1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



195 



ticed the great fleshy roots; but it did not oc- 

 cur to me that they were of any value more 

 than to furnish needed nutriment to the soil — 

 going away down deep into the ground as they 

 do, and pulling up the fertility. I can readily 

 understand, however, that cows that have 

 once acquired a taste for it would eat the fleshy 

 strong- flavored roots. In fact, I have chewed 

 pieces of the root just to see how strongly 

 they were charged with the peculiar flavor 

 that belongs to the flowers, tops, and seeds; 

 and I confess I am astonished again to know 

 that it has been used as a fiber plant. I knew 

 its great value along the shores of Salt Lake. 

 My impression is you have also dropped an- 

 other valuable hint. In cutting sweet clover 

 for feed it should be cut just before blossom- 

 ing, and allowed only to wilt instead of get- 

 ting dry. If it gets too dry the leaves drop 

 off ; but I think it can be cured without any 

 trouble when it is only wilted, as you say. I 

 believe much the same treatment is used to 

 get the best quality of alfalfa hay. 



THE NEW GIGANTIC GIBRALTAR ONION ; MANUM GIV- 

 ES HIS EXPERIENCE WITH THEM. 



I tried them last year and I find them very large 

 and sweet. They are the nicest onion to eat raw that 

 I ever saw. I have passed them around among my 

 neighbors, and all pronounce them very fine. One 

 man said he could eat one of them as freely as an ap- 

 ple. I find they will keep well if braced up. I have 

 some fine ones now ; but if kept in boxes or barrels, 

 even in potato-boxes, they will not keep well. 



Bristol, Vt. A. E. Manum. 



LESSONS TO BE GATHERED FROM THE ZERO 

 WEATHER. 



The first one is, that any one who wants 

 proof that neither Hicks nor anybody else in 

 the line of weather-prophets has any sort of 

 glimpse of what the weather will be a whole 

 year ahead, or even a month, can now have 

 such proofs. The weather for the first half of 

 February has given the almanac-makers a 

 chance to immortalize themselves if they are 

 honest. And, by the way, not a year passes 

 that we do not have some marked divergence 

 in weather, and something that is so wide- 

 spread that a weather-prophet, if he had any 

 glimpse at all into the future, would be sure 

 to take cognizance of it. Will the good friends 

 who insist that there are prophets who can tell 

 the weather a year ahead, point us to the place 

 where anybody has predicted this present 

 blizzard ? The thermometer may have been 

 lower in some localities; but my impression is 

 that no one living ever saw the mercury so 

 low, for so many days in succession, and clear 

 sunny days at that. 



Another lesson is, have your cellars, houses, 

 stock, and perishable crops fixed so as to be 

 safe in spite of severe weather. I was more 

 fortunate than I knew of when I fixed the 

 steam-pipes so as to have them hot under the 

 floors of our home. No water-pipes have been 

 frozen or burst, and nothing has been injured, 

 and I can say almost as much for our water- 

 pipes here in the factory. But we have suffered 

 some slight damage. For a good many years 

 I have thought bee-keepers did not realize the 

 importance of chaff hives of some sort ; and I 



still think that the chaff hive of my planning, 

 as given in the ABC book, is about what is 

 needed for such a winter as this. In our lo- 

 cality, about 20 below zero is the coldest re- 

 corded, by accurate thermometers. We are 

 told by the papers that even in the neighbor- 

 ing State of Michigan, in the northern part, 

 they have a record of 50 below zeio. Very 

 likely many beekeepers will suffer. 



Our Roll of Honor. 



I want to join the " Roll of Honor," as we began to 

 take Gleanings in 187!(, and have almost all the num- 

 bers since then. I lent some out which were never 

 returned. We have quite a pile of " Juvenile " Glean- 

 ings; also have A. I. Root's picture with Blue Eyes. 

 I do not think I can ever give up Gleanings. Our 

 Homes has been a great help to me, and I do enjoy 

 reading the whole of it. I should like to clasp the 

 hands of all the A. I. Root family, but more especially 

 those of A. I. Root. Mrs. A. C. Hartwell. 



Challacombe, 111., Jan. 11. 



I have taken Gleanings since 1876, and I have them 

 all yet. Part of them are bound, but the most of them 

 aie simply tied in four places with stout strings after 

 they aie arranged in regular order, so I can refer to 

 any year's journal in the past 23 years that I see fit to. 

 I have been thinking you may get yourselves into 

 more of a job than you bargained for by offering the 

 journal to old standby subscribers. We all enjoy the 

 Home Papers first rate, and have been very much en- 

 couraged in our religious warfare. For my own part I 

 guess I should have given up the bee business long 

 ago if it had not been for Gleanings. 



Bedford, Iowa, Jan. 11. Jas. S. Willard. 



I wish to be numbered among the stay-by friends of 

 Gleanings, having been a subscriber about 21 years, 

 as nearly as 1 can remember. Through a mistake of 

 the postmaster, several copies addressed to Frank 

 Sage, Colebrook, Conn., fell inlo my hands. I was a 

 boy then, but I remember very distinctly the struggle 

 I had with my conscience as to whether it was right 

 for me to keep those few numbers or not; but, thanks 

 to the influence of the Home Papers, right prevailed, 

 and I returned them. I sent on my subscription, 

 bought up the back numbers, and, as the Sunday- 

 school books say, have been happy ever since. I have 

 Vol. I. to V. bound in one book, besides several other 

 volumes neatly bound. We hold all Rootville in the 

 highest esteem, and hope that Uncle Amos and his 

 faithful wife may be spared to us a good many years 

 yet. Burton L,- Sage. 



New Haven, Conn., Jan. 11. 



I am tied up in the house with the grip, or I should 

 have written before this time. My bee-keeping com- 

 menced in the fifties, with Quinby's box hive; then 

 some time in the sixties I read Langstroth, and sub- 

 scribed for the America?/ Bee Journal, published by 

 Sam'l Wagner, Washington, I). C. I have copies of 

 the A. B. J. of about this time, with articles from 

 Novice, which were read with very great interest, as 

 I was then practicing with the frame hive, swarming 

 artificially, and rearing my first Italian queens. I 

 was interested in every thing that could give me any 

 light on the subject. In the early seventies, my health 

 failing, it was deemed best for me to go away from 

 bees a few years; so in 1873 I came to Denver and 

 missed the first volumes of Gleanings, but I suppose 

 my partner had them in Illinois. In looking over my 

 pile of volumes I find the oldest is for 187(>. The 

 Home Papers I have from the first; and I must bear 

 testimony to their great helpfulness to me these 

 many \ ears. I have also been very much interested 

 in your health talks, travels, etc. Your true friend 

 and brother in the L,ord, J. L. Peabody. 



Denver, Colo., Jan. 10. 



I hope you will excuse me for presenting my name 

 as one of the veterans in taking Gleanings, so late 

 in the day ; but, nevertheless, I want you to know 

 that I am one of them if no more. I commenced with 

 the second volume, and I have all up to the present, 

 filed away. I learned many a lesson from Glean- 

 ings, and I love to go away back in mind to those 

 early days and ponder over and live over those happy 



