(pT (j OLDEST BEE PAPEI 

 IN AMERICA 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST 24, 1881. 



No. 34. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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What and How to Plant for Honey. 



A correspondent asks the following 

 questions : 



I want to plant extensively of honey- 

 making plants, but I need some infor- 

 mation. Could you not give informa- 

 tion through the columns of your 

 paper on the cultivation of the differ- 

 ent grasses, the latitude to which they 

 are adapted, soil required, etc.; it 

 would be valuable to many in these 

 regions ; state how they will do in or- 

 chards, woodland, pastures, or mead- 

 ows, on drained lands, etc. I want to 

 purchase seeds next fall, but I am 

 much in need of information, and 

 hope you will give it to me. P. M. 



Poplar Grove, Ark., Aug. 8, 1881. 



As bee-keeping has heretofore been 

 conducted in this country, the expan- 

 sion of civilization has every year cur- 

 tailed its reliability. As forests have 

 trembled and fallen, under the sturdy 

 blows of the woodman's axe, so have 

 the facilities for early and vigorous 

 spring breeding been lessened, and 

 the probability of a lighter yield of 

 linden honey been rendered more cer- 

 tain ; as the green, flower-bedecked 

 prairies and woodland openings have 

 been transformed into fields of golden 

 grain, so have been added to the cer- 

 tainty of a light honey crop ; every 

 marsh and waste-place reclaimed, has 

 wrenched its tribute from the sweet 

 store of the toiling bee ; scientific ag- 

 riculture has made bee-keeping, year 

 by year, a more precarious occupation, 

 and confirmed many apiarists in the 



opinion that bee-keeping " does not 

 pay." Nor would stock-raising be re- 

 munerative, if the cattle were de- 

 prived of their grazing land ; sheep- 

 rearing would be unprofitable, if they 

 were robbed of their pastures ; and 

 even market-gardening would cease 

 to give satisfactory returns, if the 

 specialist were to neglect stimulating 

 the soil from which to obtain his boun- 

 tiful returns. 



Of course, with the natural and ar- 

 tificial increase of bees, and the civil- 

 izing destruction of nature's sponta- 

 neous flora, bee-keeping has become 

 yearly more precarious, and we quite 

 frequently hear inquiries for good lo- 

 cations for apiaries, and complaints 

 of over-stocking. To be sure, white 

 clover accompanies cultivation, and 

 we can never weary in admiring its 

 beauty and excellence, but this season 

 has demonstrated, as have many oth- 

 ers, that we cannot depend upon one 

 source alone for satisfactory profits. 

 Never was it more abundant, over so 

 wide a range of territory, as it has 

 been this season, but a few days of 

 cold rains here, or bees too light to 

 gather it there, or continuous adverse 

 winds somewhere else, have changed 

 many bright dreams to sad realities. 

 With a general heavy bloom, but little 

 honey has been obtained from linden. 



We cannot understand how any one 

 can mistake his duty to provide pas- 

 turage, if profits are expected ; nor 

 how a humane, generous-hearted bee- 

 keeper, can increase his numbers of 

 bees without making some provision 

 against starving. No person can view 

 our streets lined with sweet clover, or 

 listen to the busy music of the many 

 bees amongst its sweet-scented foliage, 

 without being convinced that it will 

 not only pay to plant for honey, but that 

 every dollar expended for sweet clover 

 seed will be repaid by the bees with com- 

 pound interest. For several seasons 

 we have eagerly and selfishly observed 

 this 'plant, and are persuaded that as 

 a supplemental honey plant, every- 

 thing considered, it has no superior, if 

 an equal, in America. Now that honey 

 is a staple article of export, and prices 

 are rapidly becoming staple, this plant 

 will, more than any other, make it a 

 staple crop. Give it a liberal trial. 



But many are not convinced (and 

 do not wish to be) that honey alone 

 will amply repay for special planting. 

 To such we recommend any of the 

 clovers, especially white and alsike. 

 They are both excellent for grazing, 

 and the latter desirable for hay. Al- 

 falfa is also highly recommended. 



