800 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



quainted with the elementary principles of our 

 pursuit. There is scarcely a week passes but 

 that I got lists of questions which I know 

 wouldn't have been asked had the writers a 

 good book on bees, and had they read that book 

 understandingly. From these papers and books 

 the mind is to be stored with useful knowledge 

 which can be put into practical use as soon as 

 the season of 1893 opens. When I first com- 

 menced bee-keeping, I procured the " Bee- 

 keeper's Text-book " and " Quinby's Mysteries 

 of Bee-keeping," and subscribed for the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal and the Bee-keepers' Journal, 

 the two latter being all the papers devoted to 

 bees there were at that time. By the reading 

 of these I was greatly benefited; and from the 

 writings of E. Gallup. L. L. Langstroth, M. 

 Quinby. A. I. Root, Adam Grimm, and many 

 others, 1 learned my A B C in bee culture. 



My first year of experience in bee-keeping, by 

 way of putting the things which I had read in 

 practice, resulted in 13 lbs. of comb honey and 

 one swarm from the two I had purchased to 

 commence with, in the poorest season I have 

 ever known in all of the 23 years I have kept 

 bees. The next season I obtained about 25 lbs. 

 of surplus from each colony I had in the spring, 

 on an average. At the end of the fourth season 

 I chronicled an average of 80 lbs. comb honey 

 as the average surplus from each colony in the 

 spring. During these four years I had studied. 

 read, and practiced all my wakeful hours about 

 the bees, having keen enjoyment in doing the 

 same, for I never spent an hour in my life, even 

 up to the present time, in work pertaining to 

 bee culture without its being a real pleasure to 

 me; and this was brought about by those 

 winter evenings when I first began to read up 

 on the subject. Many a night have I lain 

 awake from one to three hours, planning how 

 to accomplish some result I desired to achieve 

 in regard to the practical part of apiculture, 

 which, with the help of what I had read, 

 caused me to accomplish what I had sought 

 after. I have found that, if I would succeed. 

 as far as possible I should read mainly those 

 articles which came from the pens of practical 

 bee-keepers, for such were the ones who made 

 a success of their calling, and told how they 

 did it. If you wish to learn mechanics, the 

 mercantile pursuit, or farming, to whom do 

 you go — the man who allows weeds and 

 briers to grow up all over his farm and in his 

 business, or to the man who makes a success of 

 his every undertaking, year by year? To the 

 latter, of course; and so we should do in bee- 

 keeping matters. I know that many of our 

 most practical bee-men do not write for publi- 

 cation, and for this reason we can bring in 

 visiting, during the winter months, as another 

 help along this line of our qualification. Then 

 we have our bee-conventions, which are held 

 for this special purpose; and while the cost may 

 be considerable, if we improve the time as we 

 should we can learn more than enough to make 

 that cost good, besides the benefit which we 

 derive socially. 



All of these things are great helps to us. and 

 should be eagerly sought after, as they will be 

 if we have a natural qualification for the 

 calling which we have chosen. If any person 

 loves something else more than he does to study 

 into bee-keeping, and does this only as a sort of 

 duty, let him be iissun^d that he has mistaken 

 his calliuir. and thn sooner he leaves it and go(-s 

 to that which at all times gives him pleasure, 

 the better he will be off in this world's goods, 

 and the better it will be for the world. 



If there are any who read this who have no 

 love foi- any thing, except to sit around all win- 

 ter, vvhiling away thr time in that way. let me 

 say to them that the world would have been 



better off without them, and that these lines 

 were not intended for them, unless they caa 

 turn over a "new leaf." G. M. Doolittle. 

 Borodino. N. Y.. Oct. 18. 



CARDINAL FLOWER. 



SOME OF PROF. COOK'S STATEMENTS REGARDIN6 

 IT reviewed; not a HONEV-PLANT. 



On page 926, 1888, Prof. Cook gave us an inter- 

 esting article on the cardinal fiower, or Lobelia 

 cardinalis, and speaks of it as a honey-plant. 

 In a postscript he noted the fact that, in corre- 

 spondence with him, I had questioned the state- 

 ment that the cardinal fiower furnished any 

 nectar for the honey-bee; but from evidence 

 which he received through friend Hilton, of 

 this place, he was confident that I was mistak- 

 en, and that another plant must be enrolled 

 among those which produce honey. 



On p. 3.51, 1889, and afterward in corri'espoud- 

 ence with Prof. Cook. I explained my position 

 to him. He stated to me that he himself had 

 never seen a bee on the cardinal flower, and re- 

 quested me to make investigation to ascertain 

 the facts in regard to the matter. This I have 

 done, and am now ready to give the result of 

 four years' observation. 





cardinal fj.oweu. 



To bring the matter clearly to the mind of the 

 reader I will (juote a passage from Prof. Cook's 

 article, in which he nicely describes the flower; 

 but I am certain he draws some unwarranted 

 conclusions. Please read it carefully : and if 

 you are not familiar with the flower, observe 

 the cut closelv. He says: 



'■ The corolla is irregular. These flowers need 

 the visits of the bees greatly; and let us see how 



