1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



121 



FRIEKD MILES' "\* ONDERFUI. » SUC- 

 CESS AVITH BEES. 



A STORY WITH A MORAL, FOB THIS SEASON. 



HAVE never given you a report of my wonder- 

 ful success in bee culture. I have kept bees 

 three years, beginning with two swarms. ] 

 knew nothing about bees except that they would 

 sting me every lime they saw me, run as I might. 

 But though I lived in constant fear of honey-bees, I 

 did so love honey that I was persuaded to give a 

 good cow for the two swarms, in early fruit-bloom. 

 They were very small and weak, and had not a bit 

 of honey. I knew this; but as plum-blossoms were 

 coming out I supposed they were just going to scoop 

 in the honey. So, with this sweet, comforting 

 thought I went about my farm duties. There came 

 on a long cold rainy time, with hardly a sunny day; 

 it hindered my pljwing a great deal. I kept that in 

 mind, but I never thought of its keeping the bees 

 from their work, who needed every hour much more 

 than I, for they were living from hand to mouth. 

 One day I felt a great longing for a taste of honey, 

 so I took a plate and knife, bee-veil, and cotton rags, 

 and went out to rob my pets. The first thing I saw 

 of my bees were a great many dead ones about the 

 entrance and on Ihe bottom-board; my first ex- 

 clamation was, "My bees are dead!" I lifted out 

 the middle frame; a few bees were clustered on it, 

 with just barely perceptible life, and not a particle 

 of honey. The terrible truth at once flashed upon 

 me, "My poor darlings are starvingi Of course, 

 bees can't gather honey in such cold wet weather! 

 What a mean old fool I have been, that I did not 

 think of this!" I ran to the house and got some 

 sugar and hot water in a cup, and stirred it as I ran 

 back; then I immediately began to sprinkle the bees 

 and combs of both hives, as they were both in about 

 the same state of dissolution. In a few minutes 

 they were all buzzing with joy all over the hives. 1 

 should have been thrashed for neglecting those bees 

 in that waj% but there was nobody able to do it 

 except myself, and I hadn't time. But I fed them 

 from that time until warm weather, and in the 

 course of the summer and fall they stored up honey 

 enough to winter them. I left them out on summer 

 stands, and they came through all right. I borrowed 

 a bee-book of a neighbor— the first book I had ever 

 seen on the subject. It was a Mitchell book. I was 

 greatly interested, and learned how to manage my 

 bees, raise queens, and divide. Of course, I thought 

 Mitchell was the boss bee-man, and his hive the best 

 hive; so I made several M. hives and divided my 

 bees, making, in the course of the honey season, 

 four new swarms, six in all. I wintered them in the 

 cellar and fed them some. They came through to 

 spring weather nicely; but after I set them out 

 they dwindled and robbed each other badly; but I 

 watched them and fed them, and finally got some 

 honey to eat. Last spring I set out nine good 

 swarms, but they dwindled down to five — not for 

 want of honey or sugar syrup; I think it was rob- 

 bing that used them up. I have now nine (five are 

 Italians), once more buried in the snow, well packed 

 in chafC hives, surrounded and covered over with 

 hay, and over all is the snow, a foot or more. I 

 don't know anything about how they are getting on ; 

 I have not seen nor beard any thing of them since 

 November. 



I have never sold a pound of honey. We can eat 

 more than any apiary of bees can gather. I have 50 

 or 63 lbs. in the cellar, that I intend to feed back in 

 the spring, or trade it for sugar to feed. 



Pawnee City, Neb., Feb. 14, 1881. C. R. Miles. 



THE HONEY-DE\t'S OF OREGON. 



NOT ONLY IIONEY-DEW, BUT CANDIED 



HONEY HANGING FROM THE 



TREES LIKE DEW. 



SHOPE the following can be fully substan- 

 tiated. I give you all the facts in my 

 ^^ possession, and" hope our readers from 

 Oregon Avill do all they can to help us to get 

 at the full truth of the matter. If there is 

 really a locality where honey -dews come 

 every season, for several months in the year, 

 it were certainly wjell to have some of our 

 bee men wake up and have this new El Do- 

 rado worked up and developed. I visited the 

 Centennial, but must have missed the speci- 

 mens alluded to. Does an>- one else remem- 

 ber of liaving seen them V Can anybody send 

 me any of tliese specimens V Well, just read 

 for yourself. 



