1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



279 



" Yes, I am. Fifty years from now this 

 grand tree will have practically ceased to 

 exist in our forests, and be little known 

 save as it is planted bj' enterprising' persons, 

 or exists in some of the g'orges or out-of-the- 

 way places so inaccessible that it will be 

 considered too much trouble to procure it. 

 Where there were iiity trees in this section 

 in m\' bo\'hood daj's of forty-five years ago, 

 there is hardly one now; and the few that 

 are left are of the 'second growth;' or so 

 crooked and scrubbj' as to be of little value 

 for lumber. I have about 200 trees on my 

 land, all the waj' from six to fifteen inches 

 through at the butt, straight as an arrow, 

 and from 50 to 75 feet tall, and no one 

 would hire me to have them cut off, just for 

 their prospect in lumber alone, while many 

 of them resound with the merry hum of the 

 bees at blooming time nearlj' every j'ear." 



" Did you plant these trees?" 



" No. They were little poles which had 

 come up from trees which had been cut down 

 a few 3'ears before I came in possession of 

 the land. I have been advised to clear the 

 land several times during past j'ears, but I 

 said no; and now that they have got so nice 

 a start, the same persons who advised 

 clearing off, admit that this is the nicest 

 wood lots, and of more value than almost 

 anj' of the land round about." 



" Have you any further advice?" 



" To prolong the season so as to have 

 honey in August, I would advise sowing 

 buckwheat. The honey it produces is not 

 of so great value as the white honeys, yet 

 it comes at a time when it helps the bees in 

 building up for winter, and brings a price 

 in market that will pay for the labor expend- 

 ed; while the grain will amply pay for the 

 whole raising of the crop, so that all that 

 is secured by the bees and their keeper is 

 clear gain." 



'* I must be going now, for I have hin- 

 dered you long enough." 



" Before you go I wish to call your atten- 

 tion to something we have not even hinted 

 at, which I consider as of the greatest val- 

 ue in all of this planting-for-honey matter." 



" What is that?" 



"Have 3'ou any waste land lying about 

 you that is growing up to weeds, burdocks, 

 etc.?" 



" Yes, plenty of such; especially about 

 the fences." 



" Well, did j-ou never think that these 

 waste places might be utilized? By plant- 

 ing something there which will produce 

 much honey, this can be made to take the 

 jilace of the weeds, briers, and daisies, so 

 that the planting for honey may be benefi- 

 cial, not only to the bee-keeper, but to all 

 others, as something of value to some one 

 takes the place of that which is of value to 

 no one, and that which is often worse than 

 no value; for the scattering of seeds from 

 these waste places is often a nuisance to 

 those who live where the winter's drifting 

 snows may carry the seeds of noxious weeds 

 far and wide. Kight here is where I would 

 advise you to commence operations first." 



HEADS OF GRAIN DEPARTMENT FOR VETER- 

 ANS AS WELL AS BEGINNERS. 



A GOOD many of our subscribers have 

 gotten the impression somehow that the de- 

 partment of questions and answers, or what 

 we call Heads of Grain, is designed exclu- 

 sively for beginners. If any one has that 

 impression, I wish to disabuse his mind at 

 once. An old veteran will often contribute 

 a valuable fact from experience, that needs 

 onlj' one or two hundred words to tell it. 

 Such items go in the department of Heads 

 of Grain.* I should say that at least half 

 of that department is intended for veterans. 

 Technical matter does not necessarily have 

 to be in the form of long-winded articles. 

 Some of the most valuable and brightest 

 ideas come from the veterans, written with 

 a pencil, fingers bedaubed with propolis. 

 These people have not the time to go into a 

 long dissertation when only a few words 

 are necessary to set forth the facts or ideas. 

 If there is any know-it-all who is making a 

 practice of skipping these shorter items, he 

 is missing much. 



THOSE BEES IN THE MACHINE-SHOP BASE- 

 MENT. 



We are just taking our bees out of the 

 cellar this afternoon, March 26. They have 

 been confined in the apartment all winter, 

 and during the warmest part of the weather 

 outside they are keeping comparatively 

 quiet. But some one of our employees (no 

 one knows who) went into the bee-room and 

 turned on the electric light. The first I 

 knew, it was on. It probably had been 

 burning several days, glaring away at those 

 bees. When I first went in I felt sure that 

 at least a third of the colonies were dead, 

 and the rest of the bees very much depleted. 

 I shut off the light, and closed the door. I 

 said to myself, •' Those bees are done up, 

 sure." Some employee doubtless blundered 

 into the wrong room. Striking against an 

 electric-light globe he turned it on. This^ 

 of course, drew the bees. The result was, 

 he became frightened, left the room, and 

 shut the door. Well, to-day I expected to 

 find many of them gone up; but imagine my 

 surprise to find them in remarkably fine 

 condition — not a colon}' dead. But let me 

 tell you there are more dead bees on the 

 floor — yes, four or five times over — than 

 there were about a week ago before the 

 light had been turned on. At that time 

 there were hardly enough to fill a two-(iuart 

 measure out of 40 colonies. Many of these 



* The article from Mr. McEvoy and the one from 

 Mr. Greiner. both in the depariment of 'Heads of 

 Grain" in this issue, are cases in point. 



