1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



1303 



Al.THKA. Oil ROSE OF SHAUoN. 



ALTHEA AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



In one of our dooryards there is an orna- 

 mental shrub that has attracted so many 

 Ijees we had a picture of it taken. Althea. 

 or "rose of Sharon," is a very beautiful 

 shrub, even if it is quite common. You can 

 now get them at the nurseries in a great 

 variety of colors, double as well as single, 

 and some of the little trees are so handsome 

 I often stop my automobile to go inside a 

 dooryard to get a better view from all sides 

 of unusually tine specimens. The plant is 

 very hardy, grows on all soils, and, after be- 

 ing once started, it almost seems to take cax'e 

 of itself year after year. You can get plants 

 of all the different colors for five cents each 

 or less of mj^ good friend G. W. Park, La 

 Park. Pa.; and these small plants, with a 

 little care at the start, will grow two or 

 three feet high in a single season. Big 

 plants of this size usually cost 25 cents or 

 more. 



The shrub here shown was covered with 

 bees during the time it was in bloom, which 

 lasted for several weeks. 



THE BETSINGER AVIRE-CLOTH SEPA- 

 RATOR. 



The Device Tested in the Apiary of A^rnoii 

 Burt, near 3Iediua. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



It will be remembered that Mr. F. A. Sal- 

 isbury, of Syracuse. New York, after hav- 

 ing seen the beautiful fancy comb honey 

 produced l)y Mr. S. D. House, of Camillus, 

 N. Y., with the Betsinger wire-cloth sepa- 

 rator, wrote us that this was a device the 

 merits of which the Root Co. might well con- 

 sider. After he had tested it one season he 

 was even more enthusiastic, for every section 

 was fancy. A year or two ago when I vis- 

 ited him he showed me two lots of honey — 

 one produced with the ordinary Danzenba- 

 ker fence and the other with the Betsinger 

 wire-cloth separator, and asked if I could 

 see any difference in the filling of the two 

 lots. Most assuredly I could. One lot was 

 all fancy, and the other was fancy and No. 1. 

 "The fancy," said Mr. Salisbury, "was pro- 

 duced with the Betsinger separator." It 

 will 1)e remembered that Mr. House had 

 Ijeen carrying off' tirst prizes for comb honey 