I clip this from the Willamette Farmer, published 

 at Portland, Oregon, under date of Jan. 21, 1881. If 

 there is any thing in the article which you can use 

 in anyway, do so; if not, throw it into the waste- 

 basket. Eugene Secob. 



Forest City, la., Feb., 1881. 



During the summer and fall of 1S75, while engafced in collect- 

 injf, classifjinp. and arranging material for Oregon's Centenni- 

 al exhibit at Philadelphia, in 1876. my personal investigation 

 and letters of inquiry often brought me information of i>roduc- 

 tions and the peculiarities of certain localities, that I imder no " 

 other circumstances would have obtained. 



By special request from the Botanical Department, to have 

 theconifiers of Oregon cla.ssified, and specimens on exhibition 

 at the World's Fair in 1876. I visited several of the coa.steo>in- 

 ties. as well as quite a number of localities along the snow-lino 

 of the Cascades, and among others a wild countr)- east and 

 south of what is known as the ' • Palmateer Settlement, ' ' and ly- 

 ing between the North Fork and the main Clackamas River. 

 Here, I had been informed, I could find the • ' Abi Xoblis. ' ' or 

 "l.irch;" also the "Rhododendron" and the " Ceanothis 

 Oderatis," or "Mountain Balm." 



The most cordial hospitalitv was tendered me by all the front- 

 ier settlers I met, and abuhd.ant Information and assistance 

 freely given me to assist ill increating the importance of Ore- 

 gon's exhibit. 



Among other rarities on the table wherever I dined, I noticed 

 an abundant supply of honey, in beautiful white combs, and I't 

 the most delicate flavor; and on inquiry was told that tins belt 

 of countn-, for several miles in width, and extending along the 

 little valleys and foot-hills far into the Cascade Mountains, was 

 subject at night to a fall of honey-dew during the months of 

 June. July, and August, and not unfrequently the deposit is so 

 abundant" that in the morning it resembles hoar frost, and 

 drops from the leaves and boughs of trees when the sun rises. 

 The statements of all with whom I conversed on this subject 

 were so direct that they should not have left the shadow of 

 doubt in my mind of the fact: but on mr return, in expressing a 

 little incredulitv at the house of Mr. Mills, on the amount that 

 fell in that viciiiltv, "Oh yes!" said Mrs. Mills, " such is really 

 the case; and I have some very fine sjtecimens given me by my 

 brother, who spends a great deal of his time hunting and pros- 

 pecting in that part of the counti-j-. " - , 



■With this she brought from her parlor several boughs of cedar 

 covered with a thick coating of ciTstallized honey-dew, strongly 

 resembling boughs that had been dipped in melted white sugar 

 and then hung up and allowed to cool. Mrs. Mills kindly funush - 

 ed me with a small package of these boughs carefully wrapped 

 up in fine paper, which I took to the Centennial, where they 

 were examined and conuuented upon by the thousands who daily 

 thronged the Oregon Exhibit. 



I have since ascertained that this honey-belt extends to the 

 east side of the Cascades, but not so abundant as in this section 

 of country I have already described. I also learn that it is no 

 uncommon thing for bees in the I'almateer district to fill their 

 hives, and then commence building and storing their honey on 

 the outside, on any thing near the hive where they can hang 

 their comb. 



And now-, Mr. Editor, might not some young man who is wait- 

 ing for something to turn up, do well to post himself on bee- 

 keeping and try the business of practical bee -husbandry ; the ex- 

 pense would be small, and the experiment easily tried, and it 

 properly conducted would doubtless prove as remunerative as it 

 does in many ijarts of California. A. J. Dvflr. 



The editor of the Farmer adds:— 



We have a word to add to Mr. Dufur's interesting communi- 

 cation. We remember that he told us of those facts at the 

 time, and showed us the leaves, frosted with honey-dew. He 

 also told us of seeing, in the same locality, honeycomb filled 

 with hone.v, weighing 40 or aO lbs. that the bees had made be- 

 tween rails in a standing fence. This illustrates the prodigal 

 supply of honey in that region. Last suinmer we bought a box 

 of rich honey of a fanner who must live within tliis honeydew 

 region. He'assured us that it was much more delicious flavored 

 than California honey, with which our market is well supplied, 

 and we found his statement correct, for the honey was most ex- 

 cellent, and after it was gone the best of California comb honey 

 went begging on our table. 



Will friend Secor please accept thanks ? 



