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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



lotus eaters, at least the botanists have so 

 thought, hence its name. 



The St. John's bread, locust, or carob bean, 

 is "the really and truly" locust of all the 

 ages; all others are frauds. It is supposed 

 by many to be the original locust of St, 

 John the Baptist, and I incline to that opin- 

 ion. I believe it is the "husk " of the prod- 

 igal son, for the reason it was very common 

 m the East in those days, and is still, and 

 is a famous food for swine, though it is pret- 

 ty good for humans as well, provided one gets 

 the insides as well as the "husks." The 

 translators of the Bible evidently thought 

 so or they would not have said ' ' locust, ' ' 

 and all down through the ages this has been 

 the popular opinion. That this is the real 

 locust of the Bible is borne out by the fact 

 that it is a good honey-yielder in a hot arid 

 country, and it is said the Baptist was a 

 honey-eater. The modern critics have pro- 

 nounced against this idea lately, but I imag- 

 ine these men are better acquainted with 

 linguistics than they are with natural histo- 

 ry. For the Southwest of the United 

 States it will prove in time to be a valuable 

 food for stock grown with a minimum of 

 labor, and very nitrogenous. Any way, it 

 maybe earmarked as a bee-keeper's friend. 



Boxwood is another friend of the bees, 

 besides being the finest and best-grained of 

 all woods. It is a slow grower; but as one 

 tree is worth a small fortune it is worthy of 

 serious attention on the part of tree-grow- 

 ers. It is true the honey is bitter to the 

 taste, but likely this bitterness disappears 

 if the honey is stored awhile. 



Among all the hedge plants I have ever 

 seen I think the tropical lilac (Duranta 

 plumiere) takes the first place. The bees 

 go crazy over it, and it blooms quite awhile. 

 After the bloom is gone it holds its berries 

 till it is almost time for it to bloom again, 

 so that it always looks well. Florida and 

 California nurserymen sell it, so we may 

 conclude it grows further north than the 

 tropics. There is another handsome "li- 

 lac" (Petrsea volubalis), which is a great 

 tree for bees, but I doubt if it grows out- 

 side the tropics. 



The Vitex agnus castus is another "li- 

 lac" which is better suited to the Southern 

 States. It is a very popular garden tree in 

 Europe. It is a bee-plant of considerable 

 merit. 



Ivy is not generally set down as a honey- 

 yielder, but it is a real good one, and it 

 blooms at a good time. 



Corn is not generally set down as a yield- 

 er of the nectar sublime; but in tropical 

 countries it is a very valuable honey-plant, 

 showing the importance of locality, showing 

 also that corn is a native of the tropics. 



The century plant, despite its reputation, 

 is one of the world's best honey-plants. It 

 is a grand sight to a bee-keeper to see the 

 eager way the bees work on the flower, per- 

 haps 2no or 300 bees on one flower at a time. 

 Contrary to its name, it blooms about as 

 often as other plants. I should like to live 

 in a locality which had plenty of it. As the 



century plant grows on land that has usual- 

 ly no value for agricultural purposes this 

 opens up a vista of possibilities. There is 

 a great deal of land in the United States 

 suitable for this plant, which could be 

 bought for nothing per acre. There are 

 also cacti which may likewise be utilized. 



The arid-land bee-keeper has many plants 

 to his liking, for there are quite a number 

 of valuable bee-plants in Mexico, South Af- 

 rica, and Australia which I do not know 

 enough about to mention. For example, 

 the eucalypti are all honey-yielders, more 

 or less; but as there are over 200 of them I 

 may be excused from saying anything about 

 them. Possibly one of your Australian read- 

 ers who has a practical experience of them 

 can. Australian acacias are also interesting 

 to a bee-master. 



A GLIMPSE INTO THE BEE- YARD OF EU- 

 GENE SECOR. 



BY EUGENE SECOR. 



The photo which I sent you was taken re- 

 cently to preserve the beauty of a mock or- 

 ange (Philadelphus grandiflorus) in full 

 bloom. This particular clump has been pay- 

 ing back in annual installments large divi- 

 dends upon its original cost and sUght care. 

 A photograph without color can not do it 

 justice. It is one of the finest sights I ever 

 saw. The blossoms are very large, but not 

 quite so fragrant as the old-fashioned syrin- 

 ga that used to fill the air with fragrance in 

 the yard of the old homestead in York State, 

 where I was born and raised. But we had 

 nothing so fine as this. Such wonderful im- 

 provements have been made in floriculture 

 m the last fifty years that one can imagine 

 he lives in fairyland. 



On the left of the mock orange stand two 

 or three caraganas (pea- tree). They are 

 beautiful shrubs, blooming about the first of 

 June, and are now full of pods filled with 

 real peas— not edible, however, so far as I 

 know. The foliage resembles that of a lo- 

 cust. They are hardy, and would make a 

 good hedge-plant, growing only about ten 

 feet high, and not sprouting from the roots. 



Back of the mock orange stands a clump 

 of dwarf Juneberry now in ripening fruit— 

 a desirable shrub for ornament, blossoming 

 early and furnishing a good deal of bird- 

 food. The fruit, although resembling the 

 blueberry in size, shape, and flavor, is not 

 very appetizing, being too dry and hard. 



This is only one very small corner of my 

 grounds, and incidentally shows a few colo- 

 nies of bees. 



Forest City, la., July 3. 



[Our older readers will remember Mr. Se- 

 cor as the poet-laureate of beedom, and the 

 eflRcient General Manager of the National 

 Bee-keepers' Association for many years. 

 Business and other matters claimed his at- 

 tention, and he finally refused to run again, 

 although pressed to do so by his friends. —■■ 

 Ed.] 



