January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



23 



NOVEMBER 



We are usually thru with the honey by 

 the first week of tliis month, then we extiact 

 the unfinished sections, strain the honey 

 into a tank, stir it for a day or so, then run 

 it out into paper sacks to- granulate. We 

 liave a good call for granulated honey in 

 sacks. We think the stirring a great help 

 as it makes a finer grain. It is called 

 " butter honey " hei'e. 



As was previously mentioned, some of 

 the colonies in the home yard are run for 

 extracted honey. All the honey that they 

 produce from the fall flow is saved and set 

 away for spring feeding. 



During the latter pai't of the month we 

 again look over the yard. There are a 



few of the colonics in single-walled hives, 

 having deep telescoping covers. These are 

 well wrapped in newsj apers, and tlie covers 

 slipped down over the whole- The colo- 

 nies winter quite well so protected, but not 

 as well as they do in the double-walled hives. 

 Before leaving the yard we see that the 

 covers are tight, and that the front of 

 every hive is lower than the back. 



DECEMBER 



This is our easiest month. We take a 

 few holidays, straighten up the bee-house, 

 putting things to rights and getting ready 

 for the winter work. Any poor combs 

 that have been culled out during the sum- 

 mer, and all scrapings, are rendered into 

 wax ready for the work in January. 



Pierpont, Ohio. 



A Prolific, Rapid 



Great Importance 



and Beekeepers 



S"^,"r^fs^ HAWAIIAN 



perhaps 

 about a century 

 ago ; the place, no 

 doubt, a mission 

 located in the 

 Americas between 

 the tropic of Can- 

 cer and the tropic of Capricorn, a black- 

 robed priest was making a study of the 

 trees and jDlants indigenous to the soil. 

 And particularly did be become interested 

 in a certain acacia-like tree. The trunk 

 of this tree was not beautiful; in fact, it 

 might be classed as ugly. But the tree had 

 many good features that offset the ill ap- 

 pearance, among which were that the seeds 

 germinated freely, and that the young trees 

 were sturdj- and capable of taking care of 

 themselves, and grew in almost any kind of 

 soil. In fact, it seemed to matter little 

 where the tree found a foothold, whether on 

 low coastal land or high arid plains where 

 the altitude was reckoned by thousands of 

 feet. Then, too, the wood of the tree was 

 good firewood, and did not rot when placed 

 in earth or water. The foliage was pleas- 

 ing to the eye, and the blossoms that the 

 trees bore during two distinct periods of 

 bloom were sweet-scented, and yielded nectar 

 abundantly. The honey gathered by the 

 bees from the blossoms was very light in 

 color, and of good flavor. The fruit was 

 fleshy gray, or golden pods from five to 

 nine inches long. These pods when ripe 

 furnished food for both man and beast. 

 Cattle were especially fond of the pods, 

 and thrived on them. Another feature of 



\J ri\ DOR A *^^ t^'^^^ ^^'^^ ^^''^t 



t\l^KJ t\W\JDJ-\ the roots, which 



-growing Tree of 

 to Stock - growers 

 of the Pacific 



would go, when 

 necessai'y, great 

 depths for water, 

 did not impair the 

 fertility of the 

 Leslie Burr Surface soil ; and 



as the bipinnated 

 leaves let the sunshine filter thru, the grass, 

 unless the trees grew in dense thickets, grew 

 beneath the trees almost as freely and as 

 luxuriantly as in the open. 



A quantity of the seed of this tree was 

 gathered by the priest, and either taken or 

 sent to France, and eventually found its 

 way to the Jardin du Roi de Paris. Just 

 who the priest was that gathered the seed; 

 just where the trees grew, or the exact 

 manner in which the seed found its way 

 to France is unknown, the true and exact 

 facts having been lost or obscured in the 

 dusty corridors of time. All that seems 

 to be actually known is that Father Bache- 

 lot was given the seed at the Jardin du Roi 

 de Paris, and that he took it to the Hawai- 

 ian Islands about the year 1828; that he 

 planted the seeds, and that at least one 

 seed grew. The tree from that seed still 

 stands. 



BOTAXICAL DESCRIPTION 



Tliis is the tree now known as the Hawai- 

 ian algaroba, Prosopis juliflora being the 

 botanical name. " Prosopis " means " ob- 

 scure," and " juliflora " means " catkin-like 

 flower." The tree belongs to the natural 

 order Leguminosae (sub-order mimoscae). 



It is claimed that there are eighteen or 

 more species of the prosopis, all tropical 



