588 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



GOLDEN WILLOW (SALIX VITELLINA). 



This and the white willow give U8 our first honey; 

 but, contrary to the above, produces no pollen. 

 "When this is in blossom, and the weather is warm, 

 the bees rush out of their hives at early dawn, and 

 work on it all day long as eag-erly as they do on bass- 

 wood. The flowers are similar to those which grow 

 on the birch, being of long tag-like shape, as large 

 aa a slate pencil, and from one to two inches in 

 length. These tags secreie honey so profusely that 

 it can many times be seen glistening in the morning 

 sun, and the trees resound with the busy hum of 

 bees from morning till night. From the few trees 

 along a small creek near here, our bees frequently 

 make a gain of 10 lbs. of honey. The honey is quite 

 similar to apple honey, and of a nice aromatic flavor. 

 The golden willow yields the most honey of any wil- 

 low with which I am acquainted. Oa page 599, Vol. 

 8 of Gleamsgs, F. S. Paddock asks, " Which kind of 

 will-)w8 are best as a bee plant, and how close should 

 they bo set for a fencer " The white willow is the 

 kind used for fencing, and this kind also yields hon- 

 ey largely, but not quite so much as the golden wil- 

 low. The cuttings are set 6 inches apart for a fence; 

 and where kept trimmed, I know of no fence which 

 presents a more beautiful appearance than does 

 this. This is the most rapid growing kind of all the 

 willow tribe, single shoots growmg from 3 to 6 feet 

 in a year. By trimming twice a j^ear it is kept in 

 good subjection. Thus in short I have given what 

 light I can as regards very early pollen and honey, 

 as well as willow for fencing. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Nov. 11, 1881. 



The above facts are certainly of much 

 value; aud although contrary to my im- 

 pressions in some respects, I presume friend 

 D. is right. The common fence willow is 

 in great profusion in our vicinity, but I have 

 never seen many bees on it. I have never 

 seen any willow that produces honey in such 

 quantities as to be seen by the eye, as friend 

 D. mentions, and I think that we can all of 

 us have at least a few cuttings of this gold- 

 en willow to test it, in our own localities. 

 Will friend D. jjlease state how low he can 

 furnish us such cuttings ; for by that means 

 we may be sure we have the kind that pro- 

 duces the honey in such quantities V The 

 willow-tree sent us last spring by fiiend 

 Gulp, of Ililliard, 0., drew a larger number 

 of bees than any other plant I think I ever 

 met ; but if friend D. is correct, this must 

 have been for pollen only, and not honey. It 

 strikes me just now, I should very much 

 like a skunk cabbage on our grounds. As 

 they giow in the woods near, I presume it 

 will not prove a very expensive luxury. 



io^f)-.— From friend Doolittle's forthcom- 

 ing price list, which is now issuing from our 

 press, we answer our own question relative 

 to price of willow cuttings:— 



VTLLOW CVTTIXGS. 



As onr bee friends frequently inquire about willows for bee?, 

 we have concluded to send outtingrs of the foUowin}? varieties at 

 20 cts. per dozen by mail, postpaid. Cuttinfc^ 8 inches long, aud 

 from J^; to % inches in diameter. Pussy willow, pi vcs us early 

 pollen for the bees, and is eagerly sought after by them. Gold- 

 en willow yields honey in aljundance: and if the weather is 

 good, it helps the bees wonderfully. Wliite willow also yields 

 honey, and is the kuid used for fencing. If kei)t trimmed it 

 makes a handsome fence The cuttings grow readily in moist 

 soil, and will thrive in nearly any soil, if cultivated for the lii'st 

 year or two. Pi-iee per dozen, by tqail, SO cts.; per 100, by ex- 

 press, 50 cts, ; per lOOU, 81,00. 



TfTINTEKING, AND PREPARING FOR 

 WINTER. 



BY OXF. WHO DOES WINTER HIS BEES. 



EN the many excellent plans for wintering, given 

 during the past few months, most of the writ- 

 ers, I believe, recommend that the bees be sup- 

 plied with good honey. Does not this indicate that 

 the quality of the honey is the most common cause 

 of success or failure, supposing, of course, that the 

 bees have plenty of it, and are in a normal condition 

 otherwise; that is, have a good queen, and a suf- 

 ficient force of healthy workers? I think it does, 

 and have no doubt that the neglected hives of care- 

 less bee-keepeers, that survived the rigors of last 

 winter, were those that had anopportunity of breed- 

 ing up well late in the season, and had an accessible 

 supply of good honey. 



HONEY-DEW, B.AD FOR WINTEniNG. 



I understand good honey to be that which is 

 gathered from flowers (not honey-dew\ and is well 

 ripened and sealed. My experience with honey-dew 

 has convinced me that it is entirely unUt for winter- 

 ing; from what I know of the bees that died in this 

 localitj", I am certain that black-waluut honey-dew 

 and starvation killed the most of them. 



I can not agree to what friend Heddon says on 

 page 543, Nov. Gleanings, that " it seems that those 

 who neglect their bees succeed in wintering as well 

 as any." In all my acquaintance with the bee-keep- 

 ers of this neighborhood, there is no greater old 

 granny than myself about "fixing" his bees for 

 winter, and none succeed in getting them through 

 the winter better than myself; this is no doubt due 

 to the fact, that the bees are supplied with an 

 abundance of the best honey or syrup, within easy 

 reach of the cluster.. 



1 have not lost, during the past eight winters, one 

 single colony, excepting in 18T8-'79; then, owing to 

 sickness in my family, I did not have time to take 

 all the honey-dew out of some of my hives, and they 

 were wintered partly on it and partly on syrup. 

 These colonies were so seriously affected with dys- 

 entery as to make it necessary in the spring to re- 

 duce their number about one-half, by uniting; but 

 no one died out entirely, and I sold all the surplus 

 queens. 



Our bees are snugly tucked away for winter, and 

 have been so for over six weeks. There is no such 

 thing at our house as the gambling excitement men- 

 tioned by friend Heddon, for I know to a certainty 

 that next April they will be bright and healthy, 

 ready for business; and to-night, as the wintry 

 storm rattles against our windows, I think of them 

 with as ufuch satisfdction as I do of our faithful 

 horse and Jersej' cow in their comfortable quarters. 



All but two colonies are in chaff hives. They are 

 confined by close division-boards to from five to 

 eight combs, and these are well filled with clover and 

 linden honey and sugar syrup. All have winter pas- 

 sages. The entrances are contracted to Jixli-J in. 

 Pieces of old carpet or burlap cover the frames, 

 while warm soft chaff cushions pressed down over 

 all, confine the heat and absorb what moisture may 

 escape from the bees. 



There I I had almost forgotten this upward-venti- 

 lation bus 1 less. Ever since I read, years ago, what 

 our kind friend Mr. Langstroth tells us about it In 

 his excellent book, my bees have had something of 

 the kind. That which is supplied by the cb.iff cush- 

 ions seems now to give the best results, 



