310 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



feather eud of a goose quill, that is a 

 little dislied or spoon shaped, properly 

 trimmed, quite useful on many occa- 

 sions to touch up and (inisli any little 

 imperfection that may liave occurred 

 in inserting the fouudation,or in clos- 

 ing openings between the glass and 

 box where the former happens to be 

 too small to make a good fit. 



While upon this subject 1 will give 

 a description of my wax cup that may 

 be of advantage to beginners— the old 

 ones know all about it. It is a tin 

 cup 5 inches in diameter, 2t^ inches 

 deep, witli a small lip soldered on one 

 side, for the convenience of pouring 

 the cement wlien wishing to clean out 

 the cup. A strip of tin 1^ inches 

 wide crosses the cup and is riveted at 

 either end to the sides of the cup, so 

 as to stand ^j' of an inch above the 

 top of the cup. with a circular piece 

 cut out of the upper edge to corre- 

 spond in a measure with the convex- 

 ity of tlie bottom of tlie spoon, to 

 readily clean off the drop of cement 

 from tlie bottom of it as it is drawn 

 througli this depression, and con- 

 veyed back into the cup. 



Atlanta, 111., May 3, 1881!. 



Texa-i Agricultural -loiirnat. 



Bee Forage of Southern Texas. 



TIIOS. D. UEONAUD. 



Honey is strictly a production of 

 the vegetable kingdom, and in most 

 cases is confined to flowers. All 

 flowers do not jiroduce honey. Some 

 produce pollen (bee bread) only, while 

 otliers produce botli pollen and lioney. 

 Honey is secreted by minute glands, 

 contained in small cups called nectar- 

 ies at the base of the stamens, and 

 also exudes from the leaves and 

 stems of many plants. It conse- 

 quently partakes more or less of the 

 flavor of the flower tliat produces it. 

 The God who created both bees and 

 flowers made botli in liarmony witli 

 cacii otlier. 



The sweet nectar is supplied by the 

 flowers in a crude state, and conse- 

 <iuently needs to be analyzed and re- 

 fined. " Tlie bee is guided by its God- 

 given instinct to select what she 

 chooses and reject any and all im- 

 purities not consistent with her choice. 

 Physically .she is prepared for this 

 work, and also possesses an extraordi- 

 nary instinct, to guide lier where and 

 when and how to find honey or pollen 

 when it exists even in the smallest 

 quantities, and at its earliest appear- 

 ance. 



We have about fifteen varieties of 

 trees that may be classed good and 

 best honey producers, to wit : The 

 peach is earliest to bloom ; there are 

 several varieties of haw which begin 

 to bloom early in March and continue 

 to April — it is valuable for brood- 

 raising ; red-bud is early and very 

 good ; hackberry, holly and prickly 

 ash are good; wild peach may be 

 classed first-best and blooms in April, 

 and sweet bay may be classed with 

 it but blooms later ; youpon and 

 huckleberry are very good and begin 

 last of April and continue i! or 4 

 weeks; dew berry is valuable and 



blooms early; grape and ratan are 

 the best vines, yet all the vines we 

 have are good — nothing we liave ex- 

 cels ratan and linden. The spring 

 harvestcloses with the linden. When 

 it blooms, from the 15th of May to the 

 20th of June, we have our best flow 

 of honey, so have your colonies in 

 good condition for harvesting. The 

 wild mulberry comes in bloom in 

 June and lasts several weeks. The 

 horsemint comes in bloom in May and 

 continues four or live weeks. Golden- 

 rod and boneset bloom in September 

 and October — both are very good for 

 winter honey. Corn and cotton afford 

 some honey ; melons afford honey ; 

 the white-dowered thistle is very good 

 and lasts several weeks. There are 

 several other trees and plants that 

 produce honey. If you have bees, 

 and will give attention, you will soon 

 learn all they work on in your local- 

 ity. 



All the above named trees, vines 

 and plants do not exist in any one 

 locality ; consequently, as they bloom 

 at diiferent periods", and- none last 

 more than 2 or 4 weeks, there may be 

 gaps of 10 or 20 days in many localities, 

 which would be detrimental to the 

 bees. A 4 or 6 weeks drought at any 

 time would seriously affect the honey 

 crop. Too much rain is also disas- 

 trous. Any locality can be improved 

 by selecting and planting such plants 

 as will fill up the gaps that may exist. 

