586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



full 2 inches wide were the only ones sold. 

 Then came 1}|; still later, 1%. So far from 

 staying at this size it has a tendency to go 

 under rather than over. — Ed.] 



SPECIAI, PREMIUM AWARDS AT OMAHA. 



The following special premiums are offered 

 in advertising by the A'ehraska Fanner in the 

 Apiary department of the Trans-Mississippi 

 and International Exposition : 



1. For the best, largest, and most complete dis- 



play in apiary goods and supplies SIO 00 



2. Best and largest display covering the greatest 



number of varieties of comb honey, quality 

 and marketable shape to be taken into con- 

 sideration 5 00 



3. Best and largest display covering the greatest 



number of varieties of extracted honey, qual- 

 ity and marketable shape to be taken into 

 consideration 5 00 



4. lyargest and best display of designs of bees- 



wax work 3 00 



5. Largest and best display in unrefined beeswax 2 00 



6. I^argest and best display of bees and queens... 3 00 



7. Largest and best display of honey-producing 



plants, mounted, with their botanical and 

 common names attached 2 00 



8. To the person giving the best exhibition, on 



Trans-Mississippi honey-day, of handling 

 bees and extracting honey 5 00 



9. To the State making the best display of honey, 



bee-.supplies, bees, and queens, on Trans- 

 Mississippi honey-day 5 00 



10. To the person making the best display of 

 honey, bee-supplies, bees, and queens, on 

 Trans-Mississippi honey-day 3 00 



11. The best and largest display of culinarv prod- 

 ucts in which honey is used instead of sugar 3 00 



The above special premiums are open to the 

 world, and will not in any manner interfere 

 with awards to be given by the exposition. 

 Bee-journals of the United States and Canada, 

 please copy. E. WhiTcomb. 



Friend, Neb. 



APIS DORSATA. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — I have read with a great 

 deal of interest your report of Mr. Benton's 

 experience with Apis dorsata. I have made 

 every inquiry about them here from the na- 

 tives. They all tell great stories about what I 

 take to be the same, but I have not heard of 

 any in reach of me yet. Last week I had two 

 days out in one of our largest jungles ; but on 

 inquiries of the jungle patrol I was informed 

 that while usually many bees are found in the 

 jungle, this year they seem to have failed to 

 show up. Every thing seems to point to their 

 being migratory. However, the fact that the 

 government lets out the gathering of honey 

 and wax to a contractor whose business it is to 

 make his profit by seizing every colony he can 

 find at its highest development, may indicate 

 a habit which, if the bees were undisturbed, 

 would not exist. 



This year has been a very busy one with me, 

 and I have not had the opportunity to give 

 either time or serious thought to the matter ; 

 still, I am gradually accumulating information 

 that will be of assistance to the cause in the 

 end. Beeswax sells here in its crude state for 

 about 20 cents a pound. 



If I had time I would write you of some oth- 

 er bees I have found — interesting merely — and 

 send you specimens. I mean to later. At 



present the rain is coming on us with our bun- 

 galow not yet quite ready, and I am at work 

 almost all the time. W. E. Rambo. 



Damoh, C. P., India, June 9. 



[I will explain that Mr. Rambo is the mis- 

 sionary friend who is looking up for us Apis 

 dorsata. As soon as he can procure queens he 

 will make an effort to send tliem on to us. He 

 expects, of course, to see what he can do iu 

 domesticating them in their own climate. — 

 Ed.] 



THE HONEY-PLANTS OF SOUTH DAKOTA. 



It is very interesting to watch the work of 

 the bees at this time of the year in the fields. 

 To-day, July 11, they are very busy on prairie 

 clover, botanically known as Petalosteiiioii. 

 There are two varieties here — the white and 

 the violet. The white is now blooming ; the 

 violet will be in a week. The bees work all 

 the day long on these, and get considerable 

 honey from this source. I notice it is white, 

 and of good flavor. 



The "shoestring" is now in bloom, and 

 bees work on it. You can always tell when 

 shoestring comes in bloom by the pollen the 

 bees bring in. It is a vermilion red. There 

 is no other pollen so bright. The honey is of 

 excellent flavor, but of a peculiar purple col- 

 or. It looks in the cells like light-colored am- 

 ethj-st. Last year I had several Mason jars 

 full of it, colored like some of the bottles in 

 the windows of drugstores. 



The Rocky Mountain bee-plant (spiderwort) 

 is commencing to bloom, and the bees are cra- 

 zy over it in the early morning. It is indige- 

 nous here, as is also the Simpson honey-plant. 

 These two grow together in the gulches and 

 ravines and along the creeks, and abound all 

 along the Missouri River. The Simpson hon- 

 ey-plant is done blooming. The seed is very 

 small, but could be gathered easily by strip- 

 ping the pods off the stem. A neighbor of 

 mine has two acres of sweet clover, so tall that 

 I can not reach the tops, and I am o ft. 10 in. 

 The stalks are fully half an inch in diameter. 

 If that would not tire a cow's jaw to eat it, 

 what would ? Still, they eat it here when it is 

 small, and hunt for it. 



Catnip is coming on. I have a patch of it 

 about four feet high, and I am inclined to be- 

 lieve all that Quinby said about it as a honey- 

 plant. My bees are on it every day, and all 

 the day long till dark. I believe it would pay 

 well here in Dakota to have an acre or two of 

 it planted and cultivated like corn. I sowed 

 seed last fall that produced plants that are 

 now beginning to bloom. 



For comfort and all-around satisfaction, give 

 me a two-story hive, either chaff or single- 

 walled, with a good honey-board, a Porter 

 bee-escape, and an extractor. 



Stephen j. Harmeling. 



Marion, Turner Co., So. Dakota. 



[Very good, friend H. ; but why don't you 

 tell us how much honey you get ? With such 

 honey-plants as you name, it seems to me you 

 ought to have a pretty good yield. Some way 

 or other we have got the impression that the 