We are often asked to give the name 

 of some annual that we can recom- 

 mend as an excellent honey producer, 

 of sufficient hardiness to withstand 

 excessive rain and drouth, and which 

 will thrive in fence corners and out- 

 of-the-way places without special cul- 

 tivation. 



After several years of close, careful 

 observation, we are more than con- 

 firmed in the good opinion we formed 

 and expressed two years ago regarding 

 the good qualities of Reseda grandiflora 



Reseda Grandiflora. 



(mammoth mignonette), as an excel- 

 lent honey plant. It is a plant of vig- 

 orous, rapid growth ; having a strong, 

 deep-penetrating tap-root, it is very 

 tenacious in its hold upon the soil, and 

 will grow, and bloom, and yield a rich 

 return of beautiful nectar under the 

 most adverse circumstances ; with a 

 sharp, pungent taste, not unlike horse- 

 radish, the foliage is not a favorite re- 

 sort for spiders or insects. Before 

 white clover has fairly passed its max- 

 imum of excellence, the graceful and 

 modest blossoms of the mignonette 

 will have won the preference of the 

 discriminating bees. The flowers are 

 thickly studded on the points of curv- 

 ing racemes, and as the base matures 

 its many pods well filled with diminu- 

 tive black seeds, the point is daily 

 presenting a succession of fresh bloom, 

 which continues until winter has fairly 

 set in, thus providing each fair day a 

 nectar flow, despite the drenching 

 rains whicli may precede. 



It is not unusual to see racemes 3 ft. 

 or more in length. The roots, in taste, 

 are a counterpart of horse-radish. 

 The foliage is not at all similar to Re- 



seda odorata, and is said to be an excel- 

 lent table salad. We hope every bee- 

 keeper will give it a fair trial. Plant 

 early in the spring. 



Sweet clover is said to make an ex- 

 cellent dressing for the soil, some 

 asserting its superiority to red clover, 

 and when stock are educated to it as 

 a forage they eat it quite as readily, 

 and thrive upon it. 



If honey is the principal desideratum 

 in planting, then harrow in sweet clo- 

 ver this fall, and as you will derive but 

 little if any honey from it next season, 

 in early spring harrow in some mam- 

 moth mignonette on the same soil, 

 which will commence blooming in 

 June, and astonish you with the ex- 

 cellence of its honey. 



The latter, like sweet clover, will 

 thrive upon and yield a rich return 

 from any soil, wherever it can have a 

 half a chance. 



But do plant something — anything ; 

 if your bees cannot have the first and 

 long-continued harvest from sweet 

 clover, they will thank you for glean- 

 ings from the cattle and sheep pas- 

 tures, and without murmuring eke out 

 a bare existence on the proscribed 

 thistles and burdocks, until nature, 

 unmolested by man, bedecks herself 

 in her autumn robe of flowers. 



|g"It will be seen, by reference to 

 the Local Convention Directory, that 

 the time of meeting of the Eastern 

 N. Y. Bee-Keepers' Union, has been 

 changed from Nov. 29, to Sept. 27. 



Local Fairs. — Bee-keepers attend- 

 ing fairs this fall should have a few 

 bee-keepers' manuals, etc., with their 

 exhibits. When taken in % dozen 

 lots by express, for this purpose, we 

 will supply any or all kinds, or one or 

 two of each to make the half dozen, 

 at 30 per cent, discount. If wanted 

 by mail, add the postage. We do not 

 send any "on sale or return." We 

 will furnish copies of the Bee Jour- 

 nal free for distribution at fairs. 



l^"An error occurred on page 250 

 of the Bee Journal for Aug. 10. In 

 referring to Rocky Mountain bee plant 

 we inadvertently stated that it was a 

 biennial ; it should read " annual." 



®"Mr. G. M.Doolittle, in a private 

 note, remarks as follows : " My report 

 of this year's honey crop will be fa- 

 vorable, notwithstanding poor white 

 clover and basswood harvests, as well 

 as sickness in my family and being 

 over-worked myself." 



