738 



GLliANliStiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



in the aii-. and, behold, a swarm of bees tearing 

 through the orchard and piling into that jiar- 

 ticuhir hive. This scene was<Miacted in all four 

 times — May 26. 31, and June 12. 21. Ev'erj' time 

 it was the same thing — tii'St a few strange bees 

 around all the hives: then more bees around 

 one: ne.Kt. no bees for a half or a whole hour; 

 then the roar of the swarm through the woods. 

 It was so regular ihat. on June 21st, I had visit- 

 ors, and told them to wait, as 1 was going to get 

 a swarm of bees in a very short time, and. sure 

 enough, within one hour they were there and at 

 work. If this is not proof enough that bees 

 send out scouts. I do not know what more is re- 

 quired: besides, ray bees are Italians, and the 

 new comers in every case were blacks. 



Adrian J. Hesse. 

 Bayshore. Long Island, Sept. 13. 



UOXEY FKOM TANWEp:i). 



Prof. Cook: — If it is not asking too much, will 

 you please give me the botanical name of the 

 plant, sections of root and branch of which I 

 send you? On cultivated ground it blossoms 

 rarely, though it. seems to thrive in every other 

 way ; and when once established it is almost im- 

 possible to e.xterminate it. Single roots are oft- 

 en found 30 ft. in length, seldom going deeper in 

 the soil than (3 inches. At intervals of two or 

 three feet, each root sends up an independent 

 plant.* In swampy land covered with a few 

 inches of water it blossoms profusely and yields 

 a fair flow of honey nearly every year, from the 

 last of July to the middle of September. The 

 honey is very light amber, and on tlie market it 

 is mistaken for white clover. It is rich, and 

 finely flavored. The local name given to the 

 plant here is tanweed. It has been used quite 

 successfully in the preparation of leather. 



I am harve^^ting a heavy crop of beautiful 

 honey thi-; season, entirely from this source. I 

 wish to put it on the market nrandi'd with its 

 own name. and. if possible, establish a reputa- 

 tion for it under true colors. F. M. Crane. 



Little .Sioux, la.. Sept. (i. 



[Prof. Cook replies:] 



I inclose .Mr. Crane's letter, as it is of no small 

 importance to get these neu- hfiuey plants re- 

 corded. This proves to be another of the poly- 

 gonums, or buckwheat family, and ■^o is related 

 to heartsease, smartweed, etc. This is Polygo- 

 nium Muhlcnhenjil The flower looks much 

 like that of smartweed. and heartsease in form 

 and eohtr: but the leaves are much coars(>r and 

 larger. We see from Mr. Crane's hatei- that 

 this is a very Hne honey-plant. The hon(>y. like 

 that from the willow-herb, is llghtcolonHJ. 

 which is not usually true of honey secured from 

 autumn flowers. In a recent ti'ip to Northern 

 Michigan, both sid-s of the straits, and tlironi-'h 

 all the Northern Peninsula. I saw acri-s of wil- 

 low-herb in bloom. The wild bees were swarm- 

 ing on it; but there was a great scarcity of hon- 

 ey-bees. I did not see one north of the Straits 

 of Mackinac. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Sept. 10. 



TWO TEXAS apiaries: difference in honey 



CROI'S. 



Mr. Root:— In answer to my advertisement 

 last winter I employed J. P. Watt, of (iarnett. 

 Kansas, as apiarist, and turned over to him i\\ o 

 apiaries, one located in a valley near Little 

 River, containing 18 colonies, and Rattlesnake 

 apiary, on Pond Creek, of 107 colonies. From 

 the Cameron apiary Mr. Watt sold 100 sections, 

 partly tilled, and reported that thieves had gone 

 through ■ three colonies. From Rattlesnake 

 apiary he extracted about 035 lbs. and about 

 that amount in supers I'eady for the extractor, 

 which will wind up the season with fewer colo- 



nies than he opened with last spring. 1 never 

 failed to get a paying crop from Rattlesnake 

 apiary bei'oie. I al.so employed Frank Morton, 

 a novice in bei; culture, and a native of Texas. 

 I gave him charge of Little River apiary, con- 

 sisting of 96 colonies, located 12 miles southwest 

 of Cameron, and similarly located as Rattle- 

 snake apiai'y. on a vall"v with a wide bottom, 

 and commonly known in the Southern States 

 as swamp. On the south is a high rolling mes- 

 quite prairie: on the north a wide bottom. The 

 two apiaries are about 26 miles apart, and al- 

 most identically located, with a little more 

 chaparral and cactus on Pond Creek than on 

 Little River. The Little River apiary has this 

 advantage, if advantage at all (which I doubt): 

 an abundance of live oak along the breaks of 

 the river about one mile from the apiary. 

 Morion increased Little River apiary from 96 to 

 104 colonies, and has extracted S.iOO lbs., and 

 1100 lbs. in supers ready for the extractor and a 

 honey-flow at the present writing. Rain has 

 fallen in the locality of each apiary about the 

 same. Will some of the Texas bee-keepers ac- 

 count for the difTerence? 



I have known my Little River apiarist from 

 a boy, and believe him to be truthful. He 

 makes the following unreasonable statement: 

 He says that he extracted from one colony, on 

 July 1st. of three stories and eighteen frames, 

 121 lbs. of honey, and reduced it to a two-story. 

 July 10th he extracted 55 lbs. August 10th he 

 extracted from 9 frames .55 lbs. Total, 231 lbs. 

 He also says that he will get another extract- 

 ing. I wish to know, and I hope the bee-keepers 

 of Texas will not all answer at once, or before 

 a fair test — can a three-story hive (a hive with 

 two supers) support more bees and supply more 

 hoirey than a two-story hive, and about how 

 much more? I have been a continual subscriber 

 to Gleanings for the last 11 years: and 'from 

 its t<-achir.gs. and fi'om the A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture. I have been abl(> to produce tons of honey. 

 Long may it live. E. Y. Terr.^i.. 



Cameron, Tex., Sept. S. 



[A three-story hive, if it is proportionately 

 populous in bees, will produce inoi'e honey, 

 other things being equal, than a two-story col- 

 ony. The former must, of course, have a good 

 prolific queen, preferably nor over two years 

 old.] 



a bee-keei'er who secured a large CROI'. 



If you will put yourself back to the time 

 when you were at our convention you will re- 

 membei' me as the last one that came, having 

 come all day long through mud and mire to see 

 the editor of Gleanings. Well, as I said then. 

 I had just requeened my apiary from an im- 

 porud moihei'. and hi're is the ri'sult: I incrnas- 

 en from ISO to 2.50; shipped to Chicago 350 (iO-lh. 

 cans; sold around here .50 60-lb. cans; have on 

 hand 34 (io-lb. cans. Shipped to Chicago. 370 

 lbs. of wax; on hand. 300 lbs. Hives are all 

 full, and I may get from 50 to 100 cans more 

 this fall. John Nippert. 



Phcenix, Ariz., Aug. 27. 



the HOFFMAN VERSUS THE SIMPLICITY FRAME. 



I want to say a good word for the Hofi^nian 

 frame. I have a few Simplicity hives with thin- 

 top-bar frames, and a lew Dovetailed hives with 

 Hoffman frames. I mixed the frames a good 

 deal: and in hives where there were some of 

 each, the Simplicity frames would be covered 

 with burr- combs, while the others were perfect- 

 ly clean on top. J. T. Shackelford. 

 " Napton. Mo.. Sept. 12. 



[Your experience is but that of hundreds of 

 others which we have seen. The non-burr- 

 comb frames have come to stay.] 



