1026 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



HORSE BEANS. 

 From these, as well as the various kinds 

 of bush limas, better results may be expect- 

 ed than from such crops as artichokes. In 

 some points in California large yields are 

 asserted to come from the bean-fields. The 

 honey is likewise of much better quality 

 than that from plants of the sunflower or- 

 der. The time of blossoming (midsummer) 

 is likewise a period when many regions are 

 deficient in honey-producing plants, so that 

 certainly in our middle latitudes, and possi- 

 bly, even, in the North, something might be 

 expected from an extensive cultivation of 

 beans. 



RAPE (BRASSICA NAPUS). 

 While, very likely, Mr. Morrison is cor- 

 rect in the statement that rape is not as ex- 

 tensively planted as it ought to be, still, 

 from his manner of writing, I judge that he 

 knows little of its spread in recent years 

 through our more northern States, New 

 England, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Minneso- 

 ta, where, as a crop for fattening sheep and 

 hogs, it has become very popular. Two 

 kinds are illustrated in my Manual, p. 60— 

 the Dwarf Essex, or winter rape, which, culti- 

 vated as a biennial, blossoms in early spring, 

 furnishing, besides honey, an'abundant yield 

 of early pollen, and the summer or bird 

 rape, raised for the seed,' which is used as 

 bird seed, and likewise in the manufacture 

 of oil. The former is the chief forage crop, 

 and, when sown in late summer, furnishes 

 an abundant autumn pasturage for fattening 

 animals. Only those situated in a cool cli- 

 mate can expect the best results from rape 

 as a forage crop. 



TAGASASTE, OR " TREE ALFALFA," (CYTISUS 

 PROLIFERUS). 



This plant, belonging with the clovers in 

 the Pulse family, has been tried in a very 



limited way in some parts of the country, 

 but with indiff'erent success thus far. I am 

 unable, at the present time, to say what the 

 reason for this is, unless it be the trouble of 

 getting the tenderer portions of the plant 

 before the animals which are to be fed on 

 it, without great injury to the plants them- 

 selves. It is a woody species of broom, the 

 tips of whose branches only are suitable for 

 stock. My own belief is that land not avail- 

 able for other purposes might perhaps be 

 reseeded to tagasaste and left as a pasture- 

 range for such animals as goats and sheep, 

 regulating the number so as not to result in 

 too great injury to the perennial plants 

 themselves. In the Canary Islands, por- 

 tions of Spain, Scotland, and Australia, this 

 and other brooms furnish considerable pas- 

 turage to bees, so that certainly they are 

 very hopeful plants for experimental pur- 

 poses. 



RED RASPBERRIES, HAZELNUTS, AND FIL- 

 BERTS. 



The importance of these has been men- 

 tioned in both of our Departmental publica- 

 tions, and at least the first of them (rasp- 

 berries) has often been brought forward in 

 foreign publications, although I am clearly of 

 the same opinion as Mr. Morrison, that the 

 importance of the red raspberry as a honey- 

 producer has hardly been appreciated. Even 

 a few acres would furnish a large apiary 

 with pasturage for several weeks. 



In conclusion I would state that I am firm- 

 ly of the opinion that our future bee-keep- 

 ing must take more into account the lack of 

 continuous pasturage in any given locality, 

 and intelligent effort must be directed to 

 supplying this deficiency. It is, therefore, a 

 source of satisfaction to me to be able to 

 state that we intend here at the Department 

 to enter upon a series of studies which will 

 result in a complete mapping of the leading 



UDO TOEPPERWEIN'S OFFICE AT SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. SEE EDITORIAL. 



