 ey, he must have judgment and wisdom, 

 energy and experience, to make the most of 

 it. 1 believe you have all these qualities. 

 Notwithstanding all this. I think that, in a 

 good season, yuu will often find yourself 

 helpless when both comb and extracted hon- 

 ey are going "down, down, down." It is 

 true, you can Iiold on to the crop just as we 

 held on to our carload of California honey 

 and our big stock of glassed sections, until a 

 season of general scarcity occurs ; but the 

 latter is rather expensive business, and it 

 is also a risky one. Honey-producing is so 

 new an industry, comparatively, that none 

 of us knew exactly where prices were going 

 to settle ; and, to tell the truth, we don't 



know exactly yet; bitt I think we know a 

 little better tiian we did a year ago. We 

 know now, that, when honey becomes 

 scarce, there are a good many who will have 

 it, even if the price goes away u]) ; and in 

 this respect it is like potatoes and cabbages; 

 and I feel a good deal encouraged in rcgiinl 

 to honey becoming a great staple.— Alfalfa 

 will grow very well here in our Medina clay 

 soil, as I have proved by my small patchts ; 

 but I never saw many'bees at work on it. 

 — In regard to a lloating ;ipiary, I think an 

 experienced bee-man could make it pay by 

 giving his time for a few years, by testing 

 the matter on a small scale before he goes 

 into it largely. I feel sure, however, it will 

 never do to move the boat while the bees 

 are Hying ; and I am afraid it would not 

 answer very well to conhne them to their 

 hives. AVhile they are gathering honey 

 they should be located in a very quiet piece 

 of water; and even then a good many heavi- 

 ly laden bees will probably fall into the wa- 

 ter and be k'st ; but as bees have done quite 

 well in localities close up to the water, I 

 think they will do well in a boat. By keep- 

 ing them on the boat all the while, you can 

 get rid of the disagreeable and laborious 

 operation of loading and unloading. "When 

 the boat is at anchor it should be fastened 

 so it can not move, and it will never do to 

 crowd so many hives together as did friend 

 Perrine. Our successful house-apiarics will 

 indicate just about how many can be work- 

 ed safely on board a boat. There is not a 

 doubt, as it seems to me, but that an expe- 

 rienced man could make it a success ; but at 

 the same time. I feel that it is ciuite likely 

 he would get tired of it, even if it did pay, 

 just as many have become tired of their 

 house-apiaries, after they have been at great 

 expense to get them started. 



HERMAPHRODITES. 



A VERY CURIOUS BEE. 



ERMAPHRODITES, when real, combine both 

 ^1 sexes in the same individual. That is, the 

 animal is male and female at the same time. 

 This peculiarity is not rare, even among 

 the higher plants. Almost every plant that 

 meets our gaze has both stamens and pistil, usu- 

 ally united in the same flower. Often, as seen in 

 the walnut, hickory, oak, and chestnut, the same 

 plant or tree bears both stamens or pistils, but 

 they are separate, or not combined in one bloom. 

 Such plants are called monoicious— from the Greek, 

 meaning "in one household." True hermaphro- 

 dites, then, among animals, are quite analogous to 

 moncecious plants. Indeed, the term monfccious is 

 sometimes used to designate hermaphrodites among 

 animals. Some plants, like our willows and poplars, 

 bear the male flowers or organs on one plant, and 

 the female on another. Thus every observing bee- 

 keeper has noticed his bees on the willows, alder, 

 or poplars, in early spring, and noticed that, while 

 on certain trees-thc pistillate— they collect only 

 nectar, on other trees — the staminate — they arc 

 gathering only pollen. Such plants are called dioe- 

 cious. This term is also used in describing animals, 

 and is equivalent to bi-sexual. Bi-sexual, or dice- 

 cious animals, then^which include all of the high- 



