THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



171 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Simpson Honey Plant— Figwort. 



T. ELLICOTT. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A great deal of bloom can be ob- 

 tained from it the first year, by start- 

 ing tlie plants early in the spring, in 

 a greenhouse or hot-bed. A great 

 many plants can be grown in a small 

 space. I had some started in a green- 

 house, last spring, and found that a 

 thousand plants could be grown in a 

 box 20 inches square, until large 

 enough to transplant. It grows rap- 

 idly, some of mv plants were over 6 

 feet high, the tirst season, and had a 

 great many branches, from 2 to 3 feet 

 long. I counted over 2,000 seed balls 

 on a plant. 



I set the plants, 2 feet apart each 

 way, and think they require that 

 much room, to do well. I sowed some 

 seed in the fall and some early in the 

 spring, in the garden, but none of the 

 plants grew more than 2 feet high, and 

 only had a few blossoms on them. 



I believe, from the length of time 

 bees remain on each blossom, and 

 their eagerness to work on them, that 

 it is a splendid honey plant. The 



Developing a Home Market. 



A. J. HATFIELD. 



Simpson Honey Plant. 



shape of the blossom and its natural 

 position on its stem, is such that it 

 cannot be penetrated by rain, conse- 

 quently the nectar cannot be diluted 

 or washed out, and bees will work on 

 them almost immediately after rain. 

 They work on tliemallday long, when 

 the weather is such that they can 

 work, which indicates a continued tlow 

 of nectar, and I think adds a great 

 deal to the value of tlie plant. It is 

 easy to transplant, but requires a 

 good deal of moisture to make the 

 seed grow. I have no seed or plants 

 to sell. 

 Fentonville, Mich. 



[This plant, tig wort {Scrophularia 

 nodosa), is often called carpenter's 

 square, because it has a square stalk. 

 It is also known as rattle weed, as the 

 seeds will rattle in the pod ; heal-all, 

 etc. It blooms from the middle of 

 July till frost. Mr. .J. A. Simpson, 

 Alexis, 111., first called attention to it 

 as an excellent honey producer, and 

 that gave it the name of " Simpson 

 honey plant." — Ed.] 



Myself and son, having, at the close 

 of tlie honey season of 1S82, about 

 6,000 lbs. of honey to dispose of (4,S00 

 lbs. being extracted), which would net 

 us from 7 cents to 9 cents, as reported 

 in Chicago, thinking we could do bet- 

 ter by selling our own honey at home 

 than to ship it, we determined to make 

 an effort to do so, but later changed 

 our plans somewhat, in that we ar- 

 ranged with several of the grocers of 

 South Bend and New Carlisle to sell 

 for us on commission, and in doing 

 which have saved a nice profit above 

 selling at wholesale. 



To carry out our plans, we first or- 

 dered several hundred tin cans and 

 pails, ranging in size from II4 to 2V^ 

 and 5 lbs., and after neatly labeling, we 

 filled them with No. 1 extracted honey, 

 preparatory to attending our county 

 fair, to be held at South Bend. 



Assisted by a good brother apiarist, 

 we made an "exhibit of comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, bee-hives, extractors, 

 etc., that gave general satisfaction, as 

 well as' to put in five days of hard 

 work. 



We had hoped to have the privilege 

 of selling honey at the fair, but could 

 not do so, until the last afternoon, but 

 our display and the few sales we were 

 able to make, assisted in making 

 many sales afterwards. We next pro- 

 ceeded to canvass the town, selling 

 samples, which we had been disap- 

 pointed, to a great extent, in doing at 

 the fair. 



Our friend above referred to, selling 

 his comb honey, while our sales were 

 almost exclusively extracted (our 

 comb honey being sold by the crate, 

 or left on commission with our 

 grocers), and as sales were made, 

 families were directed to our grocer 

 where more honey could be had, and 

 at same prices, when wanted. 



When putting up honey in pails, 

 full weight was given, and, in selling, 

 the wholesale price of the pails was 

 added to that of the honey. We also 

 made arrangements with our grocers 

 to pay ttie same prices for them if re- 

 turned in good condition. This ar- 

 rangement added materially to our 

 sales, although but few were returned, 

 still they expected to return them, at 

 the time the sale was made. This, of 

 course, could not be done in a distant 

 market very well. 



After selling up to Feb. 1, and sup- 

 plying our grocers with what they 

 might be able to sell, the remainder o( 

 the season, we still had some hundreds 

 of pounds on liand. We concluded to 

 try what could be done selling to the 

 farmers in our vicinity, and our suc- 

 cess has been very gratifying. 



When extracting we stored the 

 honey in stone jars, mostly 2 gallon 

 jars ; these we have been selling to 

 the farmers at a little less price per 

 pound than we sell in pails, it being 

 something of a wholesale trade, and 

 saved the trouble of liquefying the 

 honey, to get it into pails. 



At this time we have but little 

 honey on hand, and I am satisfied we 



have laid the foundation for good 

 sales in the future, and have intro- 

 duced the use of honey into very many 

 families that had not previously used 

 it, and others, that had used it spar- 

 ingly, have been using it quite largely, 

 this winter. 



Our experience has demonstrated 

 that a pretty general effort in this 

 direction would add very largely to 

 the consumption of honey, and we 

 should not read of overstocked mar- 

 kets, as at present. My friend, above 

 referred to, in his canvass, probably 

 sold some 200 lbs. of comb honey. 



New Carlisle, Ind., March 7, 1883. 



[This is tlie way to create a market, 

 and lays the foundation for a large and 

 increasing trade in honey every year. 

 By getting a few hundreds of " Honey 

 as Food and Medicine," and having 

 the producer's name and address on 

 the first page, will greatly add to the 

 efficiency of the plans. Were bee- 

 keepers to follow this plan of creating 

 a market, we should hear no more of 

 overstocking the markets with honey, 

 and we should not only be blessing 

 our fellow-beings by giving them a 

 pure sweet, but be obtaining a much 

 larger profit for the labor and care of 

 the bees during the season. Let all 

 try it.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Clamp Wintering and Ventilation. 



WM. BRADFORD. 



In November last, I visited a neigh- 

 borhood in Ontario, where the keep- 

 ing of a few bees was quite common 

 among the farmers. Tlie modern 

 system of bee-keeping, with its ac- 

 companying bee books and journals, 

 had not penetrated the locality, and 

 to have talked of brood frames and 

 sections or foundation, queen-rearing 

 and extracting, would have been like 

 speaking in an unknown tongue, but 

 burying bees for winter was quite a 

 common practice, and, in one case, I 

 saw the manner of doing the work. 



The usual plan is, to dig a trench 

 about a foot deep, and a little wider 

 than the hives. Where I saw the 

 work done, the soil was gravelly hard- 

 pan, and a pick was used to make the 

 excavation. In the bottom of this 

 trench, a couple of rails orpoles. about 

 6 inches in diameter, are laid, with 

 some t) or 8 inches of space between 

 them. The hives I saw, in use, were 

 common box liives; some of them 

 very large. The season, I was told, 

 had been a very poor one for honey, 

 and no boxes had been used on top 

 for surplus, and it may be inferred 

 that they were .sealed tight at the top, 

 and that there was no upward venti- 

 lation. They were placed on the poles 

 as close together as they would stand, 

 and without bottom boards. Straw is 

 then packed on all sides and the top 

 of the hives, and the whole covered 

 with dirt. Provision is made for 

 drainage, but none for ventilation. 



