186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



From Different Fields. 



fHAVE often thought of writing to you about 

 the box-elder, it being', in my mind, a first-class 

 — ' bee-tree; but I had never seen any thing upon 

 the subject from others. Now 1 see that R. H. Mel- 

 lon, in March Gleanings, brings up the subject, 

 and his views coincide with mine exactly. The tree 

 is perfectly hardy, and its greatest virtue as a bee- 

 tree is, I think, in blossoming so much earlier than 

 anything else; and, as friend Mellen says, one can 

 cut a slit in the tree and have a flow of sap that will 

 keep the bees humming. I think it would not be 

 advisable to cut the trees much until thoy are of 

 good size. They are, however, a rapid-growing tree 

 and soon attain a good size. I have a little over 3i 

 of an acre, set 4 ft. apart, the trees seven years old 

 from seed, and from 15 to 25 ft. iu height, and, of 

 course, being so closely planted, are rather slender. 

 In spring they are one mass of blossoms, and the 

 vboes go wild over them. I have sold a good many of 

 them, and given awaj' a good many more. I live in 

 a legion of box-elders, lean get seed by gathering 

 it. I have a great many seedlings, and I have this 

 spring about 1500 or 2000 more that I want to set out, 

 and I Avill send, to any one who wishes to try a few, 

 10 nice little trees for enough postage-stamps to 

 cover expense of wrapping and postage,— say about 

 four 3-cent stamps; or, if you think I can do it for 

 less, say so, and I will try it. You have sent bass- 

 wood trees by mail, and know how much it costs to 

 dig, pack, and mail them. I should not like to agree 

 to send them for much less than the sum men- 

 tioned, as I am a busy man, and I am afraid I could 

 not afford the time. 



Perhaps, friend Root, you will think my object in 

 writing this is to get a free advertisement, but it is 

 not. I have advertised catalpa seedlings iu Feb. 

 and March Nos., and have had loss than half a doz- 

 en orders (unless I count the postal cards I have re- 

 ceived telling me to forward trees or seeds as the 

 case may be and they would remit at some future 

 time). J can hardly do business in that way, my 

 friends. So I thought I would not advertise box- 

 elders, but as nearly as possible give them away. 



H. M. Morris. 



Rantoul, Champ. Co., 111., March 7, 1881. 



We can hardly call it free advertising, 

 friend M., when one charges only enough to 

 pay postage and trouble of taking up the 

 plants. I do not think any of the brethren 

 will accuse you of selfish motives in making 

 such an offer. 



THE TYPE WRITERS; DO THEY PAY? 



Do you still use your type-writer for general writ- 

 ing, and do you consider it valuable? Do you know 

 aught of Yost's "Calagraph," claimed to be superior 

 to the type-writer? What we wish to know is, 

 whether these machines are pratical in actual use. 

 H. A. B0RCH & Co. 



South Haven, Mich., Mar. 2, 18S1. 



I use my tyi)e-writer constantly, and, for 

 aught I see. Gleanings would well nigh be 

 a failure if I were to be deprived of it. It 

 enables me to write very much faster than I 

 ever did with a pen or pencil, and the mus- 

 cular exercise needed to work it is quite a 



relief over the comparatively still and steady 

 task of grasping a pen. On account of the 

 extra rapidity, it is a great help to an author, 

 where ideas come faster than they could or- 

 dinarily be jotted down in the usual way. 

 This much in its favor. Now, on the other 

 hand, a type-writer is hardly ])ractical for 

 postal cards, because the labor of fixing it in 

 the machine, and taking it out, is more than 

 when we simply use a pen or pencil. Much 

 the same is true with a letter, unless one has 

 to write quite a long letter. Unless one is 

 an editor, author, minister, or something of 

 the like, I hardly think a type-writer would 

 pay; and where one has the free use of his 

 right hand, and writes easily and rapidly, I 

 am not sure but the type-writer might be 

 laid aside for the more simple implements, 

 even after it has been i)urchased. I work 

 mine entirely with my left hand. I know 

 nothing of the machine you mention. 



now TO START SEEDS QUICKLY. 



One of our girls who always makes seeds 

 grow when nobody else can, wrote the fol- 

 lowing to one of "our customers, and I have 

 appropriated it for the benefit of you all, as 

 you will see : — 



We have just sprouted Simpson seed in 4 days, 

 this way: Take a common earthen flower-pot, with 

 a hole in the bottom. Fill with fine leaf-mold and 

 sand; pour hot water on, and jam it down well into 

 the pot. Sprinkle the seeds on thinly, and roll them 

 in; then put a tumbler over it, to fit tight, and set 

 it in a saucer of warm water, always keeping the 

 saucer full. Then set the whole in a warm place, 

 such as the top of the reservoir of the cooking-stove, 

 or on the shelf of the pipe. As soon as they begin 

 to sprout, give plenty of light, near the window. 



CHAFF CUSHIONS; WILL THEY PAY AS FAR SOUTH 

 AS GEORGIA? 



I read reports in Gleanings and A. B. J. every 

 week from bee-raisers all over the country, but sel- 

 dom from my section. A cording to statements giv- 

 en by some apiarians, of the heavy losses from severe 

 winter, it seems enough to discourage the experienc- 

 ed, let alone the A B C class. Were they all put in 

 Blasted Hopes, that department would swell to a 

 journal of considerable size. In our section. Provi- 

 dence has blessed us with milder winters, and winter- 

 ing is not so dilHcult as in your section. In October 

 last I transferred four colonies, and took all the 

 honey from them, the comb being too crooked to put 

 in my hives. 1 fed them on A sugar; they gathered 

 a little honey until frost, possibly 2 or 3 lbs. Satur- 

 day, the 2(5th, I went into the hives to find the queen 

 laying. Brood in all stages was found. The swarms 

 were in as flue condition as I could wish them to be. 

 I took the precaution, just after the long cold spell 

 (unusual in our climate), to examine and clean out 

 every hive, air them a few minutes, and feed each 

 one pound of sugar, made into candy; the latter, I 

 suppose, " pushed " the queen to a sense of her duty. 



CHAFF CUSHIONS. 



As bees had always been wintered here in boxes 

 without protection, it was thought that chaff cush- 

 ions was a hobby of mine. Two hives had cushions 

 on each side, a blanket and cushion on top; one had 

 blanket on top; one with no protection. Result: 

 The first two came through all right, without any 

 perceptible havoc ha\'ing been made on their winter 

 stores; the one half protected had destroyed about 



