GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



699 



STRIKING FOR HIGHER WAGES. 



Bees are hardly earning a living-— working on 

 weeds growing along the banks of the creek, most- 

 ly. I fear we shall not average 8 lbs. per colony, 

 take the whole neighborhood through. 



Oh for a good long rain! We had the tail end of 

 a shower last Tuesday, July :n, but it brightened 

 things up for only a day or two. But during that 

 time the bees put in a " full " day's work each day. 

 The continued drouth of the last few years has 

 greatly thinned out the white clover; and as this 

 is our main stay, the bees seem to have become 

 discouraged—" struck for higher wages." Well, I 

 guess they won't get it this year. I e.xpect to feed 

 this fall. Now, don't put me in Reports Discourag- 

 ing, for I am not discouraged. I expect a good 

 run next year, and I have found that it is the 

 stick-to-its that generally "get there." 



Willis M. Barnum. 



Angelica, N. Y., Aug. 4, 1888. 



We are glad to know you are not dis- 

 couraged; but as your repori is discouraging, 

 we could hardly put it among the en-courag- 

 ing reports. 



THE POOREST SEASON EVER KNOWN. 



My man has been over the bees, and thinks we 

 shall have 30LI0 lbs. of nice honey. .Judging from 

 the general reports received from all over the 

 country, we must call this season's crop the poor- 

 est ever known. W. H. Shane. 



Chatham Center, O., Aug. 8, 1888. 



I will explain to our readers, that friend 

 Shane is the man who always produces a 

 crop of honey, no matter whether the season 

 is good, bad, or indifferent; and even during 

 this season, when no one else has succeeded 

 at all, friend Shane secures 2000 pounds. We 

 have purchased the honey, and it now stands 

 piled up in our building. If friend S. calls 

 it the poorest season, we think there can not 

 be much mistake about it. 



Bee B0t^ny, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



&W. PARK, Columbia, Texas, asks me to name 

 in Gleanings a plant— a vine— which he 

 says blooms twice a year— once in March, 

 ' and again in August. He says it is com- 

 mon in Texas, and yields very abundantly 

 of honey. 



This plant is not sarsaparilla, but a Southern 

 species of grape— Vitis MpinnaUi. We have it on 

 our grounds, but it kills down each year, and does 

 not blossom. The honey which Mr. Park sends me 

 seems very fine. I wish to thank Mr. Park and sev- 

 eral others for samples of honey. A. J. Cook. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. 



Mr. W. C. Morrison, Alvinston, Ontario, sends 

 two plants for name. One is a fireweed of the 

 great composite order, which includes asters, bone- 

 sets, goldenrods, etc. Too small a piece was sent 

 to exactly determine the species. The other plant 

 is a vervain (Verbena hastata). This blue vervain, 

 as well as the white and hairy {V. iirticifolia and 

 V. stricta) are all excellent honey-plants. I men- 

 tion all of these in my Bee-Keeper's Guide. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



Every boy or girl, under 15 years of age, who writes a let- 

 ter for this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, will receive 



one of David Cook's excellent five-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same matter that you find in 

 Sunday-school hooks costing from 51.00 to $1.50. If you have 

 had one or more books, give us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. We have now in stock six diflierent 

 books, as follows-, viz.: Sheer Off, Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill- 

 er; or. The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. We have also Our 

 Homes, Part I., and Our Homes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a pnotograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret- 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can have your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



TT seems you didn't write very much on the 

 M subject of robbing, in this issue, did you ? 

 M I suppose the principal reason is because 

 ■^ you have not got around to it yet. You 

 surely have had some experience in this 

 sort of thing, but perhaps your papa is a care- 

 ful bee-keeper and doesn't allow it to hap- 

 pen. Suppose you tell us, then, how he 

 prevents it. It is also time now for feeding, 

 and I suspect there will have to be a good 

 deal of it done this fall in some localities. 

 Tell also how you feed. Figure up how 

 much the syrup costs a pound, and how 

 much it will cost to winter a colony. 



You did nicely on the sub.iect of swarming ; 

 and although little folks are not supposed to 

 tell any thing that the older folks did not 

 know before, you did, nevertheless, give us 

 quite a number of valuable hints. Now, for 

 the present let us drop swarming until next 

 year and take u]) the subject mentioned 

 above. Of course, you understand that, 

 when you write upon the subjects called for, 

 giving useful information, you will be enti- 

 tled to any mailable article on the 5-cent 

 counter, mentioned in the price list, which 

 we send free to boys and girls who ask for 

 them. 



HIVING swarms. 



M.y papa sits down beside the hives and catches 

 the queen, and gets a cage and puts her in it. He 

 then gets a hive as much like the old one as he can, 

 and puts the queen and the cage down by the en- 

 trance, and then the bees go in all right. 



Goshen, Mo., July 7, 1888. Gussie Gearhart. 



HOW WALTER HIVED A SWARM. 



I will tell you how I hived a swarm of bees. T 

 was left in charge of the bees one Sunday this 

 summer, and a swarm came out. It fell to my lot 

 to hive them. They settled on a peach-tree. I 

 placed a table under them and a hive on the table, 

 and took the smoker and smoked them. I then 

 shook them down, and they went in nicely. 



Walter Norris. 



Buntyn, Tenn., July 24, 1888. 



