274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



M R. 15 



haps fearing- I meant to abate somewhat, in 

 what I said in the previous issue, from the 

 glory that belongs to the venerable man. 

 Probably I should have interjected a little 

 more of my own opinion, which, generally, 

 I do not like to do. Whatever benefit that 

 theory has been to the world is due exclu- 

 sively to Dzierzon, for he alone discovered 

 it so it would stay discovered. Columbus 

 was no less the discoverer of America be- 

 cause he found men here who discovered it 

 long before he did. His discovery consisted 

 in discovering the globe itself, and in prov- 

 ing that it is round and can be circled; 

 and so Dr. Dzierzon's theory involves re- 

 sults far more reaching than any thing the 

 mere name implies. 



PLANTING FOR BEES. 



"Jones came over to talk with Doolittle 

 this evening. Has Doolittle the time to 

 spare?" 



"Well, I had a little writing to do, but 

 that can be laid aside for a time. What 

 was it you wished to talk about, Mr. 

 Jones?" 



"Bee pasturage is getting scarce around 

 where I live, or, rather, my bees have done 

 very little for the past two years, and I 

 thought the trouble was on account of a lack 

 of pasturage, and I wanted to ask you what 

 is the best kind of tree to plant for bees. 

 I have been thinking of planting quite a 

 few trees in the spring, if I can find out what 

 will be best." 



"In our northern locality there is no tree 

 that gives as great a yield of honey as the 

 basswood; and were I to set out any tree 

 for honey alone, the basswood would be 

 that tree. This tree is also very valuable 

 for lumber; but, unless planted too closely 

 to do the best for honey, lumber of little ac- 

 count could be gotten from it, on account of 

 its growing so low and branching." 



"I had thought of the basswood; then I 

 had also thought that, if I could plant 

 something that would give me fruit and the 

 bees honey, it might be better. What about 

 this?" 



"For fruit and honey combined, there is 

 probably nothing better than the apple. 

 Some years, when the weather is just right 

 during its blossoming, it will yield honey 

 nearly if not quite equal to basswood as 

 to quantity, but the quality is not equal to 

 either clover or basswood." 



"Apple blossoms quite early does it not?" 



"Yes; and coming thus early is the rea- 

 son that we seldom have good weather for 

 the bees to work on it from start to finish; 



but as it blossoms at a time of the year 

 when a little stimulation in the shape of 

 nectar from the fields is of the greatest 

 value to the apiarist in populating his hives 

 with brood, which will arrive on the stage 

 of action just in time to take advantage of 

 the honey- flow from white clover and bass- 

 wood, it makes the honey which does come 

 from it of double value. So if I were to 

 plant trees for honey I would include the 

 apple as one of the trees, as it possesses the 

 advantages of giving a fairly good honey, 

 giving said honey just at a time when it is 

 of the greatest benefit to the apiarist, and 

 gives, in addition, a kind of fruit that is 

 desired almost universally." 



"Is there any other tree you would 

 plant?" 



"I hardly think so; and, to be candid, I 

 am not sure that I would plant any trees 

 very largely for honey, having that as the 

 main object, unless I were looking toward 

 generations yet unborn; for there is little 

 use of setting out any tree with the expec- 

 tation of gaining any immediate benefit; 

 and if set out for those who are to come 

 after, in all probability the place would 

 change occupants, or the occupants conclude 

 that the land could be occupied m re prof- 

 itably with something else like cabbage, 

 wheat, or potatoes, when, in either case, 

 our labor in planting would have been 

 mostly in vain, with people like you and 

 me who are on the western slope of life." 



"Well, I realize that what you say is 

 quite true; but I think I will put a few 

 basswood and apple trees in next spring. 

 The apples may help me some unless I am 

 called away too soon. I had also thought 

 of sowing some seeds for the bees. What 

 would be the best along this line?" 



"White clover, alsike clover, buckwheat, 

 sweet clover, rape, mustard, pleurisy-root, 

 spider-plant, Chapman honey-plant, golden 

 honey- plant, etc., in about the order named; 

 but with the exception of the three first, I 

 do not think I would sow any of them, only 

 by way of experiment or as a source of 

 amusement, unless there were waste places 

 now growing up to foul weeds; for I do not 

 think that it can be made to pay to occupy 

 good tillable land with any kind of plant 

 that gives nothing of special value except 

 honey." 



"Why?" 



"Because it takes tens and scores of acres 

 of any of these kinds of plants for the bees 

 to gather enough nectar to store a surplus 

 of any account therefrom. As hinted at, it 

 may pay to sow all waste places with them, 

 as such plants would take the place of bur- 

 docks, cockleburr, etc., which are a nui 

 sance through the burrs and noxious weeds 

 coming from them." 



"Do you include sweet clover in these re- 

 marks?" 



"As to sweet clover, with me I have failed 

 to get it to grow on our muck and hardpan 

 soil, and I have sown large quantities of 

 seed on old fence-balks, by the roadside, on 

 the edges of gulfs and ravines; in short. 



