GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OOTOBSB, 1921 



the more I stirred things up, the more jan- 

 gle there was. There were Jasper Hazen 's 

 hive, Mrs. Cotton's hive, the Twining hive, 

 and, dear me! what an array! Just think 

 of it! When somebody died and his bees 

 were sold at auction, even if he had mov- 

 able-comb hives, the purchaser would find 

 that he was obliged to have two sizes of 

 frames in his apiary. I was foolish enough 

 in those days to decide on the American 

 hive, and bought an ' ' individual right ' ' for 

 Medina County. Shortly after, I got in 

 touch with Samuel Wagner, then editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, and he urged 

 me to adopt the Langstroth frame, even if 

 I did have a "county right." I think he 

 further added that if I did not do it right 

 away, at the time, I certainly would when 

 I got further along in bee culture. Then 

 I studied Langstroth and made _ his ac- 

 quaintance, and arranged for a visit that I 

 might get his reasons for adopting the 

 frame he had decided on. Then I asked 

 him to make me a frame exactly as he 

 would have it. It happened to be 17% x 

 9%. Then I gave my reasons in Gleanings, 

 and had steel gauges made, both for the 

 size of frame and the size of hives. Of 

 course, I had much opposition. At a con- 

 vention held in Cincinnati, at which Lang- 

 stroth, H. A. King, Gallup, Adair, Muth, 

 and others were present, when they were 

 having a racket and turmoil about their re- 

 spective patents on hives and frames I got 

 up and said something as follows: 



"My good friends, the time is coming 

 when there will be no patent on hives. The 

 time is coming when all that is needed for a 

 hive will be a plain box without top or bot- 

 tom; and when the hive is full of bees and 

 and honey, similar hives will be set on top 

 of it, and so on as may be needed." 



I do not know whether my imagination 

 went so far, just then, as to contemplate 

 hives and crops of honey to the extent that 

 the hives would be piled on top of each 

 other (filled with honey, until a stepladder 

 was needed), as we recently illustrated in 

 Gleanings. I think that my suggestion at 

 that convention was laughed at as some- 

 thing too ridiculous to be listened to; for 

 at that time the Patent Office was burdened 

 with models of patented hives, and the 

 greater part of them without any movable 

 frames at all. May the Lord be praised 

 that we have lived to see hives and frames 

 made by different manufacturers all over 

 the world, and the most of them, like the 

 American watches, made so accurately that, 

 no matter where you purchase, the frames 

 you buy will work nicely with the hives you 

 already have in use. 



I just made inquiry, and find that The 

 A. I. Eoot Company now advertise only 

 two sizes of frames — the Langstroth, and 

 what they call the ' ' Jumbo ' ' Quinby frame, 

 the one used by the Dadants. 



By the way, after what I said in Cincin- 

 nati I went home and made what T called 



the "Simplicity" beehive; and I think that, 

 for a time, T u'seil a cover, that w;is also 

 made to do service as a bottom-board; but 

 later on the latter, altho it could be so used, 

 did not seem to be advisable. I also in- 

 vented, or perhaps I had better say, sug- 

 gested, hand-holes cut in the hives with a 

 wabbling saw so they could be more read- 

 ily lifted and moved about. 



Blueberries in New Jersey, Blueberries in 

 Florida, and Blueberries in Alabama. 



The question is just now coming up from 

 different directions as to whether the blue- 

 berries in the North are the same as or very 

 similar to those in the South. In regard to 

 this our good friend Elizabeth White wi-itos 

 as follows: 

 ]\I.v dear Mr. Root: 



Mr. Coville, Botanist of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, who has oversight of the trial grounds 

 at Whitesbog, has visited Mr. Sapp's blueberry 

 fields in Florida. He tells me that the variety there 

 is Yacciniurti virgatum, while our blueberries are 

 Vaccinium corymbosum. The corymbosum does not 

 grow as tall as the southern blueberries, but the 

 wild bushes at matui'ity are from five to ten feet 

 high. All the plants in our fields are much too 

 young to have reached their maximum height. 

 NpVhile our blueberry plants do not grow as tall as 

 the southern varieties, our berries are consider- 

 ably larger — very much above one-half inch in dia- 

 meter. Elizabeth C. White. 



New Lisbon, N. J., May 16, 1921. 



Our readers will notice that reference is 

 made to Dr. Coville. His name is also 

 mentioned in our August and September is- 

 sues as the one who first discovered that an 

 acid soil is necessary for the blueberries; 

 and Dr. Coville has also the credit of pro- 

 ducing the choice large blueberries known 

 at present, by crossing the best varieties 

 growing wild, and growing plants from the 

 seeds. In view of the above I take great 

 pleasure in submitting the letter below 

 from Dr. Coville: 



Blueberry cuttings are not easily rooted. We 

 have developed, however, certain special method.s 

 of rooting them, which are in operation here at 

 Washington on a small scale and at Whitesbog, 

 near Browns Mills, New Jersey, on a large com- 

 mercial scale by Miss Elizabeth 0. White. These 

 methods are described in "Directions for Blueberry 

 Culture," 1921, now in press and expected to be 

 issued within a few weeks. I shall be glad to 

 send you a copy. 



The rooting of blueberry cuttings requires very 

 close and continuous attention thruout almost the 

 whole year. If one is not so situated that he can 

 give the cuttings this close attention it is better to 

 propagate by the processes of layering and stump- 

 ing, which are also described in the bulletin. 



The plantation of H. A. Sapp, Crestview, Florida, 

 is extremely interesting. He has transplanted with 

 great success selected native blueberry plants which 

 grow to very large size. I measured one of the 

 older plants in his plantation, which he estimated 

 as 15 to 20 years old, which was over 12 feet 

 high, and another one which was over 18 feet 

 high. Their spread was nearly as great as their 

 height. They are too tall in fact for economical 

 picking. 



Unfortunately for the interest of the general pub- 

 lic Mr. Sapp's well-merited success is in process of 

 exploitation by promoters who are selling blue- 

 berry plants and blueberry plantations under mis- 

 leading advertisements. I found Mr. Sapp himself 

 a very trustworthy and reliable man. 



Our Department of Agriculture selected blue- 

 berry hybrids, some of which bear berriea three- 



