300 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



then. To-day, in spite of the fact that ex- 

 tracted honey is almost entirely produced, 

 and that the propolis difficulty is especially 

 trying, they have adopted the self-spacing 

 Hoffman. I submit it as my honest opinion 

 that the standard hive fitted with Hoffman 

 frames is by far the most practical device 

 for honey-production on the market. 

 Denison University, O. 



TROPICAL NOTES. 



Some More Good Honey-plants. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Bee-keepers who are compelled to use su- 

 gar as a bee-food, and who are distressed 

 by the present high price of that article, can 

 rest easy. Every available piece of land in 

 the West Indies is being planted in sugar- 

 cane, which means that, in a very short pe- 

 riod, sugar will be cheaper than ever before. 



One result of the present excitement in 

 sugar circles is that the royal palms and 

 other fine bee-plants are being ruthlessly 

 cut down to make way for King Sugar Cane. 

 It is a pity to see the magnificent "princes 

 of the vegetable kingdom" cut dowTi to 

 make way for one or two crops of sugar- 

 cane. The charm and beauty of the Porto- 

 rican landscape lie largely in its splendid 

 royal palms (Oreodoxa regia), and to see 

 them cut down is a mortification. 



Sulla clover, or Spanish sainfoin, as it is 

 termed by Italian seedsmen, might prove of 

 value to Cuba, and Porto Rico more particu- 

 larly, where there is a pronounced dry sea- 

 son. In any case I am safe in saying both 

 the northern and southern sainfoins offer a 

 splendid opportunity to bee-keepers all over 

 the United States. Sainfoin makes a better 

 hay than alfalfa, containing less woody mat- 

 ter. 



Porto Rico is all right as a bee country, 

 but the apiary must be located in the right 

 spot; and to find the right spot is not an 

 easy matter for a "greenhorn." American 

 conditions of life are entir^y different from 

 Cuba, Jamaica, or Hayti. Porto Rico has 

 been a well- cultivated, populous country for 

 more than 200 years. The population is 

 largely white, which is a very striking fact 

 for a tropical country. 



Gleanings contains a number of adver- 

 tisements, all good in their way, but one is 

 lacking. There should be one of the neces- 

 sary apparatus for making wax candles, 

 same as used in Catholic countries. The 

 making of wax candles and tapers offers a 

 lucrative business to bee-keepers in many 

 countries. In Brazil, wax from the wax- 

 palm offers a cheap substitute, but it is not 

 the real thing. 



A good many of your readers in tropical 

 countries do not seem to realize the trans- 

 cendent merits of the wax-press. Perhaps 

 this is due its name. Few seem to realize 

 its value as a honey-press. If queen-ex- 



cluders are used it becomes simply fun to 

 take off a crop of honey and squeeze it in a 

 wax-press. If care is used, there will be no 

 need to get up steam, though it is better to 

 use steam to improve the appeai-ance some- 

 what, and otherwise make it more available 

 for export. Exporting beeswax is a great 

 business for tropical countries, actually com- 

 paring with the exportation of gold. Silver 

 fluctuates more than beeswax. 



The tropics and the arid or semi-arid coun- 

 tries will dominate the honey and wax mar- 

 kets of the world in the days that are to 

 come. Which is best is largely a matter of 

 taste and temperament. Both have their 

 advantages and failings. 



That exquisite tree of the hot-houses, the 

 Grevillea robusta, is an excellent bee-plant, 

 ranking with the best. It grows into an im- 

 mense tree 150 feet high, so that the ladies 

 who cultivate it in pots would hardly recog- 

 nize it. This tree belongs to the family 

 Probeacese, which seem to me to be always 

 nectar - producers wherever they may be 

 found. 



Another very nice nectar - producer is 

 Grewia columnaris, a native of the Eastern 

 tropics. I should like to see it more com- 

 mon in the West than it is. No wonder it 

 produces nectar in abundance, as it belongs 

 to the Tilia family, linking the tropics with 

 the linden of Europe and the bass wood of 

 America. 



The great nectar-bearer of the Hawaiian 

 Islands is the algarroba; but what is meant 

 by this name? Is it our old friend, the sa- 

 man, or rain tree (Pithe colobium saman) ? 

 Who can give us the true name? 



After the Agricultural Department has 

 imported its honey-plant seeds from Europe, 

 let it follow up with an importation from 

 Australia and Oceania, where there are 

 many fine nectar-bearing plants. There is 

 also a great plenty of such plants in South 

 Africa, particularly bulbous and arid-resist- 

 ing plants. By the way, that exquisite bulb, 

 the freesia {Refracta alba), is a very fine 

 honey-plant, and so is the buttercup oxalis. 



Semi-arid countries are great on honey- 

 plants, and Australia, South Africa, Tunis, 

 Chili, Egypt, California, and Mexico have 

 been very imperfectly called on to contrib- 

 ute their mite toward helping bee-keepers 

 in the United States. Baron Mueller's book 

 on extra - select tropical plants mentions 

 quite a number of little-known bee-plants. 



TAKING GLEANINGS FOR THE BOYS. 



My boys have learned so much from your 

 valuable journal in the way of bee knowl- 

 edge that they can not get along without it. 

 They have increased from 6 colonies to 21, 

 and have taken as much as 110 pounds of 

 honey from one colony, fine comb honey, 

 and they are expecting great things the 

 coming season. We all enjoy the Home pa- 

 pers, and read them as soon as we get the 

 paper. J. F. Weber. 



luka. 111., Feb. 6. 