 Such should be selected as might be 

 planted on waste lands, old fields, 

 road sides, banks of streams, hedge- 

 rows, etc. I do not think it will pay 

 to plant anything that requires culti- 

 vation for honey alone. All the 

 hedges that I have seen afford honey- 

 producing flowers. Wild peach will 

 pay planted for groves or shade. So 

 will linden. 



We have honey-dew some years in 

 some localities, it is the product of 

 an insect. It is not fine flavored but- 

 auswers for brood-raising and winter 

 honey. 1 have seen the insect in 

 millions, and the honey drijipiug from 

 the leaves of the trees. 



Howth Station, Texas. 



Home Science Onssip. 



Shading' for Bee Hives. 



K. L. WlilGHT. 



While all agree as to the iiropriety 

 of shading hives from the hot sun of 

 midsummer, all do not agree as to the 

 method of shading. Without doubt 

 the bestshade for hives never has been 

 thought of. Each liashis pet method, 

 such as grape vines, raspberries, hops, 

 tomatoes trained on a trellis, ever- 

 green trees closely sheared on one 

 side, etc. By far the greater part 

 prefer the first mentioned, viz : grape 

 vines. This being our preference we 

 will try to give you a short chapter on 

 planting and caring for vines, and in 

 our next will return to our subject. 



A vine should be planted on the 

 south side of every stand. Select 

 some good salable variety, and one 

 known to do well in your locality. 

 ForSouthl would recommend Martha, 

 Ives, Concord and some of the best 



^stivatis class such as Herbemont, 

 etc. For the West only such hardy 

 sorts as Janesville, Clinton and Tay- 

 lor of the Bipiniri class, and the 

 hardiest of the Labniscas. For the 

 States east of Lake Michigan all of the 

 best varieties of Lab and the hardiest 

 hybrids will be found more satisfac- 

 tory than the extra hardy varieties re- 

 quired for the West and Northwest. 



Select good, strong one-year old 

 vines, which can be had at a very low 

 price, — cut back the tops to two or 

 three buds, and the roots one-third. 

 Dig a hole large enough to take in all 

 the roots without having any two 

 cross each other, and 18 inches or 

 two feet deep. Fill up the hole to 

 within 6 or 8 inches of the top with 

 surface soil in which has been mixed 

 some bones, wood ashes, charcoal, 

 etc. ; ou this plant the vine, spread- 

 ing out all the roots, and then fill up 

 with fine surface soil packing closely 

 and firmly. 



As soon as the shoots have grown 

 a few inches rub off all but the strong- 

 est one. A good stake should be 

 driven firmly by the side of tlie vine 

 and the vine should from time to time 

 be tied to this, which will be all the 

 support needed tor the first two years. 

 As soon as the young shoot has reached 

 the top of the stake (which should be 

 4 feet high), the end should be 

 pinched off which will cause it to 

 throw out laterals, thus making all 

 the more shade. At the end of the 

 first season if the vine has made a good 

 growth, you should cut it back to 

 within 2 feet of the ground, and the 

 next season allow but two of the 

 strongest shoots to grow. These 

 should be trained to the stake as be- 

 fore, only allow them to grow beyond 

 its top and hang partially over the 

 hive. .At the end of the second sea- 

 son cut back to about the top of the 

 stake. After tiiis you will need a 

 trellis of some kind. The one we give 

 preference is known as the Cayrood 

 overhead vine trellis. It isconstructed 

 as follows : Set a good, sound oak or 

 cedar post by the side of every vine, 

 letting it extend out of the ground 63^ 

 feet. On the top of this spike 2x2 

 scantling 3 feet long, making a cross. 

 On the top of this stretch 4 wires 

 (Ko. 14) from one end to the other of 

 the row of vines fastening them se- 

 curely 12 inches apart on the scant- 

 ling, thus making an arbor that, when 

 covered with vines, will give good 

 shade in the middle of the day, when 

 most needed. The vines are also over 

 head entirely out of the way, as the 

 vines are simply taken up the post and 

 allowed to extend along the wires, and 

 if any grow off and hang down, simply 

 throw them up overtlie Wires. A very 

 fair shade can be made with raspber- 

 ries by simply allowing but 3 or 4 

 canes to grow, and. as soon as they 

 reach the height of 4 feet, pinch off 

 the ends which will cause them to 

 throw out branches (U- laterals. These 

 also should be pinched as soon as they 

 grow a foot or so. If treated in this 

 way they make a stocky growth and 

 yield large quantities of extra flue 

 fruit. 



There are manv other things used 

 for shade with good results, but let me 



