1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



761 



their honey. Think of leaving all the honey on the 

 hives till the close of the season, and then having 

 every cell to uncap! And yet that is exactly what 

 they do. No wonder they can hold their trade. 



Mr. C. Dadant is an honorary member of perhaps 

 a dozen European beekeepers' associations, among 

 which may be mentioned the Italian and Swiss as- 

 sociations. He writes more for European papers 

 than for American, and has been one of the main 

 expounders of American methods in Europe. He 

 is one of the principal conti-ibutors of the Revue 

 Intcmationalr (VApiculture, \n which publication 

 his portrait was given a few years ago. The Lang- 

 strothQuinby-Dadaut hive is used largely in the 

 Old World, under the name of the Dadant hive, 

 simply because he introduced it there. 



CAMILLE r. DADANT. 



He published a "Petit Cours d' Apiculture Pra- 

 tique.' (Short Course in Practical Apiculture) in 

 France in 1S74. This is completely exhausted, and 

 he now has in preparation a translation of the re- 

 vised work of Jjangstroth for French publication, 

 simultaneously with the American edition. The 

 latter is now in the hands of the printers, and is 

 looked for with much interest, the leading Canadi- 

 an society of bee-keepers having purchased in ad- 

 vance a copy for each of its members. 



Besides the son, Camille P., Mr. Dadant has a 

 daughter, Mrs. Erail Baxter, of Nauvoo, 111. C. P. 

 was married in 1875, and has six children. 



Marengo, III. C. C. Miller. 



Friend M., the facts you give are very in- 

 teresting indeed ; and my experience with 

 the Dadants agrees with your statements 

 exactly. Some years ago, when they lirst 

 commenced to Import queens from Italy, a 

 good deal of fault was found because these 

 specially imported queen-mothers were not 



large and yellow, like our American-bred 

 queens. One man particularly was so un- 

 charitable as to declare that they sent him 

 nothing but poor hybrids, or, worse still, 

 bees that were almost entirely black, when 

 he had paid for a queen direct from Italy. 

 In vain did our old friend Dadant insist that 

 the queen was just wliat he sold her for. 

 When the matter was submitted to me, 

 however, I surprised both parties by sug- 

 gesting that, if anybody wanted to swindle 

 people by substituting home-bred queens, 

 he would pick out the handsomest and 

 lightest-colored queens, and not send out 

 those that are almost black. I believe there 

 was no further trouble after that; for after 

 our hasty friend saw the workers hatch out, 

 he was abundantly satisfied. You can 

 hardly blame foreigners for being somewhat 

 suspicious of the Yankees ; but, as a general 

 thing, when they are satisfied that a Yankee 

 is honest and straight, they will stand by 

 these tried friends in a way that we Yankees 

 sometimes fail to do. 



BUTTON-BALL. 



THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING MANY IRONS IN THE 

 FIRE ; A POINTER FOR SPECIALI.STS. 



fIG. 1.5.5, page 383 of Prof. Cook's Manual, is an 

 excellent representation of the button-ball, 

 or button bush, as mentioned by Prof. Cook, 

 on page 285 of his Manual. On page 673 of 

 Gleanings, in speaking of the button-bush, 

 Mrs. Harrison asks. Will some of your readers tell 

 us more about it, and whether it has off years, like 

 basswood? 



Well, yes. There are thousands of acres of it in 

 the marshes of this, the Illinois River bottom. I 

 have lived in this place five years, but we got no 

 button-ball honey until last season. It bloomed 

 aboutthreeweeks, andgave us (wife, children and I) 

 something over a ton from this source. This season 

 it has bloomed about six weeks; and up to date we 

 have taken off the hives about 3800 lbs., all button- 

 ball honey. There is about a ton on the hives, and 

 the gi'eater part of that is button-ball. 



The cause of its failure in previous years was ice 

 breaking it down during the winter; and its con- 

 tinuing so long in bloom this season was caused by 

 the water. When it commenced to bloom it was 

 standing in water up to its "chin." The water 

 commenced going down; and as the water continu- 

 ed to fall, new shoots put forth, and new buds kept 

 coming, so that there was considerable button-ball 

 bloom yet last week. 



We obtained nearly three tons of honey last sea- 

 son from 98 colonies in the spring, and went into 

 winter quarters with lit colonies. We commenced 

 this spring with about 108 colonies; and while we 

 have not a big crop, we have a fair yield up to date, 

 with a good prospect ahead, if the weather proves 

 favorable. Our neighbors got almost nothing last 

 season, and a little less, so far, this season. 



How is this for those "specialist" bee-keepers 

 who do not happen to live in a "special " localityV 

 Too many irons in the Are, I know, is not a good 

 thing; but I am not quite sure that it is not better 

 to have some of them burn occasionally, than to 

 have only one, and that one so cold you can not 

 work it. What say you, friend Root? 



